Budget calculator
University costs more than just tuition – and the UCAS Budget Calculator is here to help you plan for all of it. See what student life will really cost, compare locations, and build a budget that works for you.
Budget calculator
Understanding real costs, such as accommodation, food, travel, and extras, will help you avoid surprises and manage money confidently throughout your studies. The UCAS Budget Calculator will give tailored cost breakdowns by region, with features like monthly budgets, custom spending categories, and visual charts.
What is the UCAS Budget Calculator?
The UCAS Budget Calculator is a free tool that shows you the real cost of university life by using real student spending data to show personalised budgets based on your location, lifestyle, and accommodation. It breaks down your living costs and includes everything from where you'll live, to what groceries you buy, what transport you take, and what social activities you do.
How does it work?
The calculator breaks down your living costs and includes everything from where you'll live, to what groceries you buy, what transport you take, and what social activities you do using real student data. Based on the location you're planning to study in, the calculator will estimate how much each part of your university life will cost, allowing you to understand how far your budget can take you.
Can I customise my budget?
You can also customise the categories, add your own expenses, and watch it build into a monthly budget that's genuinely yours – with visual charts that make the numbers easy to understand at a glance.
Is the data accurate?
We’ve partnered with Blackbullion and StudentCrowd to bring together real-world student spend data and accommodation costs, so you can get a clearer idea of how much you might spend and plan your budget.
Whether you're a student taking your first steps towards financial independence, a parent or guardian trying to help them plan ahead, or just supporting someone through the process, the Budget Calculator gives you accurate, localised insights you can trust – and can help you raise your confidence to carry through to results day.
Blackbullion is the home of student money and has been used by over 450,000 students. Their mission is to help students develop the financial knowledge, confidence and skills needed to succeed in our fast moving world. The mission is led by the belief that we are all better off when everyone is money smart. The Blackbullion student budgeting app is the ultimate money management tool which uses the smartest technology to provide personalised budgeting tools and help students build their financial wellbeing through the AI driven coach.
Their platform brings together data on everyday student spending, including essentials like food, utilities, transport and lifestyle costs, helping you understand what it really costs to live and study in different locations. By using location-based averages and insights from real student behaviour, it shows how affordability can vary depending on where you choose to live.
That’s what powers the cost-of-living estimates in the Budget Calculator: real-world data that helps you build a realistic, personalised budget, feel more confident about your finances, and make informed decisions about what you can afford.
StudentCrowd was started in 2015 by three graduates who were frustrated with the lack of real information about the student experience. Today, they help students make confident decisions about where to study and where to live, and help the student accommodation sector understand what students actually want, so it can deliver a better experience to you.
The platform brings together verified reviews from real students alongside the most comprehensive dataset of student accommodation in the UK, so you can explore what's available, at what price, and what it's really like to live there. They update the data regularly with input from accommodation providers and public sources, so the options you see reflect what students are choosing today.
That's what powers the accommodation price ranges in the Budget Calculator: real, current data from the market, helping you budget confidently and make informed decisions.
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