Cost of living in Swansea

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Located at the western shoulder of Wales’ stunning Gower peninsula, Swansea is a vibrant medium-sized city of around 250,000 people. It’s a very popular place to go to uni due to the quality of education, attractive coastal location and notably low cost of living. There are many reasons to consider studying in South Wales, and in this guide we explain how to get the most out of your student budget while living it up in Swansea.

Fees and funding in Swansea

Your tuition fees will form a significant part of your yearly budget. At £9,000 per year for an undergraduate course, fees are slightly less than what is typical of an English uni, however students usually take out a student tuition fee loan to cover this cost. It’s easy to do this through Student Finance, and the loan is automatically paid to your uni at the start of term so you don’t even need to worry about making the payment.

What’s more, there are maintenance loans available to help you out with rent, groceries, transport and other lifestyle expenses during your time studying. These loans are means-tested, so the amount you receive will depend on your family’s household income and can be valued up to almost £10,000 per year. Not bad at all!

All loans from Student Finance become repayable only when you are earning above the yearly threshold, which means you’ll have a smooth start to your career without being lumped with unrealistic loan repayments.

Additionally, many unis offer scholarships and bursaries to undergraduate students so check out your chosen university’s website to see if you are eligible for any of them. Swansea University offers a range of merit-based academic, music, and sporting scholarships available to both domestic and international students, as well as a generous programme of bursaries to help those with less financial support.

Student accommodation in Swansea

There is an excellent variety of accommodation types and locations within Swansea. Whether you prefer to live in a hall of residence or strike out on your own and find private rental housing then you’ll be sure to find something to suit you here. Living in halls of residence is a great way to meet other students and expose yourself to the full uni experience, while paying an inexpensive rental rate and benefitting from a great package of services.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David offers clean and comfortable housing in halls of residence located in Swansea’s Llys Glas complex, just minutes away from campus. Accommodation is self-catered, and consists of single, en-suite rooms ranging from standard to extra-large in size and arranged in shared-facility apartments. The price of a standard room is £125 per week, a large room is £130 per week and an extra-large room costs £140 per week.

Swansea students enjoy a particularly affordable rental market when compared to the rest of the UK, with a studio flat in the city centre costing only £630 per month on average. This drops to around £520 per month if you’re willing to live a little further from the centre, and in each case you’ll save 20% of the cost of renting in Swansea’s nearest large-city neighbour, Cardiff.

Flat sharing saves you even more money, with the average three-bedroom apartment costing less than £1,200 in the city centre. That’s less than £400 per person! Utilities bills are also much lower than Cardiff at around £45 per person per month, so it’s easy to see why so many students love to live here.

Cost of groceries in Swansea

Shopping for groceries in Swansea is relatively inexpensive and offers a surprising variety of choice. There are big chain outlets such as Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda alongside cheaper alternatives like Aldi and Lidl, so you have plenty of choice without forking out too much money for ingredients.

Average prices for the following grocery items are:

Milk (1l): £1.00
Bread loaf: £0.87
Rice (1kg): £1.06
Eggs (12): £1.92
Cheese (1kg): £5.32
Chicken fillets (1kg): £6.46
Apples (1kg): £2.50
Potatoes (1kg): £0.69

The University of Swansea recommends a weekly budget of around £35 for grocery shopping, which comes to a yearly expense of approximately £1,400 for a 40-week academic year.

Going out in Swansea

Swansea is well known for its nightlife, and with such low housing costs, you’ll have plenty of extra cash to enjoy it. Eating out generally ranges between £12 to £30 per head, and the city is well populated with local, regional and international style cuisines. Being a coastal city, there is a steady supply of fresh seafood which isn’t prohibitively expensive and is often caught on the same day.

Drinks are also very well priced, and Swansea is one of the rare few places in the UK where the average cost of a pint of beer is less than £4 and a bottle of imported beer is priced around £3.50.

The city has a high density of pubs, clubs and bars, so it is no wonder that it has recently been voted among the top ten cities for student nightlife in the UK. Keep an eye out for student discounted entry to clubs and weekly drinks deals at your local bar.

Transport in Swansea

Buses are the primary means of public transport in Swansea, and a monthly travel pass starts at £46, which works out at less than £2 per day for unlimited travel. As a student, you’ll be able to get a further concession ticket bringing your monthly cost down to just £31.66, which is just over £1 per day.

Otherwise, Swansea can be easily walked around, or navigated by bike. Swansea Bay has a network of car-free cycle lanes and is connected to several scenic cycle routes such as the Celtic Trail and National Cycle Network.

Other student expenses in Swansea

Swansea is a great place to shop, and is considered the regional retail centre for South West Wales. There are plenty of high-street stores and brand outlets, so you might be interested in browsing the city centre at the weekend and picking up some new clothes at reasonable prices. Prices are similar to Cardiff, so you won’t need to spend big to look fabulous. A cinema ticket will set you back just £6.50, and probably less with a student discount. Swansea University suggests a weekly leisure expense of £18, and although this sounds low, it indicates the value which your student budget can achieve here.

Based on all the numbers we’ve given you here, we’d recommend a budget of around £700 a month after your tuition. This figure will depend on how much you spend on rent and your lifestyle, so make sure you take that into account when you’re planning your budget.

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Cost of living in Swansea

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