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University of London Budget !

I've had a look via search for a similar thread but couldnt really find one, i'm looking to go to SOAS 2006 and was wondering what other London students budget. If i went out 2 or 3 times a week, was in catered halls (£120 pw) how much would my living expenses be. how much do you spend on clothes and other expenses ? would a monthly oyster student zone 1&2 travelcard save much money ?
any info, or a breakdown of someone elses budget would be really helpful.

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Reply 1

xavier2k3

Alias667

i don't know if this is entirely relevant as you're not going to UCL but you could use this as some sort of guide:

"Living Expenses
Your main costs as a student will be living expenses, including accommodation, travel, entertainment, books, food and clothing.

The Bottom Line
Estimates vary as to how much students should budget for, and London, like other destinations, can be as expensive as personal taste dictates. A total of around £210 per week is considered to be a reasonable average for about a 37-week year (this includes the 30-week UCL academic year plus Christmas and Easter vacations).

As a guide, for a first year student living in a UCL hall of residence the biggest items are:

£90-£95 for accommodation
£35 for housekeeping (food, toiletries etc)
£50 for entertainment
£10 for travel
£7 for books/equipment
£7 for insurance/TV licence
£10 for clothes. "

Working out which oyster card would be better for you would depend on how much you travel and between what zones. Though, i think every student should have a monthly one because they'll be just handy if you need/want to go somewhere. Hope this helps.

regards
--marty

Reply 2

Ludivine

My heart actually sank when I read those figures... £10 a week for clothes, £50 a week for entertainment seems very optimistic to me, perhaps even ridiculous. And the figure for halls of residence cost seems quite low since a lot of them, as I recall, are more than that per week, right? I don't think I'll be paying my accommodation but if I am, I will definitely struggle to keep on budget.

Reply 3

Eru Lawliet

average cost for halls of residences should be around £110 i think.

Reply 4

Ludivine

Deathscythe HG

average cost for halls of residences should be around £110 i think.

Exactly... That throws the estimated budget off by quite a bit per year.

Reply 5

jb_sweden

I have estimated that I will have around £90 pw to live on after paying for the accommodation (catered). Which is... well... The Sufferings of Young Werther by Goethe, anyone?

Ah well, there's a solution to everything.

Reply 6

jb_sweden

Ludivine

Exactly... That throws the estimated budget off by quite a bit per year.

Well, in halls we can disregard the "£35 for housekeeping" entry, which is around the difference between the costs for living in halls and self-catered.

Reply 7

Knogle

I did some rough calculations, and I'm expecting to spend about 21-22k pounds per year, all inclusive (i.e. tuition fees, living expenses (food/entertainment), accommodation, travel expenses). It's probably going to be a wee bit higher in the first year due to settling in fees like books, a notebook, etc.

And this is for a fairly decent lifestyle. Did i estimate correctly?

Reply 8

xavier2k3

I think you may be a bit high, but anything around the £15-17k mark wouldn't be far off i bet.

regards
--marty

Reply 9

fonzievision

Knogle

That sounds about right

Reply 10

lukeyboy

Knogle

SERIOUSLY, are you a foreign student.

Reply 11

xavier2k3

Knogle

how did you work that out? even including tuition fees that is too much. minus tuition fees it should be between 11k and 14k max; 15k at a stretch with tuition fees 17/18k like i said before but 21-22k?! where is that extra 5k being spent?

regards
--marty

Reply 12

Angel Interceptor

xavier2k3

I think you may be a bit high, but anything around the £15-17k mark wouldn't be far off i bet.

regards
--marty

Marty, FFS, you don't need to write 'regards marty' at the bottom of every single fricking post! Put it in your sig if you have to!

Reply 13

xavier2k3

Angel Interceptor

Marty, FFS, you don't need to write 'regards marty' at the bottom of every single fricking post! Put it in your sig if you have to.

NOTE: People need to stop neg repping me for signing my posts. If you have a problem, dont look! I always have done and will continue to do so, regardless of what you think!

regards
--marty

p.s. it just so happens that i received a pm today from somebody who liked the fact that i sign my posts and told me to keep it up.

Reply 14

jb_sweden

I fkn hate people who signs their posts

regards
--jb_sweden

Reply 15

Eru Lawliet

22k is reasonable. 11 to 12k for tuition fees, 10k for surviving in London for 9 months (1 month 1k, plus 1k extra for misc). Yeah i think this is the price an international student is expected to pay.

Reply 16

Ludivine

Deathscythe HG

Hold on a second... We're talking about international students with that estimation? I'd love it if we were but I didn't think so...

Reply 17

Knogle

Ludivine

Hold on a second... We're talking about international students with that estimation? I'd love it if we were but I didn't think so...

Yes, I'm an international student and that's the sum I arrived at. We're not talking about an overly-lavish lifestyle here, and I do believe that 22k is a reasonable and relatively accurate amount.