Hazel Shearing<\/span>Education correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n People applying to university this year have until 18:00 today to submit their Ucas applications.<\/p>\n But with increased living costs, many are questioning whether university is worth it.<\/p>\n From 2028, some students from lower-income households in England will be eligible for maintenance grants of up to \u00a31,000 a year, the government says.<\/p>\n Maintenance loans will also rise annually to help with living costs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In August 2025, the annual cost of an undergraduate degree in England and Wales went up to \u00a39,535 a year<\/a>, a 3% increase on the previous yearly fee of \u00a39,250.<\/p>\n Tuition fees had been frozen since 2017, and universities had expressed growing concerns about funding pressures, with more than four in 10 universities<\/a> believed to be in a financial deficit.<\/p>\n The recent period of high inflation meant tuition fees were worth less in real terms, and there have been fewer international students to help make up the financial shortfall.<\/p>\n Students had been told they could see cuts to staffing and courses as a result<\/a>.<\/p>\n In October 2025, the government said that university tuition fees in England would go up every year in line with inflation<\/a> from 2026. <\/p>\n They are expected to increase every year by an inflation measure called the Retail Price Index minus mortgage payment interest, or RPIx.<\/p>\n This measure fluctuates, but a change at its rate in October 2025 – when the change was announced – would see tuition fees rise by approximately \u00a3400 a year, to more than \u00a39,900.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n UK nations set their own fees.<\/p>\n In Northern Ireland<\/a>, the maximum annual cost of an undergraduate degree is \u00a34,855 for Northern Irish students or \u00a39,535 for other UK students.<\/p>\n In Scotland<\/a>, undergraduate tuition is free for the majority of Scottish students and \u00a39,535 for other UK students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Student loans are made up of two components<\/a>: <\/p>\n Most people are entitled to the tuition fee<\/b> element, which is equal to the annual cost of their course. <\/p>\n Maintenance loans<\/b> are means-tested, so how much you can borrow depends on your family’s income, and may not cover your actual bills. <\/p>\n The amount available rose in 2025, although this also across the UK. <\/p>\n For example, the maximum maintenance loan for students from England who live away from their parents outside London increased to \u00a310,544 a year, up from \u00a310,227. <\/p>\n The maximum maintenance loan for students in England will also increase by inflation every year from 2026<\/a>. <\/p>\n You are charged interest on your total loan from the day you take it out, but do not have to start paying it back until you until you earn a certain amount of money after graduation.<\/p>\n You make one payment to cover both your tuition fees and maintenance loans. <\/p>\n Repayment rules are also different across the UK. They changed in England in 2023, meaning current and future students are likely to pay back more, over a longer period of time, than those who went to university earlier.<\/p>\n MoneySavingExpert.com’s Martin Lewis said the extended repayment period would increase “costs by thousands” for lower and mid-earners.<\/a><\/p>\n Graduates in England who became liable to pay back their loans in April 2025 had an average debt of \u00a353,000<\/a>, according to the Student Loans Company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Student rents have risen sharply in recent years, alongside other living costs.<\/p>\n The Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi)<\/a> says average weekly costs for a first-year student in 2023-24 were \u00a3260 without rent, or \u00a3418 when rent is included.<\/p>\n Average annual rent across 10 university towns and cities<\/a> – excluding London and Edinburgh – rose from \u00a36,520 in 2021-22 to \u00a37,475 in 2023-24.<\/p>\n Separate figures for London found that<\/a> the average rent for purpose-built student accommodation in the capital was \u00a313,595 in 2024-25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hepi has said students need \u00a361,000 over the course of a three-year degree in order to have a “minimum socially acceptable standard of living” – and that’s excluding the \u00a39,353-per-year tuition fees. In London, that figure is \u00a377,000.<\/p>\n The think tank’s 2025 student survey<\/a> found the percentage of full-time undergraduates in paid employment during term time was 68% – up from 45% in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In general, most graduates can expect to earn more than non-graduates, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, when taking account of inflation, HESA says graduate wages have declined in real terms, though the level of the decline varies depending on which job you’re in.<\/p>\n When measured against prices in 2015, graduates surveyed in 2022 were earning \u00a3448 per year less on average than their counterparts who graduated three years earlier.<\/p>\n Earnings also depend on the subject studied and university attended.<\/p>\n Research by the IFS think tank<\/a> in England suggests that, on average, women who study creative arts and languages degrees earn the same amount in their lifetime as if they had not gone to university.<\/p>\n In contrast, women who study law, economics or medicine earn over \u00a3250,000 more during their career than if they did not have a degree.<\/p>\n Men who studied creative arts on average earn less across their lifetimes than if they had not attended university. Male medicine or economics graduates earn \u00a3500,000 more.<\/p>\n Government data published in 2025<\/a> suggests median graduate pay rose to \u00a342,000 in 2024, ahead of the \u00a330,500 earned by non-graduates – though this data does not account for external factors, like prior academic attainment.<\/p>\n Rose Stephenson, director of policy at Hepi, says graduates have “a strong pay and employment premium compared to non-graduates”, but that “individual outcomes differ” for different courses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Attending university can help students from poorer backgrounds earn more than their parents might have done, according to research by education charity the Sutton Trust<\/a> in England.<\/p>\n But it found that only a fifth of graduates who were eligible for free school meals went on to be in the top 20% of earners – compared to almost half of graduates who attended private schools.<\/a><\/p>\n The Sutton Trust says attending a selective university – such as those in the Russell Group of leading universities – gives young people the “best chance of being socially mobile”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/134e\/live\/f9445710-51a3-11f0-b4be-8f7caf53b80c.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nHow much are tuition fees in England and Wales and why have they gone up?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
How much are university fees in Northern Ireland and Scotland?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
How do student loans work?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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What does student accommodation cost across the UK?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nWhat extra financial help can students get?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Will I earn more money with a degree?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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