Arriving here as a student in Edinburgh, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to trendy aesthetics, nightlife saturated with likeminded indie-viduals, and the same pretentious coffee shop on every gentrified street corner. But if this sounds like a bit of you, when you come here, you’ll have to pay the price.
I will share a lifetime of tips on how to get by in the northernmost English city
As cynical as I sound, I really do love this city. However, I didn’t make the choice to come here for my studies; as someone born here, I made the choice to stay. So as a pure-blooded Edinburgh boy, I will share a lifetime of tips on how to get by in the northernmost English city.
Anxiety often stems from the feeling of being an outlier, a void of that comforting feeling you get by going through an ordeal with others you can relate to. Fortunately for you, we’re in a city with about 73,000 other students who are all paying the same prices as you. If this article does nothing else, let it remind you that the situation you feel is dragging you out to sea, is also washing over thousands of others.
At the turn of the year, a report, carried out by Blackbullion, a company who help students with budgeting pressures, found that 88% of students in Britain are worried about money, the highest number in half a decade. And the statistics show Edinburgh to be an area of particular financial danger.
“Eating out, socialising, and general day to day expenses can be noticeably higher in a tourist area”.
The NatWest Student Living Index has revealed Edinburgh to be the most expensive city for students to live in on multiple occasions. In 2025, they found 53% of students here are skint by the end of their first semester. Looking across the central belt, the cost of living, rent, eating out are all cheaper in Glasgow, making Edinburgh Scotland’s most expensive city, and the UK’s 6th most expensive overall.
I won’t bore you with the same advice I’m sure you’ve heard or have already followed, and later on you’ll get some stuff you perhaps haven’t thought about, but please do get a member card at your nearest store, and preferably somewhere affordable (not Waitrose or Sainsbury’s). Furthermore, when treating yourself, target establishments that offer good student discounts as Edinburgh is full of them. Many pubs around Edinburgh’s old town offer targeted student deals on alcohol and food, and similar offers can be found for entertainment in places like the Cameo cinema or the Playhouse.
In order for some proper useful insight, I spoke to Edinburgh Napier University’s Student Funding Team Leader – Letitia Friary. She said that Edinburgh’s economic industries contributed to the problem.
“Edinburgh is obviously a tourist city, and that absolutely shows in the cost of living within the city. Eating out, socialising, and general day to day expenses can be noticeably higher in a tourist area”.
Some data that the student funding team gather revolves around recording the reasons that students come to them for additional funding and help:
“The first one is work and earnings, and that’s not directly linked to Edinburgh, but I think it reflects the wider job market and the current cost of living. Second to that is accommodation, and of course private renting in Edinburgh, again being a tourist city, it’s both scarce and expensive, purpose-built student accommodation can be incredibly expensive as well. There are fewer options for students sometimes because of the availability of accommodation due to it being a tourist city. And the third is a tie between travel costs, budgeting, and debt issues”.
Cheerful stuff, right? I briefly touched on the anxiety these issues cause earlier, and I intend to ease your nerves rather than add to your worries. So what can we do to help ourselves? Letitia suggested that getting in touch with your uni’s student funding team might be a good place to start:
“We can speak to you about your money, your funding issues and what we can do to help. But we can also advise signposts, or with a student’s permission, we can speak directly to other teams and take that quickly to who can help most”.
While Letitia is a team leader at Napier, students of other educational bodies have options too. Any type of university or college in the UK is required to have student funding support. Furthermore, there are non-educational bodies in Edinburgh that an offer support such as Citizens Advice Edinburgh and Ithrive Edinburgh.
Student Hacks
New clothes in student or “preppy” styles is typically quite expensive, but its ability to be replicated by more affordable and second-hand items means it is well suited for financially anxious young minds. Shopping second hand could be a relief to your finances. Edinburgh is full of charity shop routes around the city and apps like Vinted and Depop mean that you can browse a wider range of items from your phone. A reputable outfit on campus and around student hotspots could cost you no more than £5 per item.
There is also an app available called Too Good To Go which restaurants, coffee shops and the like use to sell off their unsold stock at the end of the day. On the premise of reducing food waste whilst promoting an affordable option to those who need it, the app means that for a third of the price you can enjoy treats like Krispy Kreme without being guilty of your financial decisions.
