Student budget

Now I know most of you are probably not students, in which case please remember back to when you were, or are students, in which case, please spare me some of your time. I am starting uni this september, (physics and philosophy), and am basically wondering, how much do you spend per day/week. I have done myself a budget and worked out I have enough money for £20 a day the first term. This sounds like a lot, but is it? My second term the sums tell me £14 a day. I know that averaging the money out like this will not be perfect as I will spend a lot more at the beginning, but do these figures sounds about right?

Thanks!

Is that including rent, bills etc?

Last year I spent about £50 week (more in the first few though), if you have £20 to spend a day on food + anything the hell you like you are going to be living like a king.

just to clarify - that is after payment for halls, of which bills are included.

...and expect me to be showing a sheepish face at north drinks in the next few weeks.

So you have £140 a week to spend on whatever you want (food, beer, books, bikes)? That is a sweet deal my friend. If I were you I'd live of £60 or so a week and then get a tasty bike with the rest.

Two kids at Uni, well one has finished the youngest is in Graz.

Where are you going to Uni?
Have you sorted out your student loan?
Who is paying for your accommodation?
Do you have any savings?
Have you a job lined up?
How much are your parents going to chip in?

Don't forget books, girls, beer and going out.

have you included the price of a MASSIVE Bob Marley/Scarface/Taxi Driver poster in your initial budget???

this is an essential part of being a student/bum.

mate even if you have £20 a day if you budget you can save to fund bike habbit or whatever else, I spend roughly £50 a week on food and drink out of a £250 a month budget, so the rest is for bikes and booze and contingency is important. first year is awesome

Where are you going to Uni? Kings college london
Have you sorted out your student loan? yes - £4988 maintenance
Who is paying for your accommodation? me
Do you have any savings? yes
Have you a job lined up? no, i plan to if i have the time
How much are your parents going to chip in? quite a lot it seems - £3000 this year

Where are you going to Uni? Kings college london
Have you sorted out your student loan? yes - £4988 maintenance
Who is paying for your accommodation? me
Do you have any savings? yes
Have you a job lined up? no, i plan to if i have the time
How much are your parents going to chip in? quite a lot it seems - £3000 this year

are your parents retired or very good savers out of interest? first year is the year to work out of any of them :)

So you have £140 a week to spend on whatever you want (food, beer, books, bikes)? That is a sweet deal my friend. If I were you I'd live of £60 or so a week and then get a tasty bike with the rest.

that is what i like to hear! i may save what i don't have as my future plans are currently masters/straight into Ph. D if i get a first, but that may all change.

mate even if you have £20 a day if you budget you can save to fund bike habbit or whatever else, I spend roughly £50 a week on food and drink out of a £250 a month budget, so the rest is for bikes and booze and contingency is important. first year is awesome

is this in london?

thanks for the replies.

are your parents retired or very good savers out of interest? first year is the year to work out of any of them :)

no - dad is a consultant medical director (a doctor, in a hospice).

Where are you going to Uni? Kings college london
Have you sorted out your student loan? yes - £4988 maintenance
Who is paying for your accommodation? me
Do you have any savings? yes
Have you a job lined up? no, i plan to if i have the time
How much are your parents going to chip in? quite a lot it seems - £3000 this year

I wouldn't worry then and I may tap you for a loan, the ex wife works at KC and you are lucky I don't really talk to her as I could make your life a misery lol

Hmmmm access to free drugs to supplement your income as well ;o)))

Where are you from though?

York, would recomend having some money to one side in the budget< you will be surprised how often demands for £20 here and there come up

it was just that my dad earns over the amount so i have to choose un means tested and my loan barely covers accomedation, let alone interest

is the 5k means tested or london adjusted?

I meant Velib where are you from?

that is what i like to hear! i may save what i don't have as my future plans are currently masters/straight into Ph. D if i get a first, but that may all change.

is this in london?

thanks for the replies.

was answering this re me bein up' north

is the 5k means tested or london adjusted?

london adjusted

I meant Velib where are you from?

near brighton. why?

london adjusted

near brighton. why?

Never be far away from the bank of Mum and Dad ;o)))

ah ok, you can do your own budget pretty easy, it will get blown the first week anyway :) experience is the best way to get it down and work it out (knowing best places to shop etc) but by end of first term budget will be FIXED ;)

Don't go to expensive bike shops blowing your budget, my eldest preferred a year in Florida lol

i've just finished my first year at Sussex, good times, but my budget was shocking. Freshers week will destroy your budget, so I'd recommend you redo it after that. It sounds like you have enough money but it will depend on how much a night out will cost you, Brighton clubs were cheap, so I think it will cost you more, it will also depend on how often you go out as well. You will also discover there are two ways to live, spend a lot and don't care, or spend very little and have a nice bike. Feel free to ask any other questions.

York, would recomend having some money to one side in the budget< you will be surprised how often demands for £20 here and there come up

it was just that my dad earns over the amount so i have to choose un means tested and my loan barely covers accomedation, let alone interest

is the 5k means tested or london adjusted?

Having lived in York for 10months and London all my life aside from that 10months, London's kinda cheaper if you know the right places :P

York, would recomend having some money to one side in the budget< you will be surprised how often demands for £20 here and there come up

+1

One other thing to be careful about in student life isn't just your own budget but also the budget of those around you. Unsurprisingly, other students are going to have a hard time managing their own money and if you still look liquid to the end of a term then you'll suddenly find yourself with a lot of friends with well meant promises to sort you out later, return the favour and guilt tripping because they would do the same if the situations were reversed.

I learnt to be very cagey about the actual state of my finances and often represented my situation as close to flat broke from around the middle of term.

What I did in order to enforce my budget is to keep all my money in an online savings account and then weekly transferred the money that I had scheduled (in my case £100 p/w) to the current account. Helps you to know exactly how much you've spent. If I had money left at the end of the week, it went into a third account for treats.

I know most of the people I know spend approx. €20,000-25,000 a year, that's for accomodation, transport, food, books, clothing, drinking, utilities etc...

All in that seems to be the norm of any of my mates, I didn't go to college so can't speak from personal experience...