Scotland has been named the second most expensive place in the UK for student rent after London. Is it worth the prices we pay to live here?
The results of the Save the Student’s National Student Accommodation Survey this year have found that Scotland is the second most expensive UK region for student rents. It estimates that the average student in Scotland pays £703 per month on rent compared to £793 in London, the most expensive region, and £475 in Wales, the cheapest region.
This report gives us little nuance by reporting on Scotland as a whole, but if we look at other similar reports, we see that these results are heavily skewed by Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews and that other Scottish university cities are much cheaper: Aberdeen, for example, is the 19th cheapest city for student rent in the UK according to Student Crowd.
In most surveys, Edinburgh ranks at least in the top 10 cities for student rents, and not only that, but it is often ranked one of the most expensive student cities for living costs in general. According to Uni Admissions, Edinburgh is the 3rd most expensive city for students behind London and Oxford. High utility bills across Scotland (which are some of the highest in the world) contribute to this, although, of course, this is somewhat balanced out by the savings of the Young Scot card that those of us under 22 are lucky enough to enjoy.
Even without surveys such as the ones I’ve mentioned, we all know from first-hand experience that Edinburgh is one of the most expensive student cities. So, is it worth the prices we pay to live here? The evidence suggests it must be; we’re all still here, aren’t we? We haven’t dropped out or transferred institutions. I love Edinburgh and couldn’t imagine being a student anywhere else. I hope most people reading this article would agree.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek improvements in the student loan system or in the UK housing market as a whole. Across the UK, the student housing system is broken, and we are suffering from that broken system, particularly in Edinburgh.
On a city level, we need a stabilisation of student accommodation prices. In recent years, these have been increasing by thousands of pounds per year, which neither reflects the wider market nor the improvements put into the accommodations. Such price hikes enable the landlords that most students rent from after their first year to follow suit in the private market. A university, as a public institution, should not be trying to turn a profit from its students’ living expenses.
On a national level, we need increases to maintenance loans beyond inflationary levels to catch up on years of below inflationary increases. We also need an increase to the £25,000 per year family income threshold on the maximum student loan, which has not been increased since 2008. Because these limits have not been increased enough in recent years, it is more and more common for a student’s loan to not even cover a year’s worth of rent, never mind all the other day-to-day costs of university.
Image by Mio Shinohara for The Student
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Scotland called the second most expensive place in the UK for student rent: A broken housing market and an out-of-date student loan system
Scotland has been named the second most expensive place in the UK for student rent after London. Is it worth the prices we pay to live here?
The results of the Save the Student’s National Student Accommodation Survey this year have found that Scotland is the second most expensive UK region for student rents. It estimates that the average student in Scotland pays £703 per month on rent compared to £793 in London, the most expensive region, and £475 in Wales, the cheapest region.
This report gives us little nuance by reporting on Scotland as a whole, but if we look at other similar reports, we see that these results are heavily skewed by Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews and that other Scottish university cities are much cheaper: Aberdeen, for example, is the 19th cheapest city for student rent in the UK according to Student Crowd.
In most surveys, Edinburgh ranks at least in the top 10 cities for student rents, and not only that, but it is often ranked one of the most expensive student cities for living costs in general. According to Uni Admissions, Edinburgh is the 3rd most expensive city for students behind London and Oxford. High utility bills across Scotland (which are some of the highest in the world) contribute to this, although, of course, this is somewhat balanced out by the savings of the Young Scot card that those of us under 22 are lucky enough to enjoy.
Even without surveys such as the ones I’ve mentioned, we all know from first-hand experience that Edinburgh is one of the most expensive student cities. So, is it worth the prices we pay to live here? The evidence suggests it must be; we’re all still here, aren’t we? We haven’t dropped out or transferred institutions. I love Edinburgh and couldn’t imagine being a student anywhere else. I hope most people reading this article would agree.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek improvements in the student loan system or in the UK housing market as a whole. Across the UK, the student housing system is broken, and we are suffering from that broken system, particularly in Edinburgh.
On a city level, we need a stabilisation of student accommodation prices. In recent years, these have been increasing by thousands of pounds per year, which neither reflects the wider market nor the improvements put into the accommodations. Such price hikes enable the landlords that most students rent from after their first year to follow suit in the private market. A university, as a public institution, should not be trying to turn a profit from its students’ living expenses.
On a national level, we need increases to maintenance loans beyond inflationary levels to catch up on years of below inflationary increases. We also need an increase to the £25,000 per year family income threshold on the maximum student loan, which has not been increased since 2008. Because these limits have not been increased enough in recent years, it is more and more common for a student’s loan to not even cover a year’s worth of rent, never mind all the other day-to-day costs of university.
Image by Mio Shinohara for The Student
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