A three-year university degree in England now costs a student approximately ?90,000, including tuition fees and a ¡°minimum standard¡± of living expenses, according to new research.

Updating their work on the amount of money students need to get by, the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and Loughborough University researchers have estimated that first-year students in halls of residence need ?418 per week to cover their living costs ¨C including ?158 on rent.

This is more than second- and third-years, who were previously estimated to need ?366 a week, because of setting-up costs such as buying a laptop and kitchen equipment, and settling-in costs such as freshers¡¯ week activities.

Overall, students need ?21,126 in their first year, a report on the findings says, to meet the minimum socially acceptable standard of living.

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However, the maximum annual maintenance loan available to people from low-income households is ?10,544, just half of the costs faced.

This works out at about ?61,000 across three years?¨C?or up to ?77,000 in London. And, when tuition fees are included, a standard three-year degree in England can now cost roughly ?90,000, or more than ?100,000 if the course is in London.

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Even if students receive the highest levels of maintenance support, the report, produced in conjunction with TechnologyOne, finds that they must work more than 20 hours per week in term-time and holidays on the National Minimum Wage to meet the basic standard of living.

With increased costs, less disposable income, longer commutes to campus and less time to join clubs and societies, authors warn that very few people who attend university today are able to achieve the ¡°traditional student experience¡±.

Matt Padley, co-director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough, and one of the authors of the report, said participating in the student experience is especially important in one¡¯s first year to make connections and establish friendships.

¡°Finding your feet as a first-year student is difficult enough without having to worry about balancing the costs of ¡®settling in¡¯ against the cost of rent and food.¡±

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Padley said clear evidence about the minimum needs and costs facing students provides a starting point for a much-needed conversation about financial support, as well as showing the importance of reducing costs.

The report calls for an uplift in maintenance support, with a boost for first-year students, and for greater transparency around the level of paid work that is needed to meet costs.

Hepi director Nick Hillman said there was a limited understanding of the true cost of being a student in the ¡°corridors of power¡±.

¡°Maintenance support is currently woefully inadequate, leading students to live in substandard ways, to take on a dangerous number of hours of paid employment on top of their full-time studies or to take out commercial debts at high interest rates.¡±

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Authors also warned that the findings show three serious risks to the UK sector ¨C unequal access to higher education, and reduction in the quality of the student experience and the sustainability of the sector.

Compared with annual living costs?of ?21,126 for first-year students in England, the report found that it was slightly lower elsewhere in the UK ¨C ?18,244 in Northern Ireland, ?19,836 in Scotland and ?20,208 in Wales.

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Students living and studying in Scotland have 59 per cent of their costs covered by the maximum maintenance support and those in Wales have 63 per cent of their costs covered.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com