Comparable universities and student charges

Executive Summary

Data was collected on the top twenty ex-London universities (as identified by the 1999 Times University league table), these being the institutions that potential applicants would probably consider as alternatives to Cambridge. Students attending London Universities receive extra financial support from the government to compensate for the capital's higher living costs (the 'London Allowance' - £845 p.a. 99/00).
Information was sought from two main sources:
- "the PUSH guide to WHICH UNIVERSITY 2000" - the largest selling and most extensive of the various independent university guides available.
- University 2000 prospectuses and, if necessary, the official web sites.
Average self-catering rents. According to PUSH the average 99/00 UK rent including London is £45 per week and the average for the universities in this report is £42.35 per week. The average self-catering rents quoted in prospectuses ranged from £37.87 per week (St. Andrews) to £51.50 per week (Edinburgh) with the average rent for all the institutions being £43.54.
Contract lengths. Twelve of the twenty universities offered self-catering contracts of 31 weeks or less. The longest minimum contract was at Nottingham where a student would be required to pay £1669 per year (£556 a term) for 44 weeks accommodation. The average yearly self-catering expenditure is £1450 (£483 per term)
Catered rents. The average catered rent for the set of universities in this report is £76.51 per week. Nearly all contracts for catered accommodation were either 30 or 31 weeks per year. The average yearly catered rent was £2315 ( £772 per term).
Non-collegiality. A majority of the comparable universities were not collegiate. Accommodation was usually distributed by accepted applicants choosing a particular hall (and a reserve choice in case of over-subscription). Many universities were thus able to offer quite a wide variety in terms of contract length and whether to opt for catering or self-catering.
Collegiality. Four of the universities were collegiate with all tending to offer one standard type of accommodation and fairly fixed contracts.
- Durham colleges are fully catered with a yearly rent for 99/00 of £2181 (£727 per term) providing three meals a day every day.
- Lancaster colleges are self-catering with a current yearly average rent of £1320 (£440 per term).
- York provides similar catering arrangements to Cambridge with each college providing a canteen as well as self-catering facilities. The average yearly rent is £1260 (£420 per term) for a single room, £1011 (£337 a term) for a shared double. There is no Kitchen Fixed Charge or Fixed Meal Charge.
- Most Oxford College accommodation is catered with the 98/99 average termly rent of £785 covering heating, linen and laundry as well as meals.
According to PUSH the average external rent was £42.75 per week.
All of the Universities had Accommodation Offices or similar to help students in finding private provision, with the institution sometimes acting as landlord. Manchester, for example, leased houses to students for between £34-40 per week.
Just over 40% of all students supplemented their income through paid employment last year, earning on average £58.12 per week excluding overtime [Source: NUS Students at work survey]. With most student funding now being loan-based (the full package provides £69.90 per week) this is an increasingly common way of reducing debt, as well as providing additional disposable income. Many better-paid jobs required being available to work over the vacation breaks thus the existence of longer residence contracts should not be characterised solely as a financial drain.

Conclusions

A student applying to a comparable university would reasonably expect to pay approximately £43 per week for self-catered accommodation or £76 per week with most meals provided.

On a per term basis the comparable rent is £483 self catered or £772 catered. However, when making per term comparisons it is important to remember that the self-catering figure in particular covers accommodation for a longer period than is usual in a Cambridge college.

A student currently studying at Cambridge would expect to pay on average £55.50 per week (£550 per term) excluding food [£46 rent, £9.50 KFC]. Assuming £5 for a day's meals in a typical canteen the fully-catered rent works out at £90.50 per week (£835 per term). Allowing for the fact that some catered rents do not provide all meals (no lunches at weekends for example) a comparable expenditure of £28 per week on food in canteen gives a catered rent of £83.50 (£835 per term)

The evidence (both from PUSH, university prospectuses and web-sites) is overwhelming that on a per week basis the cost of studying at the University of Cambridge is currently markedly higher than at most comparable universities. Despite Cambridge's shorter terms the same conclusion, albeit to a lesser extent, is reached with regard to per term charges. Recent major changes to student funding (both the introduction of Tuition Fees and the abolition of the maintenance grant) are likely to make perceptions of costs increasingly important in the choice of university, particularly for those from low and middle-income backgrounds.