Reading is a historic town in Berkshire, and one of the best-connected places in the UK. In fact, it’s technically the largest town in the whole of England, and is home to the University of Reading, a red brick uni with a wide offering of high-quality courses. Two rivers run through the town centre, and there are 20 woodlands and five nature reserves within the borough, making it a green and pleasant place to live and work. Its close proximity to London makes it an attractive place to live, at a fraction of the cost of living in the capital. This guide will explain some of our best money-saving tips and tricks, which will allow you to live large in Reading, on a modest student income.
Learn more about the University of Reading.
The yearly cost of tuition fees for an undergraduate degree at the University of Reading is most probably going to be set at £9,250 (this will be rising to £9,535 from the 2025/26 academic year), which is the maximum allowable by current government guidelines. While this sounds like a lot to manage, you can easily apply for a loan from Student Finance to cover the entirety of this amount, paid directly to the university at the start of each school year.
They also offer a means-tested maintenance loan which is worth up to almost £10,000 per year, which subsidises your accommodation and living costs (this will be rising to up to £10,544 from the 2025/26 academic year). Sound good so far? What’s even better is that you’ll only need to start paying these loans back once you’re graduated and earning above the repayment threshold for your loan plan.
The University of Reading also offers a range of scholarships aimed at helping talented and hard-working students to offset the cost of study. The Vice Chancellor Global Scholarship Award is one such scheme, which allocated 100 awards worth £4,000 each to international undergraduate students joining the university.
Learn more about student finance.
Halls of residences are a great place to source accommodation for your first year in Reading. They are fun, affordable, and extremely convenient, located within a short walk of campus and shared by your new university classmates and peers.
Prices start at around £140 per week for a single room with shared facilities and go up to £210 for the largest and most luxurious rooms. There are also entire studios, as well as one- and two-bedroom flats available for upwards of £230 per week. All contracts include utilities bills, internet, on-site laundry facilities and often a common room or social space.
You’ll be part of a community numbering more than 17,000 students, most of whom live locally. There’s a large demand for student housing, as well as accommodation for young professionals drawn to the town for its employment opportunities, as well as its commutable distance from London.
You can expect to pay around £1,250 per month for a one-bedroom apartment in the city centre, or £2,100 for a three-bedroom apartment. While this is more expensive than a lot of other uni towns in the region, it’s still approximately half the cost of the equivalent accommodation in London, and prices drop further once you move away from the town centre. Don’t forget to factor utilities bills into your monthly budget, and these are approximately £65 per person, per month in a shared apartment.
Reading is a large and well-connected town, with a wide choice of supermarket chains and independent grocery shops scattered around the town centre. There are also much larger outlets and commercial wholesalers located in the peripheral industrial parks around the edges of Reading, where you can find the best multi-buy bargains and highest value. Some average prices for frequently bought food and drinks items are:
Milk (1L): £1.03
Bread Loaf: £1.12
Rice (1kg): £1.81
Eggs (12): £2.74
Cheese (1kg): £6.60
Chicken fillets (1kg): £6.32
Apples (1kg): £2.30
Potatoes (1kg): £0.89
These prices are noticeably lower than in nearby London, and you can save even more money by shopping at low-cost outlets such as Aldi and Lidl.
Reading is a large and multicultural town with plenty of budget-friendly cafés and restaurants for you to explore. A dinner date for two people at a mid-range restaurant will likely set you back around £65, and if you're looking for a quick snack at a fast-food or street-food vendor then you can expect to pay around £6.50.
A pint of beer is only £5 on average. Remember that the University of Reading has a large and active students’ union, and their own bars are often the cheapest and most sociable place to meet with fellow students for a quick drink. Check out 3sixty, Mojos, Mondial, and Monterey Lounge for best prices and regular events.
The town is well known for the famous Reading Festival and is well set up to host events, from underground bands and dance music acts, to comedy, theatre and performing arts. Our top tip is to plan ahead to find the best and cheapest tickets. Early bird tickets can often be purchased for as little as half the price of one bought on the day.
A one-way ticket for a local bus in Reading averages around £2, which makes it an affordable way to get around, even on a modest budget. You might consider getting a monthly travel pass if you’re using the services every day – passes start around £65. You can save even more by getting a student pass. There are many schemes available and it’s worth asking around. For example, a 16-25 railcard will give you a discount of 1/3 on all train tickets in the UK for a whole year! Reading is located within a 20-minute train ride of Paddington Station, making it remarkably easy to access central London and all the opportunities it brings.
The University of Reading Students’ Union organises a large number of clubs and societies, including sports teams, language and culture groups and so much more. They’re a brilliant way to meet people and make new friends, and even though they are mostly free to join, you may wish to factor in a monthly budget for society-related expenses such as field trips, equipment or social evenings.
There’s plenty of things to do in Reading, from museums and galleries to shopping and eating out. Cinema tickets average around £11, which is cheaper than the cost of a ticket in London, so you’ll always have an inexpensive option for an evening’s entertainment.
Overall, living in Reading you'll need to budget around £1,100 per month. This figure will vary a lot depending on the cost of your accommodation and your lifestyle, so be sure to take these into account when planning your budget.