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 Home > Countries > UK > Living Expense in UK
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UK Living Expense
living expense in uk, accommodation cost in uk... |
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| The estimation
specified below is for rough calculation and it is for someone who live with
group of 3 -5 students in a four bed room apartment. Approximately Rs.35, 000
will be living expense for a student who lives outside London with a group of
students. |
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Accommodation cost in uk: |
Rs. 15000/month |
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Electricity and gas bill cost in uk: |
Rs. 1500/month |
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Food cost in uk: |
Rs. 7000/month |
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Public transport: |
Rs. 2000/month |
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Telephone: |
Rs. 1500/month |
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Books & Stationary: |
Rs. 1500/month |
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Misc: |
Rs. 5000/month |
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To give you a
guide on what things cost and what you should expect to pay we have separated
this out into three categories, accommodation costs, living expenses and a
sample of what a few universities in the UK estimate it will cost to attend
there. As always, costs can vary depending on what part of the country you are
planning to study in so always contact your University as they will give you the
most accurate figures for the part of the UK.
Student Accommodation in uk:
As we highlighted in our student accommodation section, there are many options
for places to live when you come to the UK, and each of these will vary in cost.
If you are planning to come to the UK for University then you will most probably
take the Halls of Residence option and these normally start from about £50 per
week, moving up to around £80 per week for some larger universities. Some will
have catering facilities such as a canteen, but others will just have a kitchen
so you can cook your own food.
If you opt to not go the halls of residence option, you can always go and find
your own accommodation and the best way to do this is get a group of 6 students
that you would like to live with. You can then go house hunting and find your
own accommodation. The benefit of doing this is that firstly it’s fun to look
for a house together and secondly with 6 people costs are split 6 ways and so it
can be a much cheaper option. Rents can range from anything from £35/ week
upwards depending on the standard of accommodation.
If you are coming to the UK for ESL lessons or for another reason you might want
to opt for a home stay. These are often shorter term visits and for that reason
it is not common to come to the UK for a degree program and to stay at a home
stay for the entire time of your degree. Home stays generally start from about
£100/ week in London and much less if you go outside of London. Although this
looks more expensive you have to consider that this price will be inclusive of
meals and all accommodation.
Working out what living expenses you will need to consider and how much they
will cost you will depend on so many factors. For example if you want to live
the lifestyle you have been doing with your parents back in your home country -
this will probably be very expensive to do, so you might have to make
compromises!
As a rough guide we have calculated what it could cost
you for the major items you will need when you are in the UK:
1.Food - if you buy your own food, try and budget in about £25 to £30 per week
to purchase food supplies. You can of course be smart and savvy about this and
save much more.
2.Telephone (landline) - BT has a base rate of £10/ month for just line rental
so calls are charged on top of this so that would be £2.50 per week.
3.Telephone (mobile) - the cost of mobiles varies depending on the provider and
tariff you are on. Prepaid is generally cheaper to control costs, but if you
make a lot of calls a contract will start at £5/ week.
4.DSL/ Internet - most companies charge a base of £5/ week for standard DSL in
the UK
5.Bills - if you live in a house or apartment you will need to calculate water,
heating and electricity into your budget - this can be anything from £10/week
for all bills depending on the time of year. 6.Travel - if you live away from
University you will need to include travel expenses in your budget. This can be
anything from £10/ week, more if you live in London.
7.Study Materials - books, notepads, paper, printer cartridges are all things
you will need and you should budget about £7/ week for this.
8.Fun – it’s not all study when you come to the UK, there will be time for some
fun so you need to think about the cost of this. A cinema ticket in the UK costs
around £8, a pint of beer £3, a DVD rental around £3. These are all costs you
will need to budget so set aside what you’ll need for fun!
Of course this list is not comprehensive, but will give you a starting point to
work out what things will cost and the cost of living for the UK. There are also
some things you can do to lower your living expenses and here are few tips:
Tip 1 - Student NUS Card When you enroll as a
student in the UK you will get an NUS card which is a student ID card from the
National Union of Students. With this card you will be able to get discounts at
many national stores - so always make sure you ask if you can get a discount!
Tip 2 - Choose where you shop If you are living in
your own flat, house or halls of residence with no catering you will need to buy
your own food. It is common knowledge that supermarkets such as Sainsburys,
Marks and Spencer and Waitrose are more expensive than Tesco and Asda. Save
money and shop at Asda or Tesco.
Tip 3 - Cut your calling costs Your international
calling costs will probably be high as you will want to call home often. If you
have DSL you can take advantage of Skype to call around the world for little or
nothing. But to also take advantage of cheap calls from your mobile or landline
phone, check out iCallAbroad UK for low cost calling from the UK. |
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