Warwick transport cheaper than UK average

Four out of five full time undergraduate students live off campus and spend an average of £600 a year on their university commute, according to research from Santander Current Accounts.

Although this means that the average student spends around £50 a month on their commute, the research adds that 13 percent of off-campus students spend around double that amount.

However, research conducted by the Boar suggests that the average cost of commuting is far less for off-campus students at the University of Warwick.

Asked to calculate how much they spent last academic year on commuting to and from campus, nine out of every ten respondents gave the answer between £200 and £299.99.

The Warwick respondents included postgraduate as well as undergraduate students and most specified that they normally used the Stagecoach Bus services.

However, only around a third of Warwick respondents felt that the amount they paid to commute was “acceptable”.
42.1 percent and 26.3 percent considered the amount to be “high” and “very high” respectively. Many of the respondents felt that the buses were unreliable and frequently late.

The Santander research also found that the average off-campus student faces a 22-mile round trip to lectures.
13 percent of off-campus students travel more than 40 miles in a day to attend university, which may explain why some students spend over £100 per month on commuting.

Despite the cost and distances, 20 percent of students living away from home said they were considering accommodation further away from their university campus for this academic year to save money.

Hetal Parmar, Banking Head of Santander, commented: “Not all students can afford to live near their university and many face a time-consuming and costly commute.

“The cost of attending university puts most students under a great deal of financial pressure, so having to cover the rising cost of transport is likely to be a real burden.”

Santander’s findings are based on a recent YouthSight survey of 1,000 full time undergraduate students and 2010/11 Higher Education Statistics Agency data on the total number of these students in the UK.

Using that data, the report calculates that the collective cost of student commuting is £640 million per year.

Santander is offering a four-year Railcard to full time students who open a student current account with them.

Their research also found that one in seven off-campus students now commute to university by train.