Halls vs Loanwhat student rent leaves you to live on

University of Bristol: halls vs the loan

The cheapest standard self-catered room University of Bristol publishes costs £136 a week, up to £280 for the dearest (2026/27). The maximum maintenance loan outside London is £10,830 a year — £208 a week across a full year.

£136/week cheapest published self-catered room · 2026/27

The numbers

Cheapest self-catered room£136/week
Dearest standard room£280/week
Typical contract38 weeks
Cheapest room, whole contract£5,187
Dearest room, whole contract£10,640
Max maintenance loan (outside London, 2026/27)£10,830/year
Cheapest hall as share of max loan48%

The £136.50 low is a twin room with a sink at Manor Hall. Bristol is unusually expensive at the top of its standard range. Studios run £285-£340 and are excluded.

What's left after rent

Take the maximum loan, pay for the cheapest hall, and £5,643 remains for the year — £109 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 Bristol on cheapest published room, plus the cheapest and dearest of all 37. The full table has every one.

UniversityFromTo % of max loan
Keele University£128£23245%
University of Glasgow£130£22547%
Cardiff University£132£20049%
University of Strathclyde£133£18248%
Royal Holloway, University of London£135£25847%
University of Bristol£136£28048%
University of Surrey£138£24748%
Lancaster University£139£20651%
University of Plymouth£141£23353%
University of York£149£25155%
University of Sheffield£151£21259%
University of Bath£98£29534%
London School of Economics (LSE)£226£39179%

Questions

How much is student accommodation at University of Bristol?

University-published self-catered rooms run £136–£280 a week for 2026/27, on contracts of about 38 weeks.

Does the maintenance loan cover it?

The maximum loan (outside London) covers the cheapest hall with £5,643 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 bristol.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.