Plymouth student accommodation is concentrated in the city centre and the streets around the University of Plymouth campus, in the half mile or so between the railway station, Drake Circus and the Hoe. Mystudenthalls.com lists 7 properties in Plymouth from 2 providers, with starting prices from £99 to £155 a week and bills included. Those starting prices are for en-suite rooms in shared flats of four to six; studios with their own kitchen cost more, from about £170 a week, and one-bedroom apartments appear in a few buildings. Every area covered here is within 20 minutes of the campus on foot, and the rent turns on the room you pick and the number of weeks you sign for, between 14 and 51, far more than on the address.
The University of Plymouth puts its student body at over 19,000, Arts University Plymouth has no accommodation of its own, and the university points returning students and postgraduates to the private market. For context on price, the maximum Maintenance Loan for 2026/27 for a student living away from home outside London is £10,830, according to GOV.UK; at the 2026/27 starting price of £99 a week over 51 weeks, a year in an en-suite at Frobisher House comes to £5,049, under half of the loan. To ask about a room, open the property and use Request Details.
The University of Plymouth guarantees new first-year undergraduates a place in university or accredited partner accommodation if they make Plymouth their firm choice and apply by its deadline, and runs six residences of its own, two on the campus and four in the Student Village a few minutes’ walk away. For 2026/27 its rooms cost £141 a week with shared bathrooms in Gilwell Hall or Robbins Hall and £188 to £233 a week for an en-suite, on a 41-week licence with bills, WiFi and contents insurance included, no deposit and two weeks’ rent in advance. A university room keeps you on or beside the campus, with 24-hour security and an on-site team, among other first years; returning students and postgraduates are pointed to the private market.
The private buildings give you the contract length you want, up to 51 weeks, and the choice of a studio, which the university does not offer. For 2026/27 they can also cost less over the year. The university’s cheapest en-suite comes to £7,708 over its 41 weeks, against £5,049 for the Frobisher House year above. Arts University Plymouth has no rooms of its own, and Marjon’s are on its Derriford campus. Private student accommodation in Plymouth is open to students at any of the four institutions, first years included.
Starting prices are usually for the longest contract.
The campus fills the ground between the railway station and Drake Circus, with the library, the Students’ Union and the sports centre inside it. Health professions are taught at InterCity Place by the station, and medicine and dentistry at Plymouth Science Park at Derriford, a bus ride on the 42. Cobourg Street and Regent Street are the closest of the areas above and Alexandra Road the furthest. The University of Plymouth page sorts the results by distance to the campus.
Arts University Plymouth is on Tavistock Place at the eastern edge of the University of Plymouth campus. Regent Street and Ebrington Street are about 5 minutes away, Cobourg Street 5 to 10, the centre 5 to 15 and Alexandra Road 20.
Marjon’s campus is on Derriford Road next to Derriford Hospital, about four miles north of the centre, with its own residences on site. The direct bus is the Plymouth Citybus 42 from Royal Parade via Mutley Plain, 25 to 35 minutes and every 30 minutes in the daytime on the Citybus timetable, with other Citybus routes stopping outside the campus as well; from Alexandra Road it can be caught on Mutley Plain. By bike it is about four miles, uphill most of the way, in around 35 minutes.
City College Plymouth’s main site is on Kings Road in Devonport, west of the centre, and it teaches foundation and honours degrees awarded by the University of Plymouth or Marjon. The college names the Plymouth Citybus 36 as its bus, free in term time with a college student ID; it starts at the Arts University Plymouth stop and runs via Royal Parade and the station, so the east side of the campus and the centre both keep the ride short. The 34 from Royal Parade also serves Devonport.
Bus times here include the walk to the stop and exclude waiting. Plymouth Citybus runs most city routes from Royal Parade, with Stagecoach South West on others. Citybus singles are £2.50, £2.80 or £3 by distance, and under the national fare cap they fall to a £2 maximum from 1 January to 31 December 2027. A Citybus Dayrider is £7.50.
Plymouth railway station is on the north side of the campus, 5 to 10 minutes on foot from Cobourg Street and 20 from Notte Street or Alexandra Road. GWR’s direct trains to London Paddington take about 3 hours 15 minutes and call at Exeter St Davids on the way.
Beryl’s hire e-bikes run from 68 bays across the city, and e-scooters joined them in July 2026; for a scooter you need to be 18 with a full or provisional driving licence, and in the city-centre Slow-Go Zone, which takes in Armada Way, it drops to walking pace and you push it. Plymouth is mild and wet, with 1,038 mm of rain a year over 149 wet days according to the Met Office’s 1991 to 2020 averages, worth knowing before choosing a 20 minute walk over a bus.
Rent in these buildings is bills included, and the property pages list gas, electricity, water and internet in that. Some buildings describe contents insurance in the rent as well. A TV Licence is not included. It costs £180 a year, and you only need one to watch or record live television or to use BBC iPlayer.
Contracts run from 14 to 51 weeks. A 51-week contract takes you to late August or early September and 42 to 45 weeks ends in June or July. Some buildings sell 14 to 19 week contracts from September to January or January to May, and some list January starts of 28 to 34 weeks; they are there for January intakes, placement years and exchange students, and each provider decides who can book them.
The University of Plymouth Students’ Union is on the campus, with a bar, a nightclub on Saturdays and a gym. The Plymouth Life Centre, 15 to 20 minutes’ walk from the campus, has a 50 metre pool, and Tinside Lido is the outdoor pool under the Hoe that opens for the summer. The Hoe is a 10 minute walk from Royal Parade, and the Barbican beside it has the pubs and restaurants of Southside Street and the landing stage for the Mount Batten ferry and the seasonal Cawsand ferry, about 30 minutes to the beach. Shopping is Drake Circus by the campus and The Barcode behind it, with a Cineworld; Mutley Plain is the other student street. On a night out the city runs Ask for Angela in participating bars, a SafeBus on Royal Parade with a safe place to wait for a taxi, and, according to Devon and Cornwall Police, a student Night Patrol on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights in term.
From £99 a week with bills included. Most of the spread on any room list is between an en-suite room in a shared flat and a studio, which starts around £170 a week. The University of Plymouth’s own rooms are £141 to £233 a week for 2026/27.
Cobourg Street on the campus’s western edge and Regent Street on its eastern edge, both under 5 minutes from the Roland Levinsky Building. Sort the results by distance to see the order.
Regent Street and Ebrington Street, within about 5 minutes of Tavistock Place.
On the Plymouth Citybus 42 from Royal Parade or Mutley Plain, 25 to 35 minutes.
Yes. The University of Plymouth’s guarantee covers its own and partner rooms, but nothing stops a first year choosing a private building instead, and Arts University Plymouth’s first years rent privately.
No. The university’s own residences are booked through its Accommodation Portal. The buildings here are private, as are the partner buildings the university allocates under its guarantee.
Gas, electricity, water and internet in the rent at these buildings, and in some of them contents insurance. A TV Licence is not included, if you need one.
No, not if everyone in the flat is a full-time student. If someone is not, the household gets a bill with a discount available, and Plymouth City Council is the authority to apply to. Our guide on council tax for students has the detail.
At most five weeks’ rent, and some providers take advance rent instead. From 1 May 2026 most private tenancies in England became periodic, but a building whose landlord or managing agent belongs to an approved code is exempt and you sign for a fixed term.
Not always. Each provider decides what it accepts instead, which may be a paid guarantor service or rent in advance. Ask before paying a holding deposit.
From 14 to 51 weeks. Most are September starts, some buildings list January starts of 28 to 34 weeks, and some sell 14 to 19 week blocks from September to January or January to May.
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