The Student Room Group

How much could I expect to spend at Uni each year?

My parents want me to support myself at Uni and I have raised some cash over my gap year to fund myself. My maintenance loan will cover all my accommodation with about £300 to spare. How much can I expect to spend on food, toiletries, leisure and other costs each year?
Original post by Cyberpunk3
My parents want me to support myself at Uni and I have raised some cash over my gap year to fund myself. My maintenance loan will cover all my accommodation with about £300 to spare. How much can I expect to spend on food, toiletries, leisure and other costs each year?


Your university will/should have a page breaking down expected costs, you can add / take stuff away as you feel appropriate eg me, I know I do not buy clothes and am lucky to buy shoes once a year so I remove the clothing budget from the table.

Also try to think of what is provided in the way of toiletries etc, eg toilet paper was provided and someone bought washing up liquid (not a toiletry but bear with) every so often so for me I just bought occasional sponges/shaving stuff that lasted me over 2 years, deoderant etc as I normally would at home..

And leisure, I didn't do a huge amount apart from the occasional nandos / cinema trip with friends, so didn't cost me a huge amount. Another thing to factor in is travel though, how often you expect to travel back home which is difficult to gauge until you're actually there.
Original post by Cyberpunk3
My parents want me to support myself at Uni and I have raised some cash over my gap year to fund myself. My maintenance loan will cover all my accommodation with about £300 to spare. How much can I expect to spend on food, toiletries, leisure and other costs each year?


Hello :biggrin:

All in all in a year, I couldn't tell you exactly but I can give you an idea of what my experience was per term! :smile:

In my First Year, Student Finance granted me around £7200 - because my mum is a single parent and therefore, I got the top income. Once I'd subtracted accommodation I was left with around £80 a week - I did this by taking the left over amount and dividing it by the number of weeks in between payments from Student Finance - I was then spending around £25 a week on shopping (for myself) and other essentials, like toiletries etc. However, half way through my first year I began shopping with friends so only ended spending £10 a week on shopping.

Leisure wise, in First Year, I was going out every Tuesday night so spend a goof £20-£25 on alcohol, taxis and takeaway etc and whatever was left I used on petrol for my car and what not.

In Second Year my accommodation was slightly more expensive and therefore, I dropped to £30 a week - luckily, my mother was able to support me a little and I managed a small part time job. I was still group shopping and spending £10-£15 a week on shopping and therefore, anything I had left I managed to use for petrol and nights out - although nights out slowed in Second Year. Also, I was receiving a bursary from my university which helped me loads!

Hope this helps a little!
Ensure that you do all your calculations and figure out your finances, it's important to be on top of your money!:biggrin:
Reply 3
Original post by JustGeorgeJ
Hello :biggrin:

All in all in a year, I couldn't tell you exactly but I can give you an idea of what my experience was per term! :smile:

In my First Year, Student Finance granted me around £7200 - because my mum is a single parent and therefore, I got the top income. Once I'd subtracted accommodation I was left with around £80 a week - I did this by taking the left over amount and dividing it by the number of weeks in between payments from Student Finance - I was then spending around £25 a week on shopping (for myself) and other essentials, like toiletries etc. However, half way through my first year I began shopping with friends so only ended spending £10 a week on shopping.

Leisure wise, in First Year, I was going out every Tuesday night so spend a goof £20-£25 on alcohol, taxis and takeaway etc and whatever was left I used on petrol for my car and what not.

In Second Year my accommodation was slightly more expensive and therefore, I dropped to £30 a week - luckily, my mother was able to support me a little and I managed a small part time job. I was still group shopping and spending £10-£15 a week on shopping and therefore, anything I had left I managed to use for petrol and nights out - although nights out slowed in Second Year. Also, I was receiving a bursary from my university which helped me loads!

Hope this helps a little!
Ensure that you do all your calculations and figure out your finances, it's important to be on top of your money!:biggrin:


Sorry for the late replay but can you please go into more detail about how much you think I need per week as £80 seems like a lot.
Original post by Cyberpunk3
Sorry for the late replay but can you please go into more detail about how much you think I need per week as £80 seems like a lot.


Again, it's difficult to tell you what I think you'd need personally as I don't know your situation or financial state, I'd say at least £40 a week. Maybe?
Reply 5
Original post by JustGeorgeJ
Again, it's difficult to tell you what I think you'd need personally as I don't know your situation or financial state, I'd say at least £40 a week. Maybe?


I want to spend £50 - £60 a week as I've saved up a ton of money over my gap year but not enough to cover 3 years of uni I only get the base maintence loan and my accommodation is paid with that leaving me with £271 left over from my loan and my savings. What Uni do you go to though as that may effect how much you spend on alcohol and what not?
Original post by Cyberpunk3
I want to spend £50 - £60 a week as I've saved up a ton of money over my gap year but not enough to cover 3 years of uni I only get the base maintence loan and my accommodation is paid with that leaving me with £271 left over from my loan and my savings. What Uni do you go to though as that may effect how much you spend on alcohol and what not?


I study in Lincoln - I generally don't alcohol in clubs, I buy my alcohol in supermarkets before hand and what. I do my shops on price comparison websites and also I have to pay for petrol weekly as well and what not.
Original post by Cyberpunk3
I want to spend £50 - £60 a week


Sounds reasonable.
Reply 8
Original post by JustGeorgeJ
I study in Lincoln - I generally don't alcohol in clubs, I buy my alcohol in supermarkets before hand and what. I do my shops on price comparison websites and also I have to pay for petrol weekly as well and what not.


I won't need to run a car thankfully nearly everything I have is on campus and I'll only need to get the bus to go shopping for food and such (Uni is in the sticks). Do you think £50 - 60 a week would be enough to live comfortably?
Original post by Cyberpunk3
I won't need to run a car thankfully nearly everything I have is on campus and I'll only need to get the bus to go shopping for food and such (Uni is in the sticks). Do you think £50 - 60 a week would be enough to live comfortably?


Yes, I'd say so! It's trial and error, I'll say you'll discover as it goes along.
Original post by Cyberpunk3
I won't need to run a car thankfully nearly everything I have is on campus and I'll only need to get the bus to go shopping for food and such (Uni is in the sticks). Do you think £50 - 60 a week would be enough to live comfortably?


I lived very comfortably on £50 a week in first year, i live in a cheap northern city and didnt drink though. However, i did buy a couple of starbucks coffees a week and went to the cinema at least once a month in that time:smile:
Reply 11
Original post by claireestelle
I lived very comfortably on £50 a week in first year, i live in a cheap northern city and didnt drink though. However, i did buy a couple of starbucks coffees a week and went to the cinema at least once a month in that time:smile:


How much where you spending in the second and third year? I'm going to be going to Keele Uni and I hear rents no so costly there but I can stay on campus for my final year.
Original post by Cyberpunk3
How much where you spending in the second and third year? I'm going to be going to Keele Uni and I hear rents no so costly there but I can stay on campus for my final year.


I m not the best person to ask as i moved in with my fiance at the end of first year, so lots of costs then became cheaper for me, but i would have said less than £50 a week, i spent much less on clothes after first year for example.
minimum of £50 a week, with a few hundred put aside for emergency funds, plus a couple of hundred (at least £100) for starting up costs (first food shop, household items)

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