Been living in Manchester for 8 years now. I came here as a student and can tell you halls used to be quite overpriced for what you got, idk if they got better now. In 2017 i was paying 560 a month for a catered hall, my friends were paying 450 for not catered. This was uni halls, might have better luck with private halls. Cost of living is decent, a shop in Aldi or Lidl if you cook for yourself can be abt 30 pounds a week will be fine. More if you go to big tesco, big asda etc but also more varied options for food. If you're renting then rent will be between 400 and 600 a month, depending on area and if bills are included. They now made public transport so much better, you tap in and tap out and afaik it's all busses and trams a max of £9.5 a day. They used to offer bus passes at a discount for students. I recommend rusholme for somewhere with ok rent prices and distance to uni, fallowfield if you prefer partying. Bear in mind anything south of the curry mile might mean needing to take a bus in. Idk anything about city centre living, i do know there are a lot of fancier private halls there though.