How much are tuition fees in the UK and is university worth it? | UK News

People applying to university this year have until 18:00 today to submit their Ucas applications.

But with increased living costs, many are questioning whether university is worth it.

From 2028, some students from lower-income households in England will be eligible for maintenance grants of up to £1,000 a year, the government says.

Maintenance loans will also rise annually to help with living costs.

In August 2025, the annual cost of an undergraduate degree in England and Wales went up to £9,535 a year, a 3% increase on the previous yearly fee of £9,250.

Tuition fees had been frozen since 2017, and universities had expressed growing concerns about funding pressures, with more than four in 10 universities believed to be in a financial deficit.

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.

Students had been told they could see cuts to staffing and courses as a result.

In October 2025, the government said that university tuition fees in England would go up every year in line with inflation from 2026.

They are expected to increase every year by an inflation measure called the Retail Price Index minus mortgage payment interest, or RPIx.

This measure fluctuates, but a change at its rate in October 2025 – when the change was announced – would see tuition fees rise by approximately £400 a year, to more than £9,900.

UK nations set their own fees.

In Northern Ireland, the maximum annual cost of an undergraduate degree is £4,855 for Northern Irish students or £9,535 for other UK students.

In Scotland, undergraduate tuition is free for the majority of Scottish students and £9,535 for other UK students.

Student loans are made up of two components:

• a loan for tuition fees
• a maintenance loan for living costs

Most people are entitled to the tuition fee element, which is equal to the annual cost of their course.

Maintenance loans are means-tested, so how much you can borrow depends on your family’s income, and may not cover your actual bills.

The amount available rose in 2025, although this also across the UK.

For example, the maximum maintenance loan for students from England who live away from their parents outside London increased to £10,544 a year, up from £10,227.

The maximum maintenance loan for students in England will also increase by inflation every year from 2026.

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.

You make one payment to cover both your tuition fees and maintenance loans.

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.

MoneySavingExpert.com’s Martin Lewis said the extended repayment period would increase “costs by thousands” for lower and mid-earners.

Graduates in England who became liable to pay back their loans in April 2025 had an average debt of £53,000, according to the Student Loans Company.

Student rents have risen sharply in recent years, alongside other living costs.

The Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) says average weekly costs for a first-year student in 2023-24 were £260 without rent, or £418 when rent is included.

Average annual rent across 10 university towns and cities – excluding London and Edinburgh – rose from £6,520 in 2021-22 to £7,475 in 2023-24.

Separate figures for London found that the average rent for purpose-built student accommodation in the capital was £13,595 in 2024-25.

Hepi has said students need £61,000 over the course of a three-year degree in order to have a “minimum socially acceptable standard of living” – and that’s excluding the £9,353-per-year tuition fees. In London, that figure is £77,000.

The think tank’s 2025 student survey found the percentage of full-time undergraduates in paid employment during term time was 68% – up from 45% in 2022.

In general, most graduates can expect to earn more than non-graduates, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

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.

When measured against prices in 2015, graduates surveyed in 2022 were earning £448 per year less on average than their counterparts who graduated three years earlier.

Earnings also depend on the subject studied and university attended.

Research by the IFS think tank 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.

In contrast, women who study law, economics or medicine earn over £250,000 more during their career than if they did not have a degree.

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 £500,000 more.

Government data published in 2025 suggests median graduate pay rose to £42,000 in 2024, ahead of the £30,500 earned by non-graduates – though this data does not account for external factors, like prior academic attainment.

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.

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 in England.

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.

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”.