It is a truth universally acknowledged that Edinburgh is an outrageously expensive city to live in, especially for students. As we enter the new academic year, many will be anxiously attempting to budget as the struggle increases with the exponentially rising cost of living. Students have to face the cost of rent, bills, food, and maintain a sufficient social life, all whilst studying. This can prove particularly difficult anywhere, let alone in Edinburgh where a decent standard of living is becoming a luxury. This prompts the question: is Edinburgh getting too expensive?
Last year, the University of Edinburgh closed two of its cheaper accommodation options: Kitchener House and David Horn, both located near the university’s King’s Buildings. This contributes added pressure to an already oversubscribed accommodation system for first-year students. Also, this renders life more difficult for first-year students based at King’s Buildings, as options for close campus living becomes restricted to West Mains Road, which is far from ideal. The closure of these accommodations probes anxiety regarding the cost of other places to live as prices have seen a drastic increase. Both Kincaid’s Court and Sciennes have increased in price from £6540.20 to £8750 for the year. A similar accommodation, South Clerk Street, has also increased from £6540.20 to £8783 for the year. Consequently, this adds further financial strain for many first-year students as the minimum student maintenance loan provided for English students via Student Finance England is £4917 for the year. This does not even come close to covering the cost of these supposedly ‘cheap’ accommodation options. As a result, this leads to the assumption that students will have to get part-time jobs or rely on parental support to simply have a roof over their heads.
When taking this issue into account, it prompts the query: should students in Edinburgh receive a higher maintenance loan than students in other cities, such as those in London? English students attending university in London and living away from home receive a minimum maintenance loan of £6,855. Whilst this would still be insufficient in covering the entire cost of accommodation, it could still act as a significant helping hand in easing anxiety surrounding money for students. Edinburgh does remain a cheaper city to live in than London, yet is still significantly more expensive than other popular UK universities, such as Leeds and Manchester, which provide a better range of accommodation prices.
Aside from the issue of first-year accommodation, the cost of living in Edinburgh is astronomical, forcing students to adopt frugal measures of austerity in order to get by. One contributing factor in this issue is, because Edinburgh is a large city, there are few easily accessible large supermarkets. Subsequently, as students are very busy attending university and staying on top of their workload, convenience shopping becomes the go-to solution. However, in a city like Edinburgh these shops have marked up prices which adds to the strain endured by students as they can fail to have the time to shop for food as cheaply as possible.
University-run institutions such as Potterrow and the Main Library Café have also seen an increase in price since the last academic year. For example, the popular sweet treat deal which included a regular hot drink and a sweet jumped in price from £4.30 to £5.15. This demonstrates that what used to be a great bargain for students has deteriorated into just the average price for coffee and a cake. With the supposed re-opening of Teviot House in the spring of next year, many students worry that the prices of food and beverages may see a further increase in 2026. Detrimentally, this restricts the ability of students to enjoy their time on campus, as many students will be forced to decline invites for a lunch out at the student union, or a coffee meet-up to plan a group project for instance, because of embarrassment over not being able to afford it.
Ultimately, it can be clearly exemplified that Edinburgh is continuing its legacy as an expensive city to live in as students struggle to keep up with overwhelming costs. In particular, the university is not helping to ease these qualms with rapidly increasing prices as students are left wondering how much more costs will increase before the end of this academic year.
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash