Ranked: These are the Russell Group unis where students get the best value for money

There’s no denying that going to uni costs a shit ton. Just doing a standard three year degree lands you in over £27k in debt. So it’s best just not to think about it and never check that number on the student loan website.

If you’re studying something sciencey and are in uni five days a week, eight hours a day doing experiments and all sorts then it probably feels like you can kinda see where all the money is going. But if you’re a humanities girlie and have as solid eight hours in uni a week where you just sit in front of Powerpoint slides that have been seen by about eight year groups before you, it can be a bit disheartening to wonder where all that money is actually going. And is there a specific uni where you’re getting more bang for your buck?

Well, this year’s Complete University Guide ranks every university on how much they spend on their facilities. According to the guide, this is how much each uni spends on “supporting facilities such as the careers service, health and counselling services, and sports facilities”. So yep, those ridiculous therapy alpacas and llamas have got to be included in there. The guide then gives each uni a score out of 2226 for spending on facilities and a percentage. From this, we can work out where you’re getting the most value for money. Because having boujee seats in the library can make all the difference when you’re on your second all-nighter in a row.

The Russell Group with the least bang for your buck is Leeds, with only a score of 420 out of 2226 and a percentage spend of 19 per cent. This is closely followed by UCL at 20 per cent. But the lucky ones are Birmingham students with a 78 per cent spend and score of 1734 out of 2226.

So these are the Russell Group unis ranked by where you get the best value for money:

24. University of Leeds – 19 per cent spend

23. University College London – 20 per cent spend

22. University of Manchester – 25 per cent spend

21. University of Glasgow – 27 per cent spend

20. University of Oxford – 27 per cent spend

19. University of Sheffield – 27 per cent spend

18. Imperial College London – 28 per cent spend

17. Queen Mary University of London – 30 per cent spend

16. Newcastle University – 31 per cent spend

15. University of Edinburgh – 32 per cent spend

14. London School of Economics – 33 per cent spend

13. Queen’s University Belfast – 33 per cent spend

12. University of Southampton – 34 per cent spend

11. University of Nottingham – 36 per cent spend

10. University of Bristol – 38 per cent spend

9. University of York – 39 per cent spend

8. Cardiff University – 41 per cent spend

7. King’s College London – 41 per cent spend

6. University of Liverpool – 42 per cent spend

5. University of Warwick – 43 per cent spend

4. Durham University – 47 per cent spend

3. University of Exeter – 51 per cent spend

2. University of Cambridge – 53 per cent spend

1. University of Birmingham – 78 per cent spend

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• These are the Russell Group unis where students are least likely to finish their degrees

• These are the apprenticeships where you can actually earn more than Russell Group grads

• The Russell Group unis that have got worse this year, according to the Complete Uni Guide