LSE is UK's most expensive university at nearly £20k per year

The London School of Economics is Britain’s most expensive university, with even hoodies and gym membership costing more, research suggests.

A cost comparison website found that LSE students were charged more than at any other leading university, including University College London and Imperial College, where annual tuition fees are all £9,000 a year.

LSE students pay £160 to join the gym, while their peers at Imperial are charged £35, according to money transfer service Ukash.

An LSE hoody costs £34.99, while Imperial and UCL charge £21 for a similar item. At Oxford university, a hooded sweatshirt costs just £15. It costs more than £19,700 a year to study at LSE, more than double the price at Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh.

The study, which calculated everything from the cost of a pint in the students’ union to the price of pizza, showed prices at London universities dwarfed those in the rest of Britain. It also highlighted the differences in price between London’s top universities, with Ukash saying that car insurance was more expensive at LSE than at UCL or Imperial.

Miranda McLean, from Ukash, said: “We were surprised to find such staggering differences in costs, with factors such as car insurance, rent and tuition fees varying greatly depending on where you study.”

A spokesman for the LSE said: “This is not an accurate reflection of the cost of studying at LSE. It does not include the generous bursaries received by one third of our undergraduates.

“Also, taking into account the cost of car insurance at a central London university is particularly inappropriate.”