The cheapest standard self-catered room Imperial College London publishes costs £174 a week, up to £425 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 | £174/week |
| Dearest standard room | £425/week |
| Typical contract | 39 weeks |
| Cheapest room, whole contract | £6,786 |
| Dearest room, whole contract | £16,575 |
| Max maintenance loan (outside London, 2026/27) | £10,830/year |
| Cheapest hall as share of max loan | 63% |
Full 2026-27 room-by-room table published with bed-space counts. All UG halls self-catered. Low = Wilson House small standard single with restricted view £174 (standard non-RV equivalent £179); Wilson House medium standard single £189, large standard single £199. High = premium en-suite single at Eastside and Southside Halls £425; standard en-suite single at those halls £352; Beit Hall en-suite single £308; Wilson House en-suite £295; Woodward premium en-suite £259, en-suite £236; Kemp Porter en-suite £236. Twin rooms excluded: £150-£199 per person (Wilson House standard twin £150 is the cheapest bed space overall). Licence length confirmed at 39 weeks for first-year undergraduates for 2026-27 (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/students/accommodation/prospective/ug/accommodation-licence/), with summer extension available at some halls; 51 weeks for Silwood Park PGs. Rent includes utilities, internet, contents insurance, maintenance and communal cleaning.
Take the maximum loan, pay for the cheapest hall, and £4,044 remains for the year — £78 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 Imperial College London 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 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% |
| King's College London (KCL) | £200 | £433 | 74% |
| London School of Economics (LSE) | £226 | £391 | 79% |
| University of Bath | £98 | £295 | 34% |
University-published self-catered rooms run £174–£425 a week for 2026/27, on contracts of about 39 weeks.
The maximum loan (outside London) covers the cheapest hall with £4,044 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 imperial.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.