Your living costs - how much will I need to live on?
Apart from your tuition fees, you will need to budget for:
- Travel and visa costs
- Accommodation costs – rent and utility bills
- Study costs – books, music, stationery and printing, storage devices for backing up your work, instrument maintenance and insurance.
- General living costs – food, phone bill, toiletries, laundry etc
- Daily travel to the conservatoire – if you don’t live within walking distance
- Extras, social life, etc
Please note that the living costs below are based on the 2024/25 academic year and may increase for 2025 entry.
Expenditure – payments you’ll be making |
Suggested amount per week |
| Rent |
Joseph Stones House - From £192 - £256 per week (most rooms are £198). Tenancy is for 43 weeks One Mill Street - £174 per week (for 42 weeks) Shared student house - £110 excluding bills (for 52 weeks) |
| Utilities such as gas, electricity, water, TV license, etc (gas, electricity and water are included in halls but not usually in shared houses) | £20 - £30 per week (but could vary widely) |
| Food Shopping | £50 |
| Phone Bill | £35 per month |
| Daily travel to the conservatoire | Nil if within walking/cycling distance but otherwise budget for around £2 - £5 per day |
| Miscellaneous costs (socialising, toiletries, laundry, clothing, hairdressing) | £40 per week |
For more information about the different types of accommodation available in Leeds, please visit the Unipol website.
For more useful information about budgeting and costs in the UK, please visit the British Council's Money & Budgeting page.
UK student visa
- Your UK student visa, which will allow you to live and study in the UK throughout your course will cost you £490. This is a one-off charge. Please note: if you apply for the priority or the super priority service, it will cost more.
Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)
- As part of your student visa application, if you will stay in the UK and study for more than six months, you will need to pay a fee called an Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). This will give you access to the UK's National Health Service.
- The surcharge for a student visa will be a fee of £470 per year for each full year you are in the UK. Where your stay in the UK includes part of a year, you would be charged £235 for periods of 1-6 months and £470 for periods of 6-12 months. For example, if you are doing a 12-month master's course, you would be charged £705. This is because your visa will be issued for a total of 16-17 months (including up to one month before the course start date and four months after the course end date).
- The amount you have to pay depends on how much leave you’re granted. You can find out how much you will be expected to pay by using the fee calculator on the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) website.
- European students: if you have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), you may be able to apply for a refund for the cost of the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). Check the GOV.UK website to find out if you are eligible to do so. Please also note that deciding to do paid part-time work in the UK during your studies could impact your eligibility for a refund, so consider this before requesting the refund.
For more information about applying for a visa, please visit the Gov.uk website.
You will need to open a UK bank account as soon as possible. Visit UKCISA's 'Opening a Bank Account' page for the most up to date advice on how to do this.
As well as the various ID documents, you will need a letter from Leeds Conservatoire confirming your enrolment. You will be able to obtain this through the student portal. There will be a 'Request a letter' option on your student portal homepage. We can only issue this after you have enrolled.
The following banks all have branches in Leeds city centre, where you can open an account:
Remember that International students cannot obtain benefits in the UK and are required to have enough funds to cover their tuition fees and living costs.
For further advice about all aspects of study in the UK see www.ukcisa.org.
For questions about living costs in Leeds or for any other questions, you can email the Student Funding team at studentfunding@leedsconservatoire.ac.uk.
To get in touch with the Student Funding team you can:
Email: studentfunding@leedsconservatoire.ac.uk
Telephone: 0113 222 3508 / 0113 222 3419
