University finances: information for students
Last updated: July 2026
Why are people talking about an issue with finances in higher education?
UK funding for higher education continues to be very challenging and, like many other universities, we continue to face increasing costs.
UK universities do not make a profit and any income is spent on running the university or reinvesting for the future. You can see how we spend your fees, but even though tuition fees play a significant role in university finances, it's now widely reported that universities across the country lose £1 billion each year on teaching domestic students and £5 billion on undertaking research.
We're also still facing cost of living and inflationary pressures, with more expensive fuel, energy, maintenance and equipment. For example, a microscope that used to cost £100 at the beginning of 2021, now costs more than £120. We are having to absorb these increased costs.
What has York done so far?
York moved quickly to put in place a series of measures to maximise income and manage costs, while protecting our student experience. In February 2025 we set out to make £15 million in financial improvements for the financial year 2025/6, through a combination of growing income and making savings. We achieved this through a number of changes:
- Changing our estate
We're focusing on using our buildings more effectively, by spending time in the better buildings and moving out of our older ones that are expensive to maintain and run. We have repurposed buildings, and closed or mothballed old ones, flexibly utilising buildings with shared spaces, as part of our plans for our campus of the future. - Managing with fewer staff
We have reduced costs by removing duplication and we want to protect staff time on the activities that bring the most benefit for our students and our research. We ran voluntary exit schemes for colleagues who expressed an interest in leaving the University or who wished to retire early. - Adapting our support services
Changing behaviours and patterns of usage of our support services have allowed us to evolve and combine some of our student support services across our Colleges, Receptions, the Library and Campus Safety, making it simpler to access all of the support on offer. We also had to take the difficult decision to close or alter the opening hours for some under-utilised services. - Modules and assessment changes
We reviewed the number of optional modules available to students, in particular modules with very small numbers. We want to support future modules that attract a lot of interest and provide more consistency for those students on combined programmes or taking electives. We also introduced interdisciplinary optional modules to enable students to try new things.
We reviewed the number of assessments and their word count, in order to reduce the assessment burden on students and eliminate areas we were over-assessing, which was a concern for some. Where we proposed significant programme change, we consulted with, and listened and responded to feedback from students to inform decisions. We also worked closely with Student Union representatives.
What's our financial situation now?
Having put in place measures to reduce our costs and increase our income in 2025-6, we're now in a period of financial surplus. Having come through a difficult period, we're well placed now to move forward with new initiatives which are vital to student experience.