London has been rated the most cost-effective UK city for students in a survey by NatWest Bank.

High wages there enabled them to support their studies, the annual Student Living survey found.

It also found they were feeling the squeeze of the current economic climate, with less money coming from parents and less money being spent.

Their rent had increased, and respondents said they were socialising less and saving more.

Students in London earned, on average, £9.91 per hour, compared to just £6.52 in Dundee, where students worked most hours - 16 a week - putting the city second in the table.

Southampton students worked the fewest hours, at just 11 hours a week.

Nearly half of survey respondents - 46% - said they received no funding from their parents and 28% said the amount they received from them had declined in the past year.

Expenditure had dropped from £200 a week in 2009 to just £185.

Respondents said they were spending less on luxuries than in the past - although they still spent, on average, £12.99 a week on long-haul travel compared to £10.41 on books and course materials.

Meanwhile, the number of students who expected to find a job within the first year after graduation dropped from 65% in 2009 to just 48% this year.

The survey came a few days after research for the university guide Push projected that debt levels would reach £25,000 for those starting university this year.

The annual survey of 2,000 UK students found average yearly debt had increased by 5.4% to £5,600 per year of study.

Source: BBC.co.uk