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Costs of Living At Napier

Greetings to all,
My daughter has an unconditional acceptance to study Journalism at Napier's Craighouse campus this year but is getting alarmed by the costs. The rent will be about £70 pw but she's unsure off other costs i.e Electricty, Travel, Food etc

Can anyone offer us some approximate figures please?

Many thanks

Reply 1

oxymoronic

Edinburgh is an expensive place to live... £70 a week is actually really good for rent here. Most rent is around £80 for first year s/c accommodation, and then abit less than than for private flats. With regards to additional costs, it completley depends on her lifestyle and how she shops- I spend about £10-15 a week on food, whereas my flatmate spends closer to £50 as she buys all brand names and expensive products. And obviously it will depend on what she does in her free time, as some hobbies cost more than others, and some people spend more going out at night than others. I usually spend about £30 a week, but I don't have any travel costs. As Craighouse is further away from town she might choose to use the bus which is £1 a journey.

One thing I will point out is that I don't think Napier flats include electricity costs, whereas Edinburgh's (where I am at) do include this cost. My boyfriend is at Napier, and they recieved an elecricity bill in March for the past 6 months usage, and will get another before they move out in June for the remainder of the lease. For the September to March usage it worked out as £70 each (there are 4 people in his flat). You could phone the accommodation services to see if this is the same everywhere. He lives at Wrights Houses.

Reply 2

Acaila

Welcome to TSR :smile:

£70 is good for rent - I was paying £81 per week in halls at another Edinburgh uni (self catering 3 person flat) and that seemed quite good.

A lot of university properties do include bills for electricity etc. but you should definitely check this out, as it varies from place to place. If it doesn't say in the literature you've been sent, phone up the accommodation office and ask. I spend about £20 a month on electric and gas - we're on a meter system with Scottish Power, but even if the uni expects you to pay, there are a variety of ways they could use, so again, best bet is accommodation.

As for other factors, last year I budgeted for £60 per week after rent. I never spent more than £30 in one week on food, usually more like £20 and still managed to have plenty nice things like smoked salmon, posh ice cream, etc.
I managed to stick to that budget without any major problems - bought plenty of sports kit and dvds and such without going over budget.

oxymoronic mentions buses - Lothian buses are really good with lots of routes and regular buses. Singles are £1, day tickets which are unlimited travel not including night buses have just gone up to £2.50 and there are various longer term cards (weekly, monthly and yearly), all of which have discounted ones for students (under the age of 25 I believe). I probably wouldn't budget for more than £11 a week for transport (price of a student weekly ride a card), and even then, that's only if she's likely to take several buses a day.

After that it will depend a lot on lifestyle e.g. I'm teetotal so don't spend 3 nights a week clubbing and buying alcohol. I do however go to the theatre a lot and sports competitions.

Books and stationery would be something to take into account - secondhand bookshops, ebay and the secondhand bit on amazon are your friend! (for those you can't get out of the library - always first port of call) I'm not sure how much journalism students are expected to read though as it's not my subject.

I would probably budget more for the first term as there are likely to be more one-off expenses then, e.g. sports or societies memberships, NUS card if she bothers with one, passport photos are invariably being needed for something, and generally more socialising in the first term before people realise exams and assignments are imminent. Also for the things that get left at home or forgotten, e.g. despite nagging my mum for weeks, she forgot to sort me out with a clothes horse, then brought down one that I couldn't use in my room, so I eventually ran off to tesco and bought my own :biggrin:

.

Happy to answer any further questions you have :smile:

Reply 3

Nighteyes

Many thanks to oxymoronic & Acaila for their very informative posts.

I spoke to the accomodation department about costs, they advised that the electricity is not included in the rent, is provided by Scottish Power and couldn't give a rough idea of costs as it was dependent on weither the Boost facility on the heaters was used or not. The background heating is part of the rent though.

Similarly they confirmed a broadband connection and phone line will be available in her room via Keycom but couldn't confirm costs "Around £15" was there best gambit.

I've contacted Napier Students Association who asked my daughter to arrange a phone appointment with them for more information.

If my daughter goes to live in Edinburgh she'll be housed at Tollcross or Riego Street which is 2.2 miles from Craighouse (So much for on the doorstep) so I think her best travel option is £31 for a 4 week Ridacard from Lothian buses.

So far her weekly costs are looking abit like

Rent: £75
TV Licence: £3
Broadband: £4
Electricity: £10 (guess)
Travel: £8
Food: £20

Total: £120

That leave £26 for course material, nights out, clothes and contributing to my retirement fund :laugh:

Does this seem realistic? and are there any other costs we should factor in?

Plan B involves comuniting as we live within 30 miles of the campus (she may not be eligible for a flat)

This would work out weekly as

Rail Travel: £30 (monthly rail ticket)
Bus Travel: £8 (4 week Ridacard)
TV Licence, Electricity, Broadband & Food: Mum & Dad

That leave £78 for course material, nights out, clothes and contributing to my retirement fund :laugh:

As always any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated

Reply 4

oxymoronic

Nighteyes

So far her weekly costs are looking abit like

Rent: £75
TV Licence: £3
Broadband: £4
Electricity: £10 (guess)
Travel: £8
Food: £20

Total: £120

That leave £26 for course material, nights out, clothes and contributing to my retirement fund :laugh:

Does this seem realistic? and are there any other costs we should factor in?

I think thats realistic... £26 extra a week is more than I have spare and I am fine. At the start of the year she will probably have to spend a lot on course books- I spent about £200 on the 'compulsarly' ones, although looking back I'd advise her to borrow from the library then a month or two in if she feels the book is neccesary, to buy her own copy. I've used my 'neccesary' linguistics text book twice this year.

Living at Tollcross or Reigo Street means she'd be really near the main clubbing area and pubs, so there'd be no taxi costs at night which can add up. Its about 10 mins walk away.

Napier seems to have LOADS of spare rooms (in my boyfriends building they have empty flats, and rooms) so even if she was denied accommodation at first she would probably be able to move in very early into term. I know people at Edinburgh who live less than 30 miles away and were gurarrenteed accommodation here.

Like I said, my boyfriend paid £70 for 6 months electricity, and they're not very energy concious- they had no idea they were footing the bill- so weren't trying to cut down on the cost, so £10 a week might be an over estimation.

Reply 5

Acaila

Sounds like the accommodation office aren't wonderfully useful :frown:

oxymoronic is spot on re. spaces in halls after the start of term.

£10 a week for electric probably is quite high. I'd say more like £10 a month if it's similar to our way with Scottish power.

As for books, with only a few exceptions, I've not spent more than four pounds on all but a few books I've bought for my course (and then I only buy really useful ones I feel I'll use in future). If they've sent a reading list, then I wouldn't buy any of it just yet unless they specifically say to have read it before the start of time (perhaps start keeping an eye out for cheap copies though). I got a mini-reading list before I started, bought all the books on it brand new (cept one my mum had from her student days!) and one of them got taken off the reading list! (and was included in an anthology they recommended we buy anyway :biggrin:

)

£26 a week after those expenses sounds perfectly fine :smile:

Definitely encourage her to stay aware of her finances - everyone recommends internet banking on my course though I keep forgetting to set it up :redface:

Reply 6

Nighteyes

Many thanks for all the replies received. The advise offered has encouraged my daughter to view living in Edinburgh as more affordable than she first though. Not sure if that's a good thing as she may be ready to move but her mother and I aren't!

My daughter will shortly be contacting the Napier Students Association to bottom out a couple of points that the Accommodation officers seemed a bit vague on, after that it looks like she'll be counting the days.

Thanks again

Nighteyes