For those who found out yesterday that their A-level results were enough to send them to university in September, the relief and high spirits will be short lived, after a study revealed that the total cost of university has gone through the roof at £53,330 per student.
A new ‘Cost of University’ study from protection specialist LV discovered that the average tuition fees of £8,770 a year, £12,500 on accommodation and £4,300 on food – as well as essentials such as household bills, books and travel expenses – would see students set to start their higher education studies next month shelling out £53,330 on average.
Those off to study in the capital will pay an average of £65,504 – which is £12,174 or 23% higher than the average – while Scottish residents escape tuition fees altogether and pay a far lower average of £23,216 over a three-year course, if they stick around in Scotland to study.
Non-Scottish students attending university in Scotland will have to pay tuition fees and will have to pay an average cost of £47,516 – 27% less than the overall average due to the lower cost of accommodation and living essentials there than further south.
The north-south divide is clearly visible as students in the South East and South West will be forced to shell out £56,653 and £54,625 respectively during to their time at university, while those who (sensibly!) choose to study in the North East will pay £50,324 in comparison.
One in five lucky under-18s will have the bill footed by the Bank of Mum and Dad and a further 28% of parents expect to cover part of the cost.
owever, two in ten (21%) parents with children under 18 expect them to go to university but are unsure as to how the soaring cost will be funded, while one in ten (11%) say they do not expect them to attend university – and a quarter of this group blamed the sky-high cost.
Recent graduates may have escaped the tuition fee hike but still have a huge amount of student debt to pay off.
Finding well-paid graduate jobs will help to wipe the debt as quickly as possible and relieve you of the burden – see ‘High Paying Jobs That Will Wipe Your Student Debt’ for the how-to guide.