how much does going to university cost ??

pennymakespounds

apart from the say £1150 tuition fees , some books and the say £65 a week house rent ......with another say £15 week to cover gas/elec/water.....

can anyone share their experience of all the other amounts of money they/ their children spend living at uni

wirm

apart from the say £1150 tuition fees , some books and the say £65 a week house rent ......with another say £15 week to cover gas/elec/water.....

can anyone share their experience of all the other amounts of money they/ their children spend living at uni

• rent
• telephone/mobile
• travel/transport (to and from uni etc.
• food
• clothes
• leisure
• books
• "socialising"

things you normally need to budget for! :-/

Biggest amount is normally spent on socialising! Most students aren't in lectures for too long so they have to find something to ocupy themselves.....

David_Brent

I agree lots of my money has gone on socialising, which can get really expensive, especailly when there is somthing happening most evenings like student nights etc. but socialising is is important at university and I don't regret it, but what you do need is self control and not blow too much cash on a night out and limit to only certain nights which you go out. Also don't buy rounds! Becasue after a few drinks everyone forgets who's round it is and can sometimes end up with you forking out more!!! If you don't drink alcohol you will save a fourtune!

Mobile phone bills can get really expensive, mobile phone companies love targeting students and signing them up for a extortionate monthly fee's. I just stuck with my good old pay as you go mobile, which was much easier for me to keep a control on what I spent. And used pay phones when possible.

Clothes shouldn't be too much of an expense.

Take aways can sting you for quite a bit of money at uni, Try to goto supermarkets and stock up instead.

Rent can be expensive, I payed about £65 week which included water/electricity etc. Again depends on your location obviously. I risked it without a television licence in halls or residence, but I wouldn't recommend doing it if your sharing a house.

Gyms are expensive, but most uni's have gyms now so try to sign up there rather than a private gym, and be realistic when looking at how often your going to use it, because it may be better to pay each time you use the gym rather than sign up on a monthly/yearly basis.

Books can hit your wallet hard, best thing to do is look on notice boards in the uni for 2nd hand books from previous students, should be able to grab a few for less than half price.

Nurse_Bambi

It depends where you go. I went to UCL and the cost of travel, living and socialising was really high. You might be better off up north were things are a little cheaper and the happy hours are happy.

pennymakespounds

understand and agree with everyones' comments but it's actual £ numbers i'm looking for ......

Dub-ztar

From my experience of going to univeristy in London and living away from home, my expenses over three years were as follows (in pounds):

Rent: 10500
Phone: 3000
Food: 8000
Clothes: 1200
Books: 1920
Laptop: 1500
Travel: 1500
Socialising: 6750

Total: 33, 170

So there you are, not cheap at all.

louise1234_2

We can all give you figures, but how much it will cost YOU depends on how much YOU spend.

You could choose to live in halls, or choose to find a cheaper shared house.

You could eat out every night, or eat only value brands.

And so on.

How much it wil cost you, will depend on the decisions you make, and without any more information, everyone will just be guessing...........

crana999

Biggest amount is normally spent on socialising! Most students aren't in lectures for too long so they have to find something to ocupy themselves.....

Speak for yourself, I have 30 hours a week of lectures, labs etc, before all the work I have to do

Anyway, for the OP:

Outgoings for one year £4,474.10
Year
Fees £1,125.00
Rent £1,668.60
KFC £309.00
Electricity £45.00
Internet £60.00
£3,207.60

I pay full fees. KFC is an extra charge you have to pay at my uni towards kitchen facilities, I don't know why.

Food £405.00
Books £100.00
Clothes £100.00
Transport £81.00
Going out £405.00
Mobile £135.00
Laundry £13.50
Stationary/Stamps £13.50
Toiletries £13.50
£1,266.50

Some of these are estimated and some (food, entertainment etc) are "overestimated" for me to be on the safe side.

I'm at university in cambridge - we have shorter terms than many places (8 weeks). Most students in cambridge don't have travel costs apart from at the start/end of term - mine are because I share the cost of my boyfriend travelling to visit me.

pennymakespounds

dub-ztar at around £10000 a year ... but crana999 , your figures look extremely low ?? under £5000 for 3x8 = 24 weeks .

reason i'm looking for comparisons is that our son is going through over £15000 a year just for uni time and says its impossible to reduce .

newsmonkey

£15k? Blimey.

Obviously everyone's different, but I'd say £7-8k a year would be an "average", assuming the student pays their own rent, fees, bills, goes out regularly, buys supermarket food etc. Add a bit more for London, take a bit off for some money saving guru living in the sticks.

wirm

If you don't drink alcohol you will save a fourtune!

How true! :-[