how expensive is york?

trying to look into the affordability of my uni offer locations, especially looking at the second and third years. is york an affordable city? i've seen it being referred to as one of the safest and most student friendly, but is it affordable? most second and third year accommodation i've found jumps above the £200 per week bracket and i'm unsure how the general cost of shopping, for example, is too. how easy is it to find a part-time job alongside uni, and is it a manageable work load?

if anyone has any input on this, it would be greatly appreciated!!

Reply 1

University of York

Official Rep

Original post

by neptune_

trying to look into the affordability of my uni offer locations, especially looking at the second and third years. is york an affordable city? i've seen it being referred to as one of the safest and most student friendly, but is it affordable? most second and third year accommodation i've found jumps above the £200 per week bracket and i'm unsure how the general cost of shopping, for example, is too. how easy is it to find a part-time job alongside uni, and is it a manageable work load?
if anyone has any input on this, it would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi there,

Congratulations on your offer to study at York 🎉 What course(s) did you apply for?

There are a couple of resources I'd recommend you use to get started on your research about the cost of living in York:

•

Our undergraduate living costs page gives some advice on the things you'll probably need/want to spend money on

•

Our Cost of Living hub has details of the financial support the University offers to current students

•

We have a playlist of budgeting and finance videos by our current students on our student vlog YouTube channel

•

Look at student lets in York on websites like Spare Room and Right Move to get an idea of prices for private accommodation. But please bear in mind that by this point in the year students have often already arranged their accommodation for the next academic year, so what's available right now is not necessarily representative of the full housing pool.

•

You can view accommodation prices on campus on our accommodation pages, however these prices are for 2024/25 so might change for 2025/26.

I've tried to answer your other questions below:

I'm unsure how the general cost of shopping is?

York has several large supermarkets which are either a bus ride away from campus, or within walking distance, including: Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Co-op and Asda

For example, to get to Aldi you would catch the U3 bus from Campus East Interchange or Heslington Hall on Campus West to the Imphal Barracks bus stop, then cross the road to Aldi. Supermarket prices in York are the standard for the UK (they aren't at an uplift, like prices in London). So to get an idea of the cost for your weekly shop, I'd try writing a meal plan and shopping list; go to your local supermarket / online supermarket and work out the cost of your shop based on their prices.

How easy is it to find a part-time job alongside uni, and is it a manageable work load?

York is full of shops, bars, restaurants and cafes, so there are plenty of opportunities for part-time work based in the city. You could have look on Indeed to get an idea of what jobs are available and what the pay is like. There are also opportunities for working with the University, such as being a student ambassador and a student content creator. When I was a student, I used to earn some extra money by tutoring Biology and Chemistry GCSE online. I found doing this really rewarding, and very flexible as I could plan the lesson times around my own schedule. I was also a student ambassador, which was great for me as I could just pick up shifts whenever I had time.

The level of part-time job you'll be able to manage will depend on couple of things: the number of contact hours per week in your degree, studying commitments, social commitments and how much rest time you need.

I studied Biology and I personally couldn't manage a regular part-time job alongside my degree as I had quite a lot of contact hours and I needed quite a lot of downtime to myself or with friends to keep my mental health on track. So, I took on part-time roles that I could totally fit around me, like tutoring and being a student ambassador.

I hope this helps, if you have any other questions about life in York, please let us know and we'll do our best to answer them 😄
-Hannah

Reply 2

Aih514

You are definitely looking at £180-£200+ a week in rent but this is bills included. Many say York prices are nearing London prices but without the extra allowance from SFE. I go to York and haven’t struggled with money but I do get a high amount from SFE and the York Bursary which you’re given automatically if you fit the criteria (think it’s 2k in first year and 1k for every year after that if your household income is below I believe 35k?) so there is support there. As for part time work I’d really recommend applying for YuCall if you join the uni you’ll receive emails about it, it’s a bi-annual telethon calling up alumni and asking for donations to the universities funds the current pay is £13.03ph so it’s great and you only do 6 hours a week (I did it last campaign and it’s very convenient as it’s on campus and only a small number of hours so can focus on uni work so deffo a manageable workload). Let me know if you have any other questions

Reply 3

sophiealexandra9

Original post

by neptune_

trying to look into the affordability of my uni offer locations, especially looking at the second and third years. is york an affordable city? i've seen it being referred to as one of the safest and most student friendly, but is it affordable? most second and third year accommodation i've found jumps above the £200 per week bracket and i'm unsure how the general cost of shopping, for example, is too. how easy is it to find a part-time job alongside uni, and is it a manageable work load?
if anyone has any input on this, it would be greatly appreciated!!

York is quite expensive! Rent would be like 190+ a week!

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