The cheapest standard self-catered room Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) publishes costs £177 a week, up to £300 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 | £177/week |
| Dearest standard room | £300/week |
| Typical contract | 38 weeks |
| Cheapest room, whole contract | £6,716 |
| Dearest room, whole contract | £11,395 |
| Max maintenance loan (outside London, 2026/27) | £10,830/year |
| Cheapest hall as share of max loan | 62% |
London weighting applies. All residences self-catered. Low = Floyer House (Whitechapel) shared-bathroom room £176.75 on the standard 38.3-week UG licence; Albert Stern House £178.92-£196.28. High for a standard non-studio room = Eleanor Rosa House (Stratford) en-suite £299.88, but note that is a 50-week licence; the highest 38.3-week standard rate is France House en-suite plus £233.59, and Student Village en-suite standard runs £223.44-£229.39. Studios excluded: Albert Stern £225.12, Aspire Point £329.07. Twin rooms £144.27 pp. Contract_weeks reported as 38 (published as 38.3 weeks) for UG; PG licences are 50-51 weeks. Fees include energy, water, communal cleaning, Wi-Fi and possessions insurance.
Take the maximum loan, pay for the cheapest hall, and £4,114 remains for the year — £79 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 Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) 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 £177–£300 a week for 2026/27, on contracts of about 38 weeks.
The maximum loan (outside London) covers the cheapest hall with £4,114 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 qmul.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.