Gen Z and students
8 min read
Student Cost of Living in the UK: What Students Spend, What They Get and What It Means for Brands
What UK students spend each month, including food, against what the Maintenance Loan covers, and how the gap shapes what students buy and try.
How much does it cost to be a student in the UK?
The average UK student spends £1,146 a month on living costs, according to Save the Student’s National Student Money Survey 2026, which asked over 1,000 students where their money goes. That figure was £1,142 in the 2025 survey and £1,104 in 2024.
Rent dominates. At £551 a month it takes nearly half of the total. Groceries are the second-largest cost at £155 a month, followed by transport (£73), household bills (£68) and going out (£60).
The cost pressure is not new. When the Office for National Statistics surveyed students in England in early 2023, 92% said their cost of living had risen on the year before, 49% reported financial difficulties and 30% had taken on new debt. Those are experimental statistics from a small sample, but they set the context for everything since.
How much do students spend on food?
Food is the second-largest line in a student budget. The 2026 survey puts groceries at £155 a month, about £36 a week, plus £45 a month on takeaways and eating out. Together that is about £200 a month on food (our calculation).
Grocery spend has edged up each year, while rent has stayed above £500 a month:
Survey year | Average monthly spend | Rent | Groceries |
|---|---|---|---|
2024 | £1,104 | £540 | £144 |
2025 | £1,142 | £529 | £146 |
2026 | £1,146 | £551 | £155 |
Behind the averages, many students are cutting back. In the 2025 survey, 61% said they skip meals to save money at least some of the time (39% sometimes, 22% often), down from 67% in 2024. One in ten (10%) had used a food bank in 2024/25. An earlier Office for Students poll of 4,021 students, run in early 2023, found 43% had cut back on food shopping over the previous six months and 56% had reduced non-essential spending.
Why food is where budgets flex
Rent, bills and transport are largely fixed once a student has signed a tenancy and chosen a course. Food is the biggest cost they can change week to week, so it is where a tight month shows first, as the meal-skipping figures above suggest. That makes the weekly shop a price-sensitive part of the student budget, and a place where a trusted brand or a good-value find can win a regular spot.
What the Maintenance Loan covers
In England, the maximum Maintenance Loan for a full-time student rises by 2.71% in 2026/27:
Living arrangement | Maximum loan 2025/26 | Maximum loan 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
Living with parents | £8,877 | £9,118 |
Away from home, outside London | £10,544 | £10,830 |
Away from home, in London | £13,762 | £14,135 |
The minimum loan for a student living away from home outside London is £5,048 in 2026/27. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run separate student finance systems with different rates.
The loan is linked to household income, and the average is well below the maximum. Save the Student puts the average Maintenance Loan at £648 a month, which leaves a shortfall of £498 a month against average living costs. More than half of students (56%) say the loan is not big enough. Even the full outside-London maximum of £10,830 covers about 79% of a year’s spending at the 2026 average of £1,146 a month (our calculation).
The gap has stayed close to £500 a month for three years: about £504 in 2024, £502 in 2025 and £498 in 2026. Loans have risen, but so have costs.
How students cover the gap
Students close the shortfall in three main ways.
Work. 59% of students in the 2026 Save the Student survey have a part-time job. The Student Academic Experience Survey from HEPI and Advance HE, with over 10,000 full-time undergraduates, shows how fast this has grown: 68% did paid work during term time in 2025, up from 56% in 2024 and 42% in 2020. International students are more likely to work (77%) than home students (65%). Average independent study time fell from 13.6 hours a week in 2024 to 11.6 hours in 2025.
Parents. 48% of students get money from their parents, averaging £132 a month in 2026. Both figures have fallen: 52% and £146 a month in 2025, and an average of £171 a month in 2024.
Living at home. UCAS reports that 31% of accepted UK 18-year-olds intended to live at home in 2025, a record 89,510 students.
How students feel about money
Worry is the norm. In the 2025 Save the Student survey, 76% said they worry about making ends meet, compared with 81% in 2024.
The Student Futures Index 2026, from Dig In with We Are Futures, surveyed 1,086 students. It found 83% feel financially stretched. And while 88% rate managing money as an important life skill, only 30% feel confident doing it. Students are anxious about money and keen to get better at handling it, which shapes how they respond to brands that help.
The ONS found the same link between money and study in 2023: 78% of students were concerned that rising costs could affect their studies, and about 46% said their mental health and well-being had worsened since the start of the autumn term.
What this means for brands
Every purchase is a decision. On a budget with a £498 monthly gap, students weigh what they buy. That raises the cost of trying something new and paying for it if it disappoints. A free sample removes that risk, which makes Freshers sampling a direct route to a first purchase.
Food and household brands meet students at the second-largest line in their budget. Groceries at £155 a month means a weekly shop, made by students setting up their own kitchens for the first time. A product that earns a place in that first shop has a chance to become a habit.
Students have less time as well as less money. With 68% of full-time undergraduates working during term, convenience matters as much as price. Brands that save time have a clear message.
A rising share never moves into halls. With 31% of accepted 18-year-olds living at home, a plan built only around halls misses part of each cohort. Owned digital channels such as mydigin.com reach students wherever they live.
Money confidence is an opening. With 88% rating money management as an important life skill and only 30% confident doing it, banks, budgeting tools and value-led brands can be useful rather than intrusive.
Timing matters. Spending pressure is a year-round issue. Dig In reaches 500,000 students each September and has 300,000 Refreshers bags planned for January, when students return for the second term. Our student research, built on over a million survey responses since 2016, tracks how these pressures change.
Questions brands ask
What is the average student cost of living in the UK?
The average UK student spends £1,146 a month on living costs, including rent of £551, according to Save the Student’s National Student Money Survey 2026.
How much do students spend on food in the UK?
About £155 a month on groceries, or around £36 a week, plus £45 a month on takeaways and eating out (Save the Student, 2026). That is about £200 a month on food in total.
How much is the Maintenance Loan in 2026/27?
In England, the maximum for a full-time student is £10,830 living away from home outside London, £14,135 in London and £9,118 living with parents. The amount depends on household income.
How much should a student budget per month in the UK?
The 2026 average of £1,146 a month is a sensible reference point. Rent takes nearly half of it, and groceries are the next biggest cost. The average Maintenance Loan of £648 a month covers just over half of that average spend.
Do most UK students work part-time?
Yes. 59% of students have a part-time job (Save the Student, 2026), and 68% of full-time undergraduates did paid work during term time in 2025, up from 42% in 2020 (HEPI and Advance HE).
To reach students when every purchase counts, talk to the Dig In team.
Sources
Save the Student (National Student Money Survey 2026), Student living costs in the UK 2026 (2026).
Save the Student, National Student Money Survey 2025: results (2025).
Save the Student, Student Money Survey 2024: results (2024).
GOV.UK (Department for Education), Support with living and other costs: 2026 to 2027 academic year (2026).
GOV.UK (Department for Education), Support with living costs: 2025 to 2026 academic year (2025).
HEPI and Advance HE, More than two-thirds of full-time students now undertake paid work during term time, major survey reveals (Student Academic Experience Survey 2025) (2025).
Office for National Statistics, Cost of living and higher education students, England: 30 January to 13 February 2023 (2023).
Office for Students (poll by Savanta), Universities take steps to address cost of living as poll highlights impact on students (2023).
UCAS, More school leavers living at home for university and college study (2025).
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