In September, students travelled across the country to move into their university accommodation, only to be asked to stay in their rooms, receive lectures online and have now been given a deadline to leave for Christmas.
Studee conducted research using data from Save the Student to work out how much students could have saved by staying with their parents and studying from home this year.

Shockingly the results showed that over a year long period students could have saved on average £7871 if they hadn’t moved to university and instead stayed living at home with their parents.
- Students in the UK could have saved an average of £656 a month living at home
- £7871 could have been saved on average over a 12 month period in the UK
- Students in London could have saved £9,902 in a year
Rent
There has been growing unrest at universities with students resorting to holding rallies* and rent** strikes because they feel the government urged them to return to campus, spending money on rent and utilities, when they could have continued studying from their family home without paying thousands of pounds to isolate in a bedroom on campus.
The amount of rent students pay varies across the country with the average being £5,440.
Students in London have the highest average rent amount of £7,131 and those in Northern Ireland paying less than half of this amount at £3,288.
According to the NUS, 61%*** of students work part time to support themselves financially whilst
studying.
Due to past and current restrictions, it’s likely many students will be out of work as 16-25 year olds
are
twice as likely to have lost their jobs compared to older workers**** , putting them under even more
financial pressure with 3 in 4 students concerned about how they will pay their rent***.
Where a student is studying determines how much they would have saved living with their parents and
not
paying bills associated with moving out.
Unsurprisingly, those studying in London could have saved the most - nearly £10,000. Students
studying in
Northern Ireland have the smallest saving of £5,922 which is still a huge amount of money to pay for
being
in isolation for weeks.
Those studying in Bangor could have saved the most - over £8,500. Students studying in Wrexham
have the
smallest saving of £5,808.
Students studying in Edinburgh could have
saved the most - over £8,500 whereas those studying in Aberdeen have the
smallest saving of £6,726.
Laura Rettie, Vice President of Global Communications at, Studee
said:
“Students have had an incredibly difficult year, and it's easy to understand why they feel
so aggrieved -
they’ve been told to come to campus, only to be kept in quarantine and taught online. They
could have easily
studied at home without spending additional money on top of tuition fees to live close to or
on campus.
“It will be interesting to see how many students actually decide to return to campus rather
than staying at
home after Christmas - I wouldn’t blame them if they opted for the cheaper option of staying
with Mum and
Dad. I can’t help but feel really sad for the students of 2020 - they’ve been dealt a really
bad hand. It’s
crucial universities take this additional cost for students into account when the decision
is made to move
to fully online lectures. Transparency is vital and decisions need to be communicated early
to leave time
for students to make arrangements. It’s not fair to leave things to the last minute. Equally
this is a
really difficult time for universities who rely on the income from students to stay afloat
and the balancing
act is becoming increasingly precarious.”
Kiran, 26, is a postgraduate student studying Cognitive behavioral therapy at Royal
Holloway
university said:
“I feel lucky that I decided to live at home with my parents rather than moving onto campus
as I was only
told with a couple of months notice that the first semester would be 100% online lectures,
many other
students weren’t so fortunate. Those who are paying to live on campus are likely to feel
like they are
missing out, especially with lectures moving online.
"Students shouldn’t have been asked to return to campus when things weren’t set up to
accommodate this - it
was all very confusing. A lot of hassle could have been avoided by making a clear decision
on courses being
taught online where possible to give students certainty on what to expect and decide what is
best for them.”
Methodology
Part time work
Breakdown by Region
Wales
Scotland
What our expert thinks:
What students say: