Leeds has become the most cost-effective place in Britain to study as undergraduates take advantage of its emergence as a financial centre and shopping mecca to find well-paid, part-time work in its upmarket clothes shops, restaurants and bars.

Nottingham, formerly considered a cheap place to study, is now considered the most expensive. The cost of living has edged up, but the employment opportunities for students in the city remain limited, according to the Student Living Index, covering 27 British university towns, compiled for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

It was found that an average student could save more than £75 a week by choosing to live and work in Leeds rather than in Nottingham. The index is worked out by adding weekly rents and spending on food and nonessential items such as CDs, together with weekly earnings.

Although the Leeds student will spend on average £186 per week on living and housing costs, many can offset these expenses in part, by earning an impressive £128 per week in part-time wages. At Nottingham, however, the average student will spend £211 per week on rent and living costs, but can make just £78.40 per week in average earnings.

Sean McLoone, 21, worked for two years in a bank after his A levels. Now he is taking a degree in leisure and sports studies at Leeds Metropolitan and works two days a week in the bank’s Bradford branch, earning up to £300 per month. “Last year we only had 15 hours a week in uni so we had two days off and it was no problem to work,” he said. “Next year I hope to do the same thing. Obviously it will be a bit more difficult in my third year but as long as I’m getting my assignments in on time, our tutors don’t mind us working.”

London has the highest rent and weekly living costs, at £261 per week, while Durham comes out as the cheapest place for students to do their weekly shop (£99). Sheffield and Leicester are the cheapest cities to live in, with the rents at just £59 per week.

The league table is published as thousands of A-level students are weighing up the cost of a degree. Despite the introduction of tuition fees, fewer students are taking part-time jobs while studying at university.

Be it working in bars, shops, as life-guards or even stage managers, more than 200,000 students will take part-time jobs this year to pay their way through university. However, the proportion of students taking part-time jobs has fallen for the first time in 4 years, from 45 per cent last year to 41 per cent this year.

At the same time, the average student is in paid employment for 15.6 hours per week, slightly less than last year’s 16 hours. But nearly a third (30 per cent) work more than 20 hours a week and students in Leeds work the longest weekly average of 18.7 hours.

Over the course of the coming year, students are expected to spend £10.3 billion on rent and living costs, as well as books and course materials. Part-time pay will total £2.1 billion.

The “bank of mum and dad” has slid down the ratings as the primary source of financial support for students. Last year students borrowed on average £86.70 per week from their parents, while this year that figure has dropped to £74.10, behind the average weekly student loan of £79.40.

Research was conducted by The Survey Shop among 2,700 undergraduates from university towns covering 70 universities.

‘Living index’ rankings

1 Leeds (2)
2 Brighton (15)
3 Dundee (11)
4 London (8)
5 Liverpool (9)
6 Leicester (18)
7 Birmingham (16)
8 Glasgow (13)
9 Bristol (10)
10 Newcastle (19)
11 Sheffield (22)
12 Coventry (3)
13 Cambridge (26)
14 St Andrews (4)
15 Manchester (5)
16 Cardiff (1)
17 Durham (25)
18 Aberdeen (24)
19 Belfast (6)
20 Canterbury (14)
21 York (17)
22 Bath (20)
23 Edinburgh (7)
24 Oxford (23)
25 Lancaster (NE)
26 Southampton (12)
27 Nottingham (21)

Source: Royal Bank of Scotland. Combines weekly expenditure for rent, essential and nonessential items, with weekly earnings from part-time work (2006 in brackets)

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