Finance

Hi!

I am currently in year 12 and I have been looking at the living costs at different universities.

The University of Oxford website states that students roughly spend between £1200 to £1500 per month...how realistic are these figures?

I don't have an extensive number of friends who have attended university and I will be the first in my family to attend, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.😊

Thank you☺️

Reply 1

Jackieox

19

It depends
My rent (for a two bed flat in the north west) is £110 a week but i pay termly installments of around £1600 ish... I pay that when my loan goes in
£15 a week for food
£25 (this varies) for fuel but if i'm on a job for the uni this is covered by them

That's all i really spend money on

Reply 2

Lau14

11

Original post by lovelikeghosts

Hi!

I am currently in year 12 and I have been looking at the living costs at different universities.

The University of Oxford website states that students roughly spend between £1200 to £1500 per month...how realistic are these figures?

I don't have an extensive number of friends who have attended university and I will be the first in my family to attend, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.😊

Thank you☺️

They tend to be an overestimate, and you can usually live for much less than that, but it depends on what you do (e.g. I live perfectly happily within my ~£5000 a year maintenance loan including rent and buying my own food, but I also don't drink so that decreases costs a fair bit). A better way to get an estimate of some figures is to find rent/food costs for some colleges (the uni provides a list here:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/college-rent-and-other-charges?wssl=1 )
and take a guess based on how many meals you think you'd eat in college, and what else you might spend money on. You likely don't need to buy books (college libraries are very well stocked). Look at the rows they list and think about whether you would spend that much money on those things - e.g. what on earth are these £38-£83 a month 'study costs' they're going on about? I certainly don't get through that many pens! My college accommodation (and probably many college's accommodation) is cheaper than they list in their estimate.

Reply 3

BJack

19

Original post by lovelikeghosts

The University of Oxford website states that students roughly spend between £1200 to £1500 per month...how realistic are these figures?

The numbers are too high and have been for years. I think you'd struggle to find many people who hit even the lower estimate – you could live very comfortably for £1000 a month.

Reply 4

kennyGOAT

Original post by lovelikeghosts

Hi!

I am currently in year 12 and I have been looking at the living costs at different universities.

The University of Oxford website states that students roughly spend between £1200 to £1500 per month...how realistic are these figures?

I don't have an extensive number of friends who have attended university and I will be the first in my family to attend, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.😊

Thank you☺️

First do well in your a levels before considering somewhere like Oxford. It's always those who set their sites on these unis and obsess over it that end up with a rejection.

Reply 5

nexttime

22

As above - those figures are way too high.

This is because a) its used to dictate the amount Oxford asks international students to guarantee they have before they start. International students (who pay international fees of many thousands) tend to have limited experience of living frugally, plus are in a new and expensive country, and so Oxford feels they need to guarantee a high amount and b) its written by non-students who are removed from what student life is like.

Its important to budget for unexpected costs of course. But not that much.

Reply 6

lovelikeghosts

OP

9

Original post by kennyGOAT

First do well in your a levels before considering somewhere like Oxford. It's always those who set their sites on these unis and obsess over it that end up with a rejection.

Oxford is definitely my aspirational choice. I haven't set my heart on it, for reasons that you said. I've just been exploring options at the moment. Thank you for the advice though.

Reply 7

lovelikeghosts

OP

9

Thank you everyone for the advice, it really does help :smile:

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