This week, thousands of fresh-faced young people are heading to uni to learn, party and realise they\u2019re terrible at cooking (top tip: make friends with a good cook early on).<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll also have to learn some serious financial management skills. It\u2019s no secret that higher education isn\u2019t cheap, with the cost of living, tuition fees and accommodation among the major financial outlays.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s another big, less discussed expense: textbooks. Pretty much every student is given a reading list at the start of the year, and the cost of the books on the list can range from a couple of quid to a couple of hundred pounds!<\/p>\n
There are a number of reasons some textbooks have jaw-dropping price tags. They\u2019re printed in lower volumes than most novels but are still in high demand, while others include software, colour photos and other elements that ramp up the cost of production.<\/p>\n
As we now buy books, we decided to take a look at a selection of reading lists from popular course at the top 14 Russell Group universities and find out which undergraduates have to fork out most for textbooks on average.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we found…<\/p>\n
Course<\/strong><\/td>\n| Compulsory reading costs (\u00a3)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Engineering<\/td>\n | 607.37<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Nursing<\/td>\n | 464.51<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Psychology<\/td>\n | 317.69<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Business<\/td>\n | 298.46<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Computer Science<\/td>\n | 245.85<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Biology<\/td>\n | 195.45<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Art & Design<\/td>\n | 186.72<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Chemistry<\/td>\n | 184.64<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Law<\/td>\n | 105.22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | Of the courses we looked at, it\u2019s engineering students who\u2019ll pay most for textbooks. The \u00a3607.37 outlay represents a third of the first term\u2019s maintenance loan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Nursing students are second with \u00a3464.51, while psychology is 3rd<\/sup> with an expenditure of \u00a3317.69.<\/p>\n Law students will pay the least this year, with a meagre \u00a3105.22 to spend on books. That\u2019s surprising given all the complex legislation they have to learn. Biology, Art & Design and Chemistry all come in under the \u00a3200 mark too.<\/p>\n What is clear from our research is that students have to pay a fair whack for textbooks, no matter what they\u2019re studying. On top of accommodation, food and \u201d\u201c yes- going out, it\u2019s no surprise a lot of students struggle.<\/p>\n |