King’s College London (KCL) has published its accommodation prices for the 2025/26 academic year. Across all undergraduate residences – including all room types and those offered under the King’s Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS) – the average annual cost now stands at £13,645.
Compared to last year, when accommodation rates averaged £12,874 a year, students will see a 6% rise on average. The average weekly price of a room has increased from £283.74 to £299.20, with rates increasing for all rooms except those included in KAAS.
KCL’s price rise is higher than the rate of inflation, with the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising 2.8% in the 12 months to February.
This year’s rise is almost double last year’s increase, which sat at 3.36% between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
One of KCL’s most popular residencies, Stamford Street Apartments (SSA), has undergone refurbishments increasing its refurbished rooms from 44% in 24/25 to 81% in 25/26. The cost of a refurbished room has increased from £263 to £290 for next year.
For students living in a non-refurbished room planning to move to a refurbished room, the cost increases 28% from £226 to £290 a week.
Hayloft Point has also seen a large increase from £331 to £360 per week, marking a 22% rise since 22/23 when an ensuite room cost £295.
The highest-priced accommodation available is now £25,347 a year, a large studio at Atlas on a 51-week contract. Closely followed are a studio flat at Angel Lane (£21,420), a one-bed flat at Wolfson House (£21,471), and an ensuite at Battersea (£20,094), all on 51-week contracts.
The lowest priced room, excluding KAAS rooms, can be found at Wolfson House where a non-ensuite room for 40 weeks costs a total of £7,600.
It should be noted this does not include postgraduate rooms available at City and Vauxhall.
How Does This Compare With Other Universities?
The cost of King’s accommodation is especially striking when compared with similar universities in Central London. The median price of undergraduate accommodation at UCL and LSE is £281 and £283.50 per week, respectively. The same figure for KCL is £321.
King’s students seeking a cheaper room through intercollegiate halls will have only limited success, with a median price of £330 per week. Students at LSE and UCL can pay as low as £144 and £160 per week, respectively, for shared rooms.
A Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) study last year found the average rent for purpose-built student accommodation in London rose 18% from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to £13,595 a year. KCL’s average for 2025/26 sits above this rate.
LSE’s average rent for undergraduate accommodation rose from £9270.86 to £9823.60, the same 6% increase as KCL. UCL raised the rents for its accommodation offerings by an average of 3.9% across the board.
LSE offers the possibility of contracts as short as 32 weeks. This contrasts with KCL where contract lengths go no lower than 38 weeks. Unlike both LSE and KCL, where contract lengths can reach up to 50 and 51 weeks, respectively, UCL undergraduates all have the same contract length of 39 weeks.
On top of the cost, King’s Residences are located, on average, 2.76 miles from Strand Campus with the furthest being 8.33 miles away. On the other hand, LSE, located across the road from Strand Campus, has its furthest undergraduate residence located 1.74 miles from campus with an average commute of 0.98 miles.
Similarly, UCL’s furthest undergraduate residence from its Bloomsbury campus is located 5.45 miles away, with a smaller average distance of 0.91 miles. As such, King’s students should expect higher transport costs than students at other universities, in addition to higher rents.
Affordability
While the average price of accommodation has risen, KAAS rooms have not increased in price. Rates for rooms on this scheme sit between £155 and £169 per week, and £6,422 to £6,760 annually.
Up to 20% of KCL accommodation is available through the KAAS programme, at half of the 14 residences. The programme is open to anyone whose household income is below £42,875 per annum, however this threshold has not increased in 10 years.
The introduction of the new iQ Vega accommodation has increased the proportion of KAAS rooms to 23% of undergraduate properties.
For home students who do not qualify for the KAAS programme, all KCL accommodation now exceeds the minimum UK maintenance loan of £6,853. Moreover, only 45% of accommodation falls below the maximum maintenance loan of £13,762.
A HEPI study last year found the average London maintenance loan was £10,705, leaving a £2,940 funding gap for students between the maintenance loan and the average KCL room cost for the academic year 2025/26.
The lack of adequate financial support from maintenance loans pushes students to seek paid work while studying. HEPI found in 2024 that 56% of students were in paid employment during term time.
A Roar survey of KCL students found 69% of respondents spent at least 80% of their maintenance loan on rent, and 47% spent their entire maintenance loan or more on housing.
Only first year undergraduates are ensured a place at King’s residencies, leading most students to rent in the private sector after the first year. As Roar reported earlier this year, four students reported street homelessness in the academic year 2023-24, as the cost of living for students reached an all-time high.
A King’s College London spokesperson told Roar:
“Each year, we work together with KCLSU to consider all aspects costs of living, utility bills, transport costs to campus and the range and price of accommodation available to our students.
“Unavoidably this year we have come to the end of a 10-year agreement with a 3rd party accommodation provider which means we have had to renegotiate a new agreement and due to the competitive London market, prices have increased in order to enable us to fulfil our guarantee to UG and PG students.
“Due to the addition of iQ Vega, however, we have been able to increase the amount of accommodation that is set aside as part of the King’s Affordable Accommodation Scheme (KAAS) to 23%.”
BA European Politics Student
