Liverpool is a thriving cultural metropolis, and fantastic place to discover. With several top institutions in the area, there’s many reasons to consider applying to this dynamic and diverse northern city, and in this article we explain how best to explore Liverpool on a student-friendly budget.
Updated: 21 Jan 2025
Located on the banks of the famous Mersey Estuary, Liverpool is a large city of around 500,000 residents with industrial origins and which continues to be highly influential in British art, music and culture. The city is home to three major universities, meaning the city has a large student population. Liverpool delivers a fantastic array of lifestyle, commerce, entertainment, sports, and opportunity; and despite this, still manages to be ranked within the top 15 most affordable places to live in the UK. How, you ask? Read on and we will explain everything.
Liverpool has been a major educational centre for well over a hundred years, and four universities have emerged from a past firmly rooted in industry, business and art.
Today, these unis offer a vast range of courses and subject areas, however at undergraduate level the annual fee is usually set at £9,250 in line with national government guidelines (this will be rising to £9,535 from the 2025/26 academic year). While this might sound daunting, you are able to get a loan to cover the full amount of your course fees from Student Finance, a company that offers not only a tuition fee loan but a maintenance loan as well, to help offset additional cost of living expenses such as rent, transport and groceries.
The best part about it is that these loans cover the duration of your course and are only repayable after you have started to earn a salary above a certain amount. The threshold is currently set at £25,000 for students starting in 2024, and this ensures that you won’t be saddled with monthly loan repayments that you struggle to afford.
All Liverpool unis provide scholarship and bursary schemes and can assist you in sourcing external funding opportunities through their financial support departments. For example, The Liverpool Bursary is a means-tested funding scheme worth £2,500 per year offered by the University of Liverpool to UK students with a household income of less than £25,000 per year. It’s worth checking your chosen uni’s fees and funding page to see if there is anything you are eligible for.
Liverpool is a large city with plenty of housing opportunities. Most of the unis have their own halls of residence where you can secure affordable rooms, living alongside your peers and with a host of on-site amenities included such as WiFi, laundry facilities and sometimes even games rooms or gymnasiums. Prices typically fluctuate between £110 - £200 per week, and this will depend on the type of room you choose. For example, at the University of Liverpool, a single self-catered en-suite room costs between £160 - £190 per week, with larger studio apartments available from £190 - £230 per week for the grandest suites.
Staying in halls is a fun, cost-effective way to start your uni experience, however there are also many options for affordable housing in Liverpool’s private rental marketplace. A studio flat in the city centre typically costs around £890 per month, while a three-bedroom apartment costs about £1,700 per month (around £570 per person), with an expected utility bill of around £100 per person per month on average.
Liverpool city centre is well serviced by supermarkets, off-licenses and the occasional bulk-buy wholesaler. There are weekly local markets too, where fresh produce can be obtained at a lower cost than average.
Prices for these common items are, on average:
Milk (1L): £1.09
Bread Loaf: £1.17
Rice (1kg): £1.81
Eggs (12): £2.86
Cheese (1kg): £5.94
Chicken fillets (1kg): £6.85
Apples (1kg): £2.17
Potatoes (1kg): £1.22
These prices are generally lower than in nearby Manchester and can be further improved upon by using a loyalty card for your weekly purchases, earning points and accessing special deals and discounts.
Liverpool is a cultural giant, producing world-famous music and art for decades and supporting an entertainment industry and nightlife scene to match. There have been 56 number one singles released by Liverpudlian musicians which is more than any other city in the world, and the city is alive with live music events which are totally accessible on a student budget. Students from across the region and even further afield travel to Liverpool for a night out, showing how affordable and exciting the nightlife is!
Liverpool is a multicultural town with many different cuisines to discover and hundreds of restaurants to try out. A meal at an inexpensive restaurant will usually cost around £16, and a meal for two somewhere a bit more upmarket will be around £65. The average cost for a local pint is just £4.50.
Liverpool has a lot of different public transport systems to try out. There are local buses, an underground metro line with 4 stops in the city centre, a local overground train with 68 stations in the region and even a ferry to take you ‘Cross the Mersey’ for less than £2 each way on a return ticket. You can even buy a monthly public transport pass which covers buses, train and ferry, and prices start at less than £70. Of course, much of the city centre is walkable or easy to get around by bike, which doubles as a cost-saving and exercise-rich way of navigating from place to place.
Liverpool is located in a cluster of towns and cities which are well worth a visit. Manchester, Bolton, Preston and Blackburn are all within an hour’s train journey, and the coastlines of North Wales and the Fylde Peninsula are just a little further out. Blackpool offers a traditional English seaside experience at a fraction of the cost of Devon or Cornwall, for less than £20 return train journey with a Student Railcard.
Liverpool has an almost limitless number of things to do. Your uni will have a wide range of clubs and societies which you may choose to join, and participation may include the purchase of equipment or travelling to certain places so bear this in mind. There are a lot of opportunities to shop, with many high-street and designer outlets at more affordable prices than in London. A cinema ticket costs around £12 so you’ll always have an inexpensive entertainment options within a short walk of your accommodation.
Keep in mind that some courses may involve the purchase of books or specialised equipment, as well as photocopying or printing costs around submission deadlines. Budget for this, and you’ll feel prepared when the time comes.
In total, we’d recommend a budget of around £1,000 excluding tuition fees when you’re studying in Liverpool. Depending on your lifestyle and your accommodation, this figure could vary a lot, so take into consideration your personal circumstances when you plan your budget.