Yorkshire and the Humber is a large northern region of England, encompassing a stretch of the North Sea coastline and a wide landscape of hills and dales for which the region is particularly known. Yorkshire and the Humber generally has cool summers, relatively mild winters, and supports a population of more than five million. With nine universities across six large cities there are plenty of places to study, and the cost-of-living is generally lower than in the south of England. Read on to find out how to live large on a university-friendly budget in this popular student region.
There are nine universities in Yorkshire and the Humber region, offering thousands of course options across all kinds of subject areas. Most of these courses will be priced in line with the government tuition fee cap, £9,250 per year (this will be rising to £9,535 from the 2025/26 academic year).
Typically, students take out a loan from Student Finance to cover this cost. It’s straightforward and convenient, and covers the entire fee amount, paid directly to your uni at the start of each year. Better still, it doesn’t need repaying until you are earning more than the threshold for your loan plan each year. There’s even a maintenance loan available, worth up to almost £10,000 (this will be rising to up to £10,544 from the 2025/26 academic year) depending on your household income and paid in instalments throughout the year.
Most unis have a range of scholarships and bursaries which can be a great source of additional funding for those who meet the criteria. We recommend looking at your chosen institution’s fees and funding page to see what’s available. You might be surprised what you can apply for. The University of Hull has a wide range of options for both home and international students, and the University of Bradford has an astonishing 189 undergraduate scholarships available! These include awards for academic, sporting or musical excellence, and many more. These are typically non-repayable and are redeemable in a number of ways, from cash grants to tuition fee discounts.
Yorkshire and the Humber’s six university cities have populations ranging between 140,000 and 780,000, so wherever you choose to study, you’ll find a large resident population and plenty of housing options.
Your uni will likely have its own halls of residence buildings which provide a convenient and cost-effective option for your first-year accommodation. Prices typically vary between £110 - £200 per week, and there are a range of room options from single room, en-suites, shared flats and even studio apartments.
Housing is usually self-catered although in some cases there are catered options too. While this costs more per week, it’s worth thinking about how much you’d spend on your weekly grocery shopping, consider the time you’d save buying, cooking and cleaning up after your meals. You might decide that the time saving aspect is worth the extra expense.
For private accommodation rental, the most expensive city in Yorkshire and the Humber is York, and the least expensive is Bradford, which is approximately two thirds the price for a studio apartment on your own or a shared house with friends. Hull is also a very affordable place to rent, with a studio apartment in the city centre costing just £550 per month, and a three-bedroom apartment priced at £700, which is amazingly less than £250 per person per month. Hull also has the cheapest utilities rates, and you can expect to pay around £70 per person per month.
The uni towns of Yorkshire and the Humber have a wide range of supermarket chains such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons, and Waitrose. With a bit of shopping around you can easily find reliable low-cost alternatives such as Lidl and Aldi.
Leeds has the largest student population in the region, and the average prices for common food and drinks items in the city are:
Milk (1L): £1.17
Bread loaf: £1.38
Rice (1kg): £2.25
Eggs (12): £3.04
Cheese (1kg): £7.77
Chicken fillets (1kg): £6.01
Apples (1kg): £2.93
Potatoes (1kg): £1.17
Our top tip: Leeds is also the home of ‘Too Good to Go’, a food and groceries app which is now accessible in many cities in the UK and abroad. It addresses the food waste issue by offering heavily discounted deals at the end of each day.
Yorkshire and the Humber has a great choice of cities to go out in, and as a multicultural region with more than five million people, there are many different types of cuisine to choose from. A low-cost meal in Sheffield or Hull will cost around £11 - £13, and even in York where prices are the highest in the region, you’ll only pay an average of £15. A three-course dinner date in Bradford is still very affordable at £55, so all the more reason to go out and explore. Wherever you go, you’re likely to find the cost of a pint of beer at around £4, and Yorkshire has a tradition of ale brewing, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to sample some local flavours.
With such large populations, each uni town is well set up to throw a student party. There are numerous pubs, bars and clubs offering student discounts and drinks deals, so keep an eye out for opportunities to cut costs without limiting your fun.
Yorkshire and the Humber has a remarkably consistent and inexpensive public transport network. In the five cities we surveyed, average prices for a one-way ticket differed by less than £1, between £2.00 and £2.95. Monthly passes were similarly consistent, around £70 for unlimited travel with the exception of Leeds, which is a little higher at £80. Don’t forget that you can apply your student discount to this, bringing the average cost down to comfortably under £2 per day. Not bad at all!
Taxis are generally around £1.20 per km which is lower than most places in the UK, so if you need to get somewhere specific or in a hurry then you won’t need to spend too much for the convenience.
Cycling is another cheap way to travel around, and your university should have plenty of on-site bike locking stations to make parking and protecting your bike convenient.
There are plenty of extracurricular things to do in Yorkshire and the Humber. From visiting the Pennines, or North York Moors, or the classic seaside town of Scarborough, there’s lots of reasons to allocate a bit of cash towards a day trip or weekend getaway.
Yorkshire is a keen sporting county, with many top-flight teams competing in Football, Cricket and Rugby leagues every weekend, and students are often able to buy concession tickets at a discounted rate. If you fancy a low-cost evening of entertainment, you can always go to the cinema, and Hull has the cheapest average ticket price, at only £6.