Student Budget Calculator

A student budget calculator helps you plan whether your income, meaning the maintenance loan, part-time work and family contributions, will cover typical university expenses. The main cost categories are accommodation (the largest expense at £4,000 to £9,000 per year), food (£2,000 to £3,000), transport, course materials, socialising and personal spending. The figures behind it come from average UK student spending data, so what you get back is a comparison against what students actually spend rather than an idealised plan.

Accommodation costs vary hugely by city, and London averages 40 to 60% more than cities in the North or Midlands. Rent typically runs at £450 to £900 a month, which is £4,050 to £8,100 across a nine-month tenancy, and it is the line that decides whether everything else fits. Food adds £180 to £250 a month, bills £80 to £150 where they are not included in halls, transport £40 to £100, and socialising and clothing £100 to £200. Books and equipment come to £200 to £400 a year. Altogether that is £850 to £1,600 a month before books, or roughly £7,850 to £14,800 across a nine-month term-time year once books are added.

On the income side, the maximum maintenance loan in England for 2026/27 is £14,135 in London, £10,830 living away from home outside London and £9,118 living at home. It is paid in three instalments that are meant to last the academic year, with nothing extra for the long summer break, which is why summer usually has to be paid for out of work or savings. Enter your annual income and monthly costs and you get the surplus or shortfall over the term, a weekly spending budget, and, if there is a gap, how much you would need to earn each week from part-time work to close it, with the hours that takes at the £12.71 National Living Wage.

Most universities recommend no more than 15 to 20 hours of paid work a week during term time to avoid it affecting your studies, and international student visas generally cap it at 20 hours in any case. Tutoring pays best at £25 to £60 an hour, bar work brings £10 to £15 plus tips, and Christmas retail runs at £11 to £14. Campus jobs such as student ambassador or library work usually flex around teaching. Full-time work from May to September adds £4,000 to £8,000, while a finance or technology internship pays £18,000 to £35,000 pro rata and does your CV some good. With the Personal Allowance at £12,570, most students pay no income tax.

Repayments only begin once you are earning. Plan 5, for students from England starting from 1 August 2023, takes 9% of income above £25,000 and writes off the balance after 40 years. Plan 2 covers English students who started between September 2012 and July 2023, and Welsh students starting from September 2012 onwards, and begins at £29,385, Plan 1 for pre-2012 starters at £26,900, and Plan 4 for Scottish students at £33,795. Interest on Plan 5 follows RPI alone, whereas Plan 2 charges RPI plus up to 3%, capped at 6%. On a £35,000 salary under Plan 5 the deduction comes to £900 a year, or £75 a month. Employees pay through PAYE automatically, and the self-employed declare it through Self Assessment.

Grants are thinner than they once were. The Maintenance Grant in England was abolished in 2016 and replaced with larger loans, though several pots remain. Nursing, midwifery and allied health students get a £5,000 a year NHS Learning Support Fund grant, and medical and dental students an NHS Bursary in later years. Scotland has a means-tested Young Students' Bursary of up to £2,000 in 2026-27 for household income under £20,999 (£1,125 under £23,999, £500 under £34,000), paid alongside a loan of up to £9,400, Wales has the Welsh Government Learning Grant and Northern Ireland keeps a Maintenance Grant of up to £3,475. Disabled Students Allowance runs to £27,783 a year for equipment and support, care leavers have a separate package worth up to £14,000, and every university holds a discretionary hardship fund worth applying to if money gets tight.

Choose a student bank account on the overdraft rather than the freebies. HSBC offers up to £3,000 interest-free, and the Santander 123 student account starts at £1,500 in the first year, rising to £1,800 and then £2,000, with a railcard included. Halifax runs a £1,500 overdraft with £100 in cash, and NatWest and RBS offer £1,000 to £2,000 with £80 in cash and a free Tastecard. Weigh up the limit you are likely to need, the switching incentive and the branch network, then treat the overdraft as an emergency buffer rather than as income.