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Where is the cheapest place to live in Scotland as a student?

While the cost of university in Scotland is consistent for tuition fees, the price of student accommodation and rent depends on which city you live in. If you are applying for university with a smaller budget, shopping around for the best rent prices could save you thousands a year. 

How to find the most affordable place for students?

To help you decide which of the Scottish universities is best for you, we have used StudentCrowd’s live accommodation data* to rank the top 7 cheapest cities. This is the best data on student accommodation in the country. You can use our league table to make the smartest decision for your university budget. Although the weekly rent costs may only vary by a few pounds, over the course of your time at university this adds up.

So have a scroll through our league table! Find out which universities and cities are the best places for students to live Scotland, whilst also comparing the cost of rent and reading student reviews to learn about life there.

Last updated - 3rd March 2023

Top 7 Cheapest Cities in Scotland for Student Accommodation

 #1 
 

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Inverness

"Inverness is a great city to live in if your not a big fan of big busy cities. It's a small, picturesque city. It has plenty of places to eat out in and the shopping is good..."

Average is £120 per week

Universities in this location:   University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)

 
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Not available£112£137

 

 #2 
 

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Aberdeen

"Aberdeen is a really great student city, it isn’t too big and daunting or too small and claustrophobic. It has beautiful architecture and really nice surroundings if you want to get out of the city for a break as well as an amazing beach!"

Average is £139 per week
 
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£100£135£176

 

 #3 
 

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Dundee

"Dundee’s a lovely small city, also the sunniest city of scotland which helps making the most out of the experience!!"

Average is £148 per week

Universities in this location:  Abertay UniversityUniversity of Dundee

 
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£126£150£187

 

 #4
 

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Stirling

"Pretty affordable, nice natural and historic locations, accessible, friendly people, calm and quite"

Average is £159 per week

Universities in this location:  University of Stirling 

 
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£108£159£197

 

 #5 
 

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Glasgow

"Glasgow is a student-friendly and nice city! People are welcoming and I do not feel the sense of being stranger here! Prices are fair here and public transport are good, the only thing missing is that the subway does not cover different parts of the city!"

Average is £177 per week
 
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£145£154£199

 

 #6 
 

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St Andrews

"Not much in the town itself, but it’s so easy to get to Dundee & Edinburgh, but while there isn’t much to do on a night out, the town is SUPER safe and (as a girl) I can walk home alone & it’s safe"

Average is £189 per week

Universities in this location:   University of St Andrews

 
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£164£200£244

 

 #7 
 

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Edinburgh

"utterly gorgeous city. incredibly beautiful. the galleries are nice, the architecture is stunning. cost of living is much less than you’d expect from a capital. things don’t really seem to be open beyond 1-3am, though"

Average is £203 per week
 
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£148£178£242

*StudentCrowd’s data is the most comprehensive data on the cost of student accommodation in the UK. Find out more on how we collect and manage our accommodation data here.

The table below is based on the cost of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and university-owned halls. We used the monthly average of all student accommodation in each location from September 2021 - August 2022. Note, it does not cover HMO (house in multiple occupation) rents, however, PBSA and university-owned accommodation are an accurate reflection of local HMO rents. StudentCrowd collects rent and occupancy data on a weekly basis for all PBSA accommodation and on a fortnightly basis for all university-owned accommodation in the UK.

 

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