Students in Manchester are increasingly choosing to live outside the city centre, with some commuting from Stockport, Bolton and further afield because they say they can no longer afford student accommodation or city-centre rents.
Amelia Long, a second-year architecture student at Manchester Metropolitan University, lives with her grandmother in Horwich. She walks nearly 25 minutes to the station each morning before catching a train into the city. Amelia also works part-time at a museum café and often does not get home before 7pm.
Commuting adds pressure to student life
“I barely get any time to myself or to even work on my assignments because of the commute,” she said. “I also don’t see an alternative at the moment, as student housing was nearly full this year and the rates are obnoxious.”
Amelia does not pay rent to her grandmother. She estimates she spends between £600 and £650 on transport, a fraction of what she would have to pay to live in university accommodation or in the city centre.
Manchester’s student accommodation market has become increasingly expensive, with purpose-built student accommodation spreading across the city centre and nearby areas. For many students, the cost means taking on significant debt or finding somewhere cheaper further out.
Students weigh rent against travel costs
Third-year history student Srinija Comundor has been living in Bolton for the past eight months. She said she moved out of the city centre during her placement year because she could not afford to work more hours in her part-time job while studying on a student visa.
“The student accommodation itself burnt a hole in my pocket, as it was nearly £182 per week, and I realised I’d rather spend that same money on train fares, as it barely takes an hour to get to work or university.”
Students commuting from Stockport can spend around £30 to £45 a week on rail tickets, even with student discounts and railcards. Over a 30-week academic year, that adds up to between £900 and £1,350.
Towns such as Stockport can offer lower rents and more family homes available to share, alongside direct rail and bus links into Manchester. Trains from Stockport to the city centre can take around 10 to 15 minutes.
International students face added strain
Aazim Muhammad, a third-year computer science student at the University of Manchester, recently moved to Stockport. He said his student accommodation had been costing him nearly £1,200 a month in rent alone, and moving had cut that cost by more than half.
He said his previous accommodation was fully booked for the new academic year and he and his flatmates were told to find somewhere else to live, without being given the opportunity to rebook.
“My friend is now paying £321 per week and has taken up two part-time jobs on top of the full year placement. The student accommodation was fully booked up for this year, and they just asked us to simply leave. As an international student, this period was mentally and financially very difficult for us.”
Report highlights cost-of-living gap
Research by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), TechnologyOne and Loughborough University found that students need almost £61,000 over a three-year undergraduate degree to maintain what the report described as “a bare minimum socially acceptable standard of living”.
The report also found that the maximum maintenance loan of £10,544, available to students from lower-income households, barely covers first-year costs. Even students receiving the highest level of support need to work more than 20 hours a week in minimum-wage jobs to make ends meet.
In Manchester, students face pressure from both rising rents and a shortage of affordable options. Proposed rent increases at the University of Manchester for 2026/27 stand at 3% for university-owned accommodation and 5% for leased accommodation. Only 34% of students say their maintenance loan covers their rent.
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The University does not record a specific ‘commuter student’ category, but around 10% of our students are recorded as living at home with a parent or guardian. This proportion has remained broadly unchanged over the past decade.
“We also know that around 3-4% of students live in their own home, which has dropped from 5-6% in 2015/16. Our data does not tell us why individual students choose to live at home.
“We know that commuting can bring challenges beyond the journey to and from campus. Our dedicated Commuter Hub brings together the support and practical information for students who travel to campus from home, including peer mentoring, a commuter student support team, dedicated spaces on campus, travel and financial guidance, and information on wellbeing, events and opportunities to help students stay connected with the wider University community.
“The Hub also signposts students to further support and guidance available through the Students’ Union.”
The Students’ Union declined to comment.
