The cheapest standard self-catered room University College London publishes costs £154 a week, up to £403 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 | £154/week |
| Dearest standard room | £403/week |
| Typical contract | 40 weeks |
| Cheapest room, whole contract | £6,154 |
| Dearest room, whole contract | £16,122 |
| Max maintenance loan (outside London, 2026/27) | £10,830/year |
| Cheapest hall as share of max loan | 57% |
London rents run roughly double the regional universities here, which is what the London maintenance loan uplift has to cover — and does not. UCL offers 572 London Plan Affordable rooms at about £200 a week. Studios, flats and maisonettes excluded.
Take the maximum loan, pay for the cheapest hall, and £4,676 remains for the year — £90 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 University 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 of Surrey | £138 | £247 | 48% |
| Lancaster University | £139 | £206 | 51% |
| University of Plymouth | £141 | £233 | 53% |
| 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% |
| University of Bath | £98 | £295 | 34% |
| London School of Economics (LSE) | £226 | £391 | 79% |
University-published self-catered rooms run £154–£403 a week for 2026/27, on contracts of about 40 weeks.
The maximum loan (outside London) covers the cheapest hall with £4,676 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 ucl.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.