The East Midlands is home to a number of top British unis and offers a fantastic student experience to match. In this guide, we break down the cost of living in this centrally located region and show you how to make the most of your student budget while you study.
Updated: 16 Jan 2025
The East Midlands occupies a section of central England, stretching from Derby to the east coast. Historically a highly forested region, it’s the home of the legendary Robin Hood, and later became a major industrial centre and the birthplace of factory production.
Approximately five million people live there today, and it’s well known for its classic English foods such as Red Leicester cheese, the Melton Mowbray pork pie, Stilton cheese, the Lincolnshire sausage, the Bakewell pudding, and the Bramley apple.
Our guide to the cost of living in the East Midlands shows you how to make the most of your student experience while staying within a modest budget.
There are seven unis in the East Midlands, some are relatively new and some are nearly 200 years old. The region has a rich heritage of education, industry and invention and you can be assured that wherever you choose to study will provide you with a valuable education. Tuition fees are likely going to be the same wherever you go. Undergraduate fees in England are capped at £9,250 for UK students (this will be rising to £9,535 from the 2025/26 academic year), and most unis charge this rate.
Student Finance offer two kinds of loan to help you out with university expenses. Their tuition fee loan covers the entire course cost and is directly paid to your uni at the start of the year. There is also a maintenance loan available, which is worth up to around £10,000 per year (this will be rising to up to £10,544 from the 2025/26 academic year) based on your household income and is designed to offset additional costs such as rent, groceries, travel and other university related expenses. Repayment only begins once you’re in work and earning over the repayment threshold for your plan, which gives you a lot of financial freedom after graduation.
Each uni in the East Midlands has a financial services department which lists a generous selection of scholarships and bursaries, aimed at giving you opportunities to subsidise your university costs through hard work and academic achievement, or supporting you in the case that you need extra funding. Most unis offer scholarships for both domestic and international students, so check out your chosen institution’s funding page to find out more.
Each of the East Midlands’s seven universities offers placement in halls of residence for first-year students. This is a convenient, social and financially affordable way to kickstart your time at uni, since most halls provide a package deal which includes all your bills, internet and building security for a fixed price. Typically, you’ll have a single self-catered room, sometimes with an ensuite bathroom and often arranged within a shared flat of around 3-8 other students.
Prices in halls of residence vary between approximately £120 - £190 per week and are available for the exact number of weeks you’ll be attending uni, so you won’t be spending money on accommodation you’re not using if you choose to spend the summer elsewhere.
The East Midlands has one of the most affordable rental markets in the UK, which is great news for students. The most expensive city to rent in is Nottingham, however compared to much of the country it would still be considered inexpensive. A studio flat in the heart of the city costs £920 per month, and this drops to £720 if you move out of the centre.
Derby is the cheapest, with an extraordinarily low average rental price of £750 for a city centre studio apartment and around £1,150 per month for a three-bedroom flat. That’s less than £500 per person, meaning you’ll have significantly more disposable student loan to spend on other things. Derby also has the lowest utilities bills in the region, at around £85 per person per month.
The cost of food tends to be lower in large cities, and the uni towns of the East Midlands are a good example of this. Serviced by large brand chains and low-cost alternatives like Aldi and Lidl, there are many ways to save cash and eat well. Prices are fairly consistent between Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham, and average grocery items in Northampton cost the following:
Milk (1L): £1.10
Bread loaf: £1.14
Rice (1kg): £1.04
Eggs (12): £2.67
Cheese (1kg): £5.11
Chicken fillets (1kg): £7.67
Apples (1kg): £2.68
Potatoes (1kg): £1.09
Many places have discounted food initiatives such as the app ‘Too Good to Go’, where you can find special low prices at the end of the day.
If you like to eat out then you'll have plenty of opportunity to do so in the East Midlands. The region is famous for inventing all kinds of well-known English foods, from cooked meat dishes to cheeses, pies, puddings and pastries so there's nowhere better to grab an authentic bite to eat. Additionally, the East Midlands is a multicultural landscape, and each uni town has a contemporary mix of world cuisines to discover.
At the modest end of the scale, an inexpensive meal is priced much the same as anywhere else, between £12 - £15. However, when you look at prices for a three-course meal for two at a mid-range restaurant, the relative cost becomes clear. Leicester, Derby, Northampton and Nottingham all have an average price of £50 or less, with Northampton averaging just £45 for a dinner date. That's 35% less than the cost in London and means that you can afford to eat out more often.
Our top tip is to look out for ‘bring your own bottle’ or BYOB restaurants, which are plentiful across the East Midlands and allow you to save quite a significant amount of money by bringing your own alcoholic drinks. Speaking of beer, the average cost of a pint in both Derby and Northampton comes in at less than £4. Cheers!
There was once a time where canals were the main and fastest way to travel around the Midlands. Travelling by boat has fallen out of fashion, but fortunately in its place is an effective and integrated network of buses and rail.
Public transport prices are consistent across the East Midlands, and a one-way ticket will cost between £2.30 - £3.10. Monthly passes are generally between £60 - £80 which is about half the cost of a monthly pass in London, and as a young person you can save another 1/3 by using a Rail Card or student bus pass, bringing your transport budget down to comfortably less than £2 per day.
If you’re keen to save even more money while staying active, then consider getting a bicycle. It’s a fast and free method of getting around, once you’ve bought the equipment, and is good for the environment as an added bonus!
Wherever you choose to study, your course will probably require some additional expenses such as stationery, photocopying and printing costs, so keep a small budget free for this. You never know when you might need it most.
The East Midlands has many extra-curricular activities to explore besides going to the pub. It’s a big sporting region, and there are many top-flight teams in both men’s and women’s leagues in cricket, football and rugby. Student concession tickets are available at many stadiums, so you can enjoy world-class sporting action at an affordable rate. Cinema tickets cost around £10 - £12 wherever you are, so you’ll always have somewhere inexpensive to be entertained.