Average student spending - can you beat it?

crana999

There was an article in the paper about average student spending for this year, based on a 39 week term.

Some of it sounds WAY over to me - what do you think?

Figures in brackets are London, other figures outside London

Books/equipment: 132 (315)

(How come London people have to spend well over twice as much? Don't get this one)

Living costs 2146 (2989)
I'm not sure quite what this covers, apart from rent, as food etc are listed separately..

Bills 788 (788)

Food 1103 (1247)

Household goods 300 (462)

Clothing 441 (441)
Huh? Just for the 39 weeks you're at uni?

Leisure 1440 (1440)

In total the average spending was 8584 (10,186) (I missed off some less interesting catagories like insurance).

theadore_2

like nearly everything else on the subject, these amounts are likely fabricated by someone who has no idea what the realtive costs involved are.

Books/equipment: 132 (315)
(How come London people have to spend well over twice as much? Don't get this one)

you've got me, most students will order books over the internet or get them from chain stores so the difference should be negligable. This would be the figure you would tell your parents you would spend... most of my books i bought came 2nd hand. Even with a substandard libary though, if you are even slightly organised you should at least half this figure.

Living costs 2146 (2989)
I'm not sure quite what this covers, apart from rent, as food etc are listed separately..

Think this is just rent... my sister is paying £56/week in headingly (leeds) at the minute which is fairly cheap for the area, halls will set you back a lot more, but you don't need to pay for bills or food (unless you want to enjoy it)

Bills 788 (788)

fairly reasonable, might end up paying more if you include mobile phone bills, or if you have a poorly insulated house (nearly always do). Also note houses of boys often have 5 stereos and 5 computers running 24hours a day

Food 1103 (1247)

When i was at university i spent between £10 and £20 per week, plus the occasional meal out and take away... not worked it out but this figure still seems very high

Household goods 300 (462)

Most students will be sent off with a care package of plates and pans no longer wanted by parents. Also most good student houses should have the essentials in there, the only things i ever really had to buy were cutlery and an iron.

Clothing 441 (441)
Huh? Just for the 39 weeks you're at uni?

clothing as a luxury is essential, necessary clothing comes from christmas presents... figure depends largly on the student, but expect jeans costing £60 to be reasonable.

Leisure 1440 (1440)

Again depends on the student. I pretended to impose a £50 a week limit (although let it slip when special occasions came round, such as birthdays or thursdays ). This could be where the majority of the money goes, but can still be done cheaply when needs be.

crana999

Had a quick look and I spend about 4k a year on everything....will be higher next year tho as I'm moving into plusher acommodation :-)

Eliza252

Sounds like some seriously dodgy stats too me! - which paper was it in?
Anyway averaging out student expenditure is totally unfair - obviously there are some students who do have hundreds of pounds to spend on clothes and some who spend none - if you average it out it'll bear no resemblance to anything realistic!
I hope no one tries to use this to budget for their expenses! There are very few students who truly (even though they make think they have at the time!) have a disposable income to spend on clothes etc!

crana999

they appear to be the NUS figures : http://www.nusonline.co.uk/info/money/270609.aspx

which is "based one the Department for Education and Skills Student Income and Expenditure Survey, 2002-03, research report 487, by C.Callendar"

was in the telegraph

Eliza252

Scandal! Well, I'd like to know where all the money-bags students that are friends with Mr Callender are!
- and what happened to my £315 for equipment and £441 for clothes? - cus I certainly didnt get to spend it!

crana999

just think - for every one of us who spends nothing on clothes, there's a student somewhere spending £882..;)

surfcat

I wouldn't really believe any stats the NUS put out. They're £700,000 overdrawn and about to start charging a tenner for your NUS card becuase they can't manage their budget. I recently heard their presisdent come out with an inspired comment, "Students are more likely to be found working behind bars than drinking at them".

pennymakespounds

should may be merge this with the post of similar topic that i started a couple of months ago ?


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=21791

crana999

they are different topics, really.


EDITED: just to say I agree - I'll keep them separate - but thanks for the link to the other thread pennymakespounds which is more of a "see also..." -- Student100

Haize

Hmm, not sure whether my (other) post would have been more at home here. Ah well, my 2c summarised for this thread - I think that those figures are utterly ridiculous. I definately could spend that money if I was handed it on a plate, but it would be hard work. Hmm, exotic holidays, methinks, cos I eat fine, run a decent car, and live in a nice place. Maybe I'd have an emerald ring, too. Teehee.