[smilinggtearss]

Friends,
What should i budget as an AVERAGE postgraduate (MSc Finance) living expense for the year starting in Oct-12. I know this varies person to person but still just an average. Anyone?

Thanks.

[Helioghost]

(Original post by Emperiator)
Where do you study? It's a big difference between for instance London or Glasgow ...

Thread in the Durham University forum.

[Emperiator]

(Original post by Awoodrow2)
Thread in the Durham University forum.

Haha my bad ... I'm sorry!

[smilinggtearss]

haha thats fine. so any clues?

I have got into Ustinov college; an en-suite self catered room so that's a fixed £ 5,317/- this includes my accommodation and utilities which is equivalent to £443 per month. so how much more?

Generally would a £1,000/- per month be sufficient that will include accommodation, food, fun etc everything??

[Helioghost]

(Original post by smilinggtearss)
haha thats fine. so any clues?

I have got into Ustinov college; an en-suite self catered room so that's a fixed £ 5,317/- this includes my accommodation and utilities which is equivalent to £443 per month. so how much more?

Generally would a £1,000/- per month be sufficient that will include accommodation, food, fun etc everything??

Oh, if you're living in college accommodation, you probably shouldn't need more than £8000 for the year. Rough estimates I've seen for undergrads (albeit three years ago) was around £10,000 for the year, which includes ~3000 tuition fees, and ~5000 accommodation fees - leaving another £2000 spending money for stuff.

[River85]

(Original post by smilinggtearss)
haha thats fine. so any clues?

I have got into Ustinov college; an en-suite self catered room so that's a fixed £ 5,317/- this includes my accommodation and utilities which is equivalent to £443 per month. so how much more?

Generally would a £1,000/- per month be sufficient that will include accommodation, food, fun etc everything??

Of course it depends on how much you spend on food, and whether you want to eat out or get takeaways often.

However, a weekly food bill for a single person should be between £25 to £35Excluding fruit and veg, I would only spend £25 a week at most, and that would mainly be green and camomile tea, soya milk, cereal, brown bread, wholewheat pasta, quorn mince, flora, cheese, fish, soup and baked beans plus some sandwiches The amount of fruit and veg I'd buy would vary week to week but usually under £10.

I also spent £8 a week on toiletries (I buy expensive fluoride rinses so you might not need to spend this much).

Allow £10 a week for books and document delivery requests (unlikely you will spend this much, but budget for it anyway)

Bills are obviously included in your accomodation price but, if living in private accomodation, they would vary anyway according to how well insulated the house is and size of it.

I assume you have no travel costs (e.g. travelling to conferences, archives or libraries)? This will usually only be a concern for research postgraduates.

In short, £1000 a month should pay for accomodation, food and study costs, and still leave you with at least £50 a week spare for general spending/socialising. It will allow for a comfortable postgraduate student lifestyle.