The Royal Bank of Scotland has unveiled its Student Living Index 2005 - a league table which ranks Britain's major university towns by cost-of-living.

London is the most cost-effective city to study and work in, as higher wages outweigh the living costs, with Liverpool and Birmingham next, it said.

St Andrews, where Prince William was an undergraduate, was the least cost-effective of 24 towns studied. During one academic year, going to London could mean the average student is more than £1,000 better off.

Dundee was named the most cost-effective city in Scotland for students. Students living in the "City of Discovery" are able to help meet their living costs with income from part-time jobs, leaving them with the smallest deficit at the end of the week. At the end of the academic year they could be as much as £540 better compared to their counterparts in St Andrews.

On average, those with a part-time job work 16 hours per week, although almost a third of students (31%) work more than 20 hours.

Students in Nottingham work the longest hours (17.8 hours), whereas Cambridge students work the shortest (13.3 hours).

Over the next year, university students will spend £9 billion on living and accommodation costs. However, 2 in every 5 students will work part-time to earn some extra cash. In total, these students expect to earn £1.7 billion.

The spend breaks down to approximately £3.5 billion in rent, £1 billion on food shopping, £1 billion on alcohol, £722 million on socialising, £550 million on clothes, £340 million on books and course materials, and £200 million on music and CDs.

The most popular student jobs are traditional short-term earners like bar and shop work (19 per cent and 13 per cent respectively), but the index reveals that approximately 13,000 students will have term-time work in marketing and 6,000 in management consultancies.

Despite being the most cost-effective city in which to study, London is the most expensive town in terms of weekly living costs (i.e. not including accommodation) with students spending an average of £160.