Living costs in Uni of Sheffield

Hi, I was just wondering how much living costs in the University of Sheffield including accommodation and societies etc?Thanks!

Hello!

Hope you are well, I am a current student at the Uni of Sheffield so thought I would pop in and share a bit of my experience with living costs In my first year I stayed in student halls, I chose Ranmoor student village and an ensuite accommodation, it was quite expensive as I paid around £140 a week in my first year for accommodation. But I didn't mind because I really wanted to stay in halls for the first year as you do get a more social experience and get to meet more people at uni and on your course, it's a really important part of first year and would choose to stay there again if I was a fresher. It is cheaper to go for accommodation with shared bathroom so that is another option too! In my 2nd year now I have private accommodation renting a house with some course mates, this is much cheaper and I pay around £100 a week for the accommodation so I would recommend this for after 1st year Societies at the start of the year often hold free taster events so you can try them out without any commitment, some charge a small fee for any equipment etc. but I never paid more than a few pounds for an society. If you enjoy a society you can pay for a membership which gives you a discount for the year or unlimited access for the year. Personally I found most societies range from £5-10 , some can be more expensive if they require a lot of equipment etc but it is a payment for the entire year I personally stuck to 1-2 societies because I found it was too much throughout the week doing much more and I wanted to keep up with the societies for the year.

Hope this helps you out, if you have any more questions about uni please feel free to ask

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

That's brilliant thanks! How much would you say, roughly, were your monthly expenses, just so I know how much I should budget for each month for food etc?? (I hope that isn't too personal)


That's brilliant thanks! How much would you say, roughly, were your monthly expenses, just so I know how much I should budget for each month for food etc?? (I hope that isn't too personal)

Hi,

Not too personal at all! For my budgeting I always did it at the start of the year and budgeted for each term of the year by giving myself a weekly budget. I did this because usually rent is taken out once each term so I could work out how much was left each term after rent. In first year my rent was £140 a week so I spent a lot more on rent each term, I had a weekly budget left of around £60-70 per week which I found to be a very reasonable budget. For my 2nd year and now my 3rd year I have a privately rented house with friends which saves a lot of money on accommodation - I spend around £100 a week now for my accommodation. Typically have a bit more to spend each week due to less rent but I always try to stick to £70-£80 a week max. Some weeks are more expensive than others so I average it across the month sometimes, so around £300 per month. For my food personally I don't ever exceed around £15 a week for a food shop, £20 on a pricier week, I am veggie though so I don't have to buy meat which can be quite expensive, I would recommend getting this from the local Moor Market where there are local farmer stalls for meat, fish and vegetables and it tends to be pretty cheap there. You could definitely live of a smaller budget than this too, I know people who have a weekly budget of £40 and less and people who spend £100 + so it really depends how much you have and also how much you'd like to save. I like to try save some of my loan each month so I have some money for after uni/ for emergencies.

Hope this helps you out a bit, if you have anymore questions please feel free to ask

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics

Thank you!!! Do you have any tips on how to save money?

Hi there,

I'm in my 4th year at Sheffield now... I have to admit that when I first got to uni saving money was a challenge as there were so many exciting things I wanted to do! But I tried to keep a rough budget to help track how much I was spending and what I was spending it on. There are lots of budget tools online and the University of Sheffield have one here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/undergraduate/fees-funding/tools

It's good to look for student deals on things and use your student discount in shops where you can! I'm sure everyone you meet will have a different money saving tip to offer.

I think the main thing is just to be aware of what you're spending, whether you write in in a budget, regularly check your bank account or just mentally note when you may have gone to the pub one too many times that week.

There are bursaries and financial support available from the university if you need it and there is always the option of a part time job while studying.

Hope that helps!
Sarah
4th year MSc Science Communication

Thank you!!! Do you have any tips on how to save money?

Hi!

You're welcome! I must agree with Sarah on tracking your spending, this was really important for me to stay on budget, I wrote down how much I spent each day just to know how much I would have left in my budget. I also recommend having a bank account that you use for your weekly spend- I would typically only transfer over enough money for the week to this account so then when I would check my banking I would know exactly how much I had left. Something like a Monzo or revolut card can be useful for this.

One of my other main tips to save money would be to shop at the local charity shops when you can, there are quite a few local charity shops and vintage shops in Sheffield and can really help saving you some money. Online sites like depop/vinted are also handy to save money on clothes!

The main thing that saved me money in my first year was bringing a packed lunch to uni, it's really easy to get tempted into the food at the cafes around campus and the SU shop meal deals, which are nice on the odd occasion definitely worth trying! But you can pay around £3+ for lunch each day which really adds up throughout the week so by bringing a packed lunch you can save a lot of money and probably eat a bit healthier ahaha!

When doing food shops I recommend trying to go to bigger supermarkets when you can or going to the moor market! This can save you quite a bit, there is a morrisons and sainsburys local near to the student accommodation (Ranmoor and Endcliffe) which are good for getting stuff in but if you are planning a big food shop I recommend going to a bigger shop, these are all quite far away from the uni accommodation, so I used to walk to the aldi (30 mins or so) and then get the bus back from town so I only walked around 10 mins with my bags and the bus is only £1 with a student card !

These are probably my main top bits of advice, hope they help you out a bit. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask

Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics