Covering your costs

1. Our free, world-class resources - meaning fewer expensive academic books to buy. Many students say that they have never had to buy a book whilst studying here.

2. Oxford is a small city to get around and most University buildings are in the centre - resulting in low travel costs. Most places you might need to get to will be a maximum of  20 minutes' walk or 5-10 minutes' cycle ride away. Depending on the location of your college, many routine stops may well be on your doorstep or round the corner at most!

3. Shorter terms - helping towards lower accommodation costs. Our teaching terms are only 8 weeks long whilst most other university terms are 10 weeks long.

4. A minimum of two years available in college accommodation - most universities offer one year of campus accommodation whilst many Oxford colleges offer this for three years or even the duration of the course. This normally works out cheaper as you only pay for accommodation during term time, rather than being committed to a private rental contract which is typically longer.

5. Food in colleges is good value - heavily subsidised and in generous quantities.

Added value

Our course fees for Home fee status students are £9,790 for 2026/27 - the same as many other universities. However, at Oxford this helps cover the cost of your personalised tutorial teaching. Find out more about our tutorial teaching and how this is different from most other universities. Many people, both at Oxford and across the world, believe that it is this tried and tested system of teaching which is at the heart of Oxford's academic reputation and why it has been voted No. 1 university in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the last nine years running.

Students with Home fee status from lower-income households are eligible for an annual, non-repayable Oxford bursary to help with living costs. The amount of the bursary will depend on your household income. Whatever amount you are entitled to receive, it comes in addition to your other UK government funding.

In previous years, around 2,500 undergraduate students received a bursary from Oxford. To find out what you might be entitled to and how the process works, visit our fees and funding pages.

If you are a UK student and have ever been in care, you can apply for a non-repayable annual bursary of up to £3,500 for each year of your course to help with costs, including during the vacations. If you qualify to apply for this additional support, you will be notified by the University automatically at the start of the course. Please contact [email protected] for confidential advice and guidance.

If you are a UK student and estranged from your family, you can apply for a non-repayable annual bursary of up to £3,500 for each year of your course to help with costs, including during the vacations. You can apply for this additional support from the start of your course.

If you are a UK undergraduate student who is a young adult carer, you can apply for our Student Support Bursary which provides non-repayable bursaries of up to £750 per year to support with additional costs such as travel within the UK to support family members.

All Oxford students are offered college accommodation for at least two years. Many colleges offer this for three years or for the duration of a student's course. Living in college can be cheaper than you would expect as the cost of accommodation and meals is often heavily subsidised. Contracts for privately rented accommodation typically run for at least the full academic year (October-June) so would normally need to be paid out of term time as well. If you do want to stay in Oxford out of term time, your college may be able to offer you accommodation at a reduced rate, although this may be in another room or college annexe.

Many colleges have generous support funds or awards which may be available to help meet the cost of research, travel or an extra-curricular activity and to try and make sure that financial worries do not affect your time here.

Find out more about this directly from our colleges.

More information on living costs can be found in Fees and funding.