Halls vs Loanwhat student rent leaves you to live on

University of Aberdeen: halls vs the loan

The cheapest standard self-catered room University of Aberdeen publishes costs £111 a week, up to £191 for the dearest (2026/27). The maximum maintenance loan outside London is £10,830 a year — £208 a week across a full year.

£111/week cheapest published self-catered room · 2026/27

The numbers

Cheapest self-catered room£111/week
Dearest standard room£191/week
Typical contract40 weeks
Cheapest room, whole contract£4,440
Dearest room, whole contract£7,640
Max maintenance loan (outside London, 2026/27)£10,830/year
Cheapest hall as share of max loan41%

Page is titled 'Accommodation Costs 2026/27' and lists self-catered accommodation only — no catered option in the cost breakdown. Low = Adam Smith House and Fyfe House standard rooms £111. High = £191 for Kings Hall, New Carnegie Court, Elphinstone Road Flats en-suite and South House en-suite. Middle: Elphinstone Road shared-facility £133, Grant Court £145-£151, Hector Boice Court / Keith House / North Court £151, South House shared £147. Contract lengths vary by residence: mostly 40 weeks, with 41 and 50-week options at several halls (Elphinstone Road, Kings Hall, South House). Cheapest entry point of all 20 universities checked.

What's left after rent

Take the maximum loan, pay for the cheapest hall, and £6,390 remains for the year — £123 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.

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Universities that cost about the same

The 11 universities nearest University of Aberdeen on cheapest published room, plus the cheapest and dearest of all 37. The full table has every one.

UniversityFromTo % of max loan
University of Bath£98£29534%
University of Nottingham£99£23540%
University of Birmingham£107£21241%
University of Aberdeen£111£19141%
University of Portsmouth£115£20042%
Newcastle University£118£24343%
University of Southampton£118£23645%
University of Manchester£122£24646%
University of Sussex£123£23644%
University of Exeter£125£261
University of Leeds£125£22548%
London School of Economics (LSE)£226£39179%

Questions

How much is student accommodation at University of Aberdeen?

University-published self-catered rooms run £111–£191 a week for 2026/27, on contracts of about 40 weeks.

Does the maintenance loan cover it?

The maximum loan (outside London) covers the cheapest hall with £6,390 a year to spare — but only at the maximum, which most students don't get.

Are these the private-sector rents too?

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.

Other universities

Rents read 18 August 2026 from abdn.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.