The cheapest standard self-catered room Durham University publishes costs £169 a week, up to £226 for the dearest (2026/27). The maximum maintenance loan outside London is £10,830 a year — £208 a week across a full year.
| Cheapest self-catered room | £169/week |
| Dearest standard room | £226/week |
| Typical contract | 39 weeks |
| Cheapest room, whole contract | £6,597 |
| Dearest room, whole contract | £8,807 |
| Max maintenance loan (outside London, 2026/27) | £10,830/year |
| Cheapest hall as share of max loan | 61% |
Converted from Durham's published annual charges over its 39-week contract. Room prices are set university-wide, so a room type costs the same in any college. These are the self-catered colleges only — most Durham colleges are catered and add a compulsory catering charge of about £82 a week, taking the real total past £300.
Take the maximum loan, pay for the cheapest hall, and £4,233 remains for the year — £81 a week across 52 weeks for food, transport, books and everything else. Most students don't get the maximum loan: entitlement tapers with household income, so the real gap is usually wider and made up by part-time work or family.
The 11 universities nearest Durham University on cheapest published room, plus the cheapest and dearest of all 37. The full table has every one.
| University | From | To | % of max loan |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of York | £149 | £251 | 55% |
| University of Sheffield | £151 | £212 | 59% |
| University College London | £154 | £403 | 57% |
| Coventry University | £154 | £232 | 55% |
| University of Reading | £166 | £227 | 61% |
| Durham University | £169 | £226 | 61% |
| Aston University | £172 | £178 | 70% |
| Imperial College London | £174 | £425 | 63% |
| Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) | £177 | £300 | 62% |
| University of Liverpool | £177 | £234 | 64% |
| University of East Anglia (UEA) | £178 | £210 | 68% |
| University of Bath | £98 | £295 | 34% |
| London School of Economics (LSE) | £226 | £391 | 79% |
University-published self-catered rooms run £169–£226 a week for 2026/27, on contracts of about 39 weeks.
The maximum loan (outside London) covers the cheapest hall with £4,233 a year to spare — but only at the maximum, which most students don't get.
No — these are the university's own halls, from its own price list. Private halls and shared houses vary more in both directions; the university figures are the ones that are actually published and comparable.
Rents read 18 August 2026 from durham.ac.uk; loan maxima from GOV.UK. Loan entitlement depends on household income and where the student lives, not where the university is.
Rents checked 19 August 2026 from each university's own pricing pages; loans from GOV.UK. This is information, not financial advice.