Reports of luxurious student accommodation, such as the £21,000-a-month student apartments recently launched in London, tend to grab headlines, but the reality is that most students’ accommodation costs are a lot more modest. Nonetheless, the amount an international student will pay for a home away from home can vary widely across the world, as can their tuition and general living costs.

In our World Student Housing Report, which examined living costs in 22 top tier cities, Germany snatched the crown as the cheapest place to be an international student. Berlin is the cheapest city, with a student requiring just over $1,000 a month to cover their combined accommodation, living and tuition costs, while Munich took third place at $1,244 per month. Shanghai snuck into second place at $1,120 per month.

At the other end of the scale, the three most expensive cities are all in the US. Boston is the most costly, with an international student there requiring $5,446 to cover monthly costs – five times as much as their Berlin counterpart. Boston is swiftly followed by New York at $5,242 and San Francisco at $5,013. London is the most expensive European city, and sixth overall, with costs of $3,943.

But these overall numbers mask wide variations in specific costs. Isolating the general living costs in our 22 cities, the difference between the highest and lowest is just $313. Compare this with tuition costs, where the difference between the cities with the highest and lowest fees is a massive $4,362.The two cities? Boston and Berlin.

Looking at accommodation costs, the difference between the highest and lowest is $1,087 (New York is the most expensive, Shanghai the cheapest), but the quality of accommodation differs between countries, with generally a greater proportion of better quality new housing available in the US and UK, although these markets are growing in Europe.

Tuition fees and, to a lesser extent accommodation costs, are therefore the factors that determine where a city appears in the table, but are these really top of international students’ priority lists when considering where to study? It is for some students, but for many a university’s reputation, whether a course is taught in English and how likely they are to secure a job after graduation are all likely to considered as much, if not more, than how much it may cost to attend.

Further information

Savills World Student Housing Report 2015-16.