Students 'spend £670m on travel'

Only 20% of students live on their university campus and the remainder travel an average of nine miles each way to attend lectures or tutorials, according to Santander.

22% of university students still live in their family home - 66% said cost savings are the main reason why they haven’t moved out. 34% who say they decided not to move away because there was a good university close enough to where they live.

The research, compiled by Santanderbased on its 1l2l3 Student Current Account, shows that in 10 travel more than 40 miles a day and the average spend per year on travelling to and from university is £485, totalling £667m across the country.

On average, students face a 258 mile round trip to visit their family home.

Steve Pateman, Santander's Head of UK Banking commented: “Being a student can be very costly, particularly if you have significant travel costs to cover.

"Our new 1l2l3 Student Current Account allows students to earn up to 3% interest on balances and offers savings of over £700 on train fares with the free 4-year 16-25 Railcard, which could go a long way towards bringing travel costs down.”

On average, students attend universities that are 128.9 miles (258 mile round trip) from their family home, and 39% only travel home once a term or less.

Students studying in and around Edinburgh are the furthest away from their family homes, travelling on average 174.5 miles each way to visit their home city.