Thursday 12-03-2026 - 15:00

 

 

 

 

 

Lancaster University’s accommodation prices are now live for 2026/27. 

 

 

2026/27 Accommodation Prices

Accommodation Type	2026/27 Prices per Week
Shared	£138.88  £148.89  £168.35
Ensuite	£203.42  £206.08
Townhouse	£185.50
Studio	£241.36  £273.28

Compared with 2022 (my first year at Lancaster), these prices have risen on average 32.3%, while the average maintenance loan a home student receives is predicted to change from £7,460 to only £7,914,741 in the same time (+6.1%). This will mean the average home student will simply not be able to afford to live in the majority of campus accommodation next year, and those in the less expensive accommodation offering will be expected to live off roughly one month of minimum wage salary for the whole year. 

2022/23 Prices per Year	Accommodation Type	2026/27 Prices per Year
£3,917.20  £4,676.00  £5,124.00	Shared	£5,555.20  £5,955.60  £6,734.00
£6,104.00  £6,540.80	Ensuite	£8,136.80  £8,243.20
£5,530.00	Townhouse	£7,420.00
£7,296.80  £8,260.00	Studio	£9,654.40  £10,931.20

 

I was consulted on next years’ prices before Christmas, where I pushed for a large proportion of accommodation to be held as low as possible. As a result of this, nearly 1000 shared bathroom accommodation rooms have been kept below £150 a week, which I would (and did) argue is still too high.  

Unfortunately, holding prices down at one end of the portfolio has the adverse effect on the upper end of the bracket. Ensuite room prices have been pushed up to around £206 per week, which disproportionately impacts Colleges in South West Campus comprised exclusively of this room type. These Colleges already have a stigma attached to them – I have heard them referred to unfavourably as the “Tory Colleges” – and continued price rises year on year will risk creating a monoculture of socioeconomic backgrounds, and further stigma. 

Prospective students, due to cost-of-living pressures, are more likely to choose a university they can commute to, and tucked away in the North West of the country with poor transport links and few nearby cities, we are just not in a commutable location. Even considering this, one of Lancaster’s unique selling points is our College system and campus experience – we are not designed nor easily marketable for commuters. By simply benchmarking our prices against our competitors, we are not capturing the full context of our position in the university market. I believe our prices will scare away prospective students and put the institution in serious financial risk. 

Two thirds of Lancaster University’s accommodation is owned and managed by third-party company, UPP Ltd, in a contract due to last until at least 2042. With this market share, it’s clear that UPP might have a large amount of sway on the year-on-year price increases we are seeing, which are continuously pushing students deeper below the poverty line.  

Lancaster University’s current model clearly isn’t fit for purpose. At the moment, rather than being priced out of coming to Lancaster, students are taking price hikes on the chin, committing to poverty or working excessive hours alongside study to get by (something which, until recently, the university advised against), but it won’t be long before students simply opt to go elsewhere. It is unclear how much of this problem is due to the university’s decision making, and how much is just feeding UPPs profit margins. 

There is room to course correct, however. In the short term we must first urgently consider those students currently most affected by the cost of Lancaster’s accommodation, and what support we are offering them, be that bursaries or subsidies, and we must also look at the impacts our prices are having on equality, diversity, and inclusion across campus to ensure Colleges remain equitable in the experiences they offer. A huge benefit to the university experience is engaging and interacting with other people from different backgrounds to yourself, and our pricing must not erode that opportunity where one type of accommodation dominates.  

In the long term, the University must be more transparent in its decision making around accommodation pricing, what is within their control, and what isn’t – and where something isn’t in their control, what are they doing about it. Every effort must be made to hold prices in line with what students can reasonably afford, otherwise I expect they will just start looking elsewhere.