How much do you spend in an average week at Cambridge?

I've got an offer for medicine at Cambridge starting in October. I'm starting to think about finances and applying for student loans etc, so my dad said I should write a budget to see how much I need to get or how much more I need to find on top of the loan.

My main question is, how much do you spend a week on non-essentials, like going out? For example, how many times a week do you go out and how much do you spend? What do you do for lunch or breakfast? (I'll be at Caius so I'll have most dinners - 4/5 a week - pre-paid at the beginning of the year). Any other costs to factor in would be useful!

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

advice_guru

Original post by meowcat95

I've got an offer for medicine at Cambridge starting in October. I'm starting to think about finances and applying for student loans etc, so my dad said I should write a budget to see how much I need to get or how much more I need to find on top of the loan.

My main question is, how much do you spend a week on non-essentials, like going out? For example, how many times a week do you go out and how much do you spend? What do you do for lunch or breakfast? (I'll be at Caius so I'll have most dinners - 4/5 a week - pre-paid at the beginning of the year). Any other costs to factor in would be useful!

Thanks :smile:

You need at least £100 a week if your going to go half board.

Reply 2

a443s

1

Original post by meowcat95

I've got an offer for medicine at Cambridge starting in October. I'm starting to think about finances and applying for student loans etc, so my dad said I should write a budget to see how much I need to get or how much more I need to find on top of the loan.

My main question is, how much do you spend a week on non-essentials, like going out? For example, how many times a week do you go out and how much do you spend? What do you do for lunch or breakfast? (I'll be at Caius so I'll have most dinners - 4/5 a week - pre-paid at the beginning of the year). Any other costs to factor in would be useful!

Thanks :smile:

Think about getting the grades first...

Reply 3

meowcat95

OP

Original post by a443s

Think about getting the grades first...

And miss the deadline for student finance? Because that's a great idea, get the grades but not be able to pay for tuition....

Reply 4

milienhaus

11

Original post by meowcat95

And miss the deadline for student finance? Because that's a great idea, get the grades but not be able to pay for tuition....

Basically, whatever you get from student finance won't be quite enough, so get as much as you can. If it turns out you have spare money in three years (you won't) then you can pay it back to them straight away - on my system at least you can make lump sum payments to them whenever you like.

My experience of undergrad (living in college) was that my college bill was about 1500 per term, and I probably spent about 70-100 per week on average on top of that. I wasn't trying to live particularly cheaply and could have spent less.

Reply 5

wibletg

3

Original post by meowcat95

I've got an offer for medicine at Cambridge starting in October. I'm starting to think about finances and applying for student loans etc, so my dad said I should write a budget to see how much I need to get or how much more I need to find on top of the loan.

My main question is, how much do you spend a week on non-essentials, like going out? For example, how many times a week do you go out and how much do you spend? What do you do for lunch or breakfast? (I'll be at Caius so I'll have most dinners - 4/5 a week - pre-paid at the beginning of the year). Any other costs to factor in would be useful!

Thanks :smile:

On a typical night out, I'll spend £15 (pre-drinking is the way forward - don't buy any drinks in clubs here!). That maybe happens once or twice a week?

I don't know how much Caius food is, but it's typically £3 a (BIG) meal here - so £6 a day (MAX).

Our college don't provide breakfast so it's typically a bowl of cereal and milk which is peanuts (£3 for milk and cereal, lasts a week and a bit?).

Do Caius insist on Utility charges? How often are you planning to go to Formal Hall (£6.20 a ticket plus a ~£5 bottle of wine here)?

Struggling to think of what else - you could probably survive on about £60 a week if you cut out really unnecessary things or got the basics stuff (i.e. cheap chocolate!)

Reply 6

Theflyingbarney

15

My college bills are normally about 1200-1400 a term, and then I maybe spend roughly 50-60 extra a week without living cheaply (though I hardly ever go out). Though iirc Caius have some stupid system where you have to pay for a certain number of formal halls a year in advance and it's then up to you whether you go to them, so that might add a bit, so far I've only been to formal about 3 times a term whereas I think the Caius system is something like 25 a year.

But as people above have said, it's worth getting as much money as you can from student finance because it's basically the best terms you'll ever see on a loan (even though they're not great) - so far better to take their money and end up with some spare than to try and fund yourself more, hit difficulty and get stuck with an awful high-interest loan.

How much do you spend in an average week at Cambridge?

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