Realistically - how much does college cost annually?

ChristinaIndigo

Doing the Leaving Cert 2011 (sympathy much appreciated :P) - plan on doing a Journalism course, possible DCU or DIT.

Fingers crossed fees won't be brought in, that'd rightly screw things up. :rolleyes:
Just wondering though - even with the fees the way they are at the moment; how much will college roughly cost annually?

I've been told a figure of roughly about €1,500 a year & then books/clothes/ accommodation on top of that.

What exactly is the €1,500 for (what does it cover) and, is it the same everywhere?

Just making sure I leave enough in the savings account, car insurance will be taking a massive chunk out of it.

x

JamesJB

I'm starting college this year. This is what I can tell you:

- the 1500 is probably your registration fees. Many colleges will be slightly above 1500 as they include fees for things like use of their sports facilities.

- If you're worried about budgeting, I know that the college I'm going to runs a budget management mini-course as a part of the initial orientation programme. I'm sure many colleges have one of these.

- Travel expenses will be an issue. If you have/get a car you know what that will cost. For me it's going to be like a commute from Dublin's suburbs into the city, so I will likely have to buy a buss pass to save money. (well, to save my parents' money; I was unable to get a job this summer)

- Books, clothes, food, social life... All of this will add up. Accommodation will be very expensive too, I assume, though thankfully I don't really need to consider that for the moment.

There is a grant scheme that would potentially cover the 1500 you must pay for your college registration. It's all means tested, however, and you may find that you don't qualify. We haven't heard back yet but the implication was that we won't this year due to some complicated financial assessment or other...you know how it is :cool:

Hope you found this helpful.

Ficheall

1500 a year? So assuming 30 weeks - that's 50 a week? :-/

I spend somewhere in the region of 8-10k a year, I think. Everything bar accommodation would be included in that.

blubloblu

Depends hugely if you're living at home or not and how far/easy it is to get into college.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

If yeh were going to another county and had to pay for accomodation would overall expenses exceed €15,ooo?? I think thats just about the limit for me anyways, would probably be taking out student loans even if it was 15 grand...

RolandIRL

no way would you should spend more than €15k unless you're going on a year long drinking binge.
i'd say i'd have spend maybe €5-6k including accommodation over the college year. granted i did save a load of money by not drinking and only going out maybe 5/6 times a month (the rest spent going to friends houses).
if you learn to budget and stay away from convience stores, you'll do grand. do all your shopping in dunnes/tesco's and don't buy a load of convience food, you will save a lot of money. i stayed away from having pizzas and microwaved curry (except when i was lazy and couldn't be arsed to cook) and you can save your money for going out.

ChristinaIndigo

JamesJB wrote: »

I'm starting college this year. This is what I can tell you:

- the 1500 is probably your registration fees. Many colleges will be slightly above 1500 as they include fees for things like use of their sports facilities.

- If you're worried about budgeting, I know that the college I'm going to runs a budget management mini-course as a part of the initial orientation programme. I'm sure many colleges have one of these.

- Travel expenses will be an issue. If you have/get a car you know what that will cost. For me it's going to be like a commute from Dublin's suburbs into the city, so I will likely have to buy a buss pass to save money. (well, to save my parents' money; I was unable to get a job this summer)

- Books, clothes, food, social life... All of this will add up. Accommodation will be very expensive too, I assume, though thankfully I don't really need to consider that for the moment.

There is a grant scheme that would potentially cover the 1500 you must pay for your college registration. It's all means tested, however, and you may find that you don't qualify. We haven't heard back yet but the implication was that we won't this year due to some complicated financial assessment or other...you know how it is :cool:

Hope you found this helpful.

Yeah, registration fee sounds right for the 1500. That's annually then right? I've allocated money for that, as for travel - a bus eireann ticket would definitely be cheaper than what I'm paying for car insurance at the moment, so, driving doesn't have to be my means of travel.

I'm also going to be living at home (unless I end up having to go further than expected for my course).

So pretty much you're reckoning the actually fees that are going to be made payable to the college will mainly just be the registation fee?

Everything outside of that I can control, books, clothes, travel, social scene etc Thanks so much for your detailed response

x

IrishKnight

For me,

€1,500 reg fee
€300 /month for rent ex ESB
€40-60 for ESB bimonthly

€50 /week for food etc.

RolandIRL

you likely won't need textbooks as the college library will have a few copies of them. it's a kinda unnecessary expense cos i bought 2 books last year, and most of the lecturer's notes covered the course better.
unless you're on a grant, you have to pay the reg fee of €1,500 and whatever student levy the college puts on you.

IrishKnight wrote: »

For me,

€1,500 reg fee
€300 /month for rent ex ESB
€40-60 for ESB bimonthly

€50 /week for food etc.

50pw on food is a bit much imo. i'd spend about 30 on average. though that's not taking into account the drinking money i'm saving

cozzie55

I'd say i spend roughly €10,000 on college a year

about €4k on accommodation
about €4-5k on food, travel, entertainment, electricity and clothes etc.
About €2k on registration fees and books for college.

I would have considered some of my expenses for food to be reasonable as I brought another 35-40 quid worth of food from home a week which I don't include above and am not the biggest socialite in college by a long shot.

You would roughly need about €100-150 a week to live off plus €100 a week for accommodation. Have known people to pay €150 a week on accommodation and the same on food.

The registration fees are what you pay to the college to be registered to your course, don't know what it really includes as they don't give a break down of the costs.

If fees come back which I doubt will happen by this time next year anyway it'll cost another €7k for tuition fees to the college.

ChristinaIndigo

The prospect of living at home with Mammy seems slightly more appealing now I must say lol

Social suicide... or.... a clever move considering I have things fairly cushty here?! :P

x

JamesJB

I'll be staying with my parents. I was going to apply for UCD and even though I live in Dublin, a friend of mine who goes there has a dorm because the bus trips every morning took hours. I ended up deciding not to put down the course there because I didn't want to entertain the idea of living away from home just yet.

Then again I'm an introverted sort of person and 'social suicide' means very little to me... Depends on how much money you're saving really!

QueenOfLeon

ChristinaIndigo wrote: »

The prospect of living at home with Mammy seems slightly more appealing now I must say lol

Social suicide... or.... a clever move considering I have things fairly cushty here?! :P

x

It'll save you loads of money on accommodation, food and stuff like clothes washing! Its not social suicide if she doesn't mind you going out and staying the odd night in friends houses closer to where ye'd go out. I know a few people who lived at home, most you wouldn't even realise it as they'd still get involved with anything during the day and still go out and all that, you'll only miss out if you exclude yourself.

bigred100

JamesJB wrote: »

I'll be staying with my parents. I was going to apply for UCD and even though I live in Dublin, a friend of mine who goes there has a dorm because the bus trips every morning took hours. I ended up deciding not to put down the course there because I didn't want to entertain the idea of living away from home just yet.

Then again I'm an introverted sort of person and 'social suicide' means very little to me... Depends on how much money you're saving really!

Hate that man, I'm going UCD, short walk to the bus stop and right to UCD.
I'm defo staying at home, have no job and have it nice here

RolandIRL

cozzie55 wrote: »

You would roughly need about €100-150 a week to live off plus €100 a week for accommodation. Have known people to pay €150 a week on accommodation and the same on food.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
feck that. i'm paying 70pw and it's close enough to the college. though i suppose i'm in galway.

if you really want to save money, don't go for student accommodation. works out way dearer than private accommodation. people in student acc. beside are paying €110pw though that's with all bills but i still wouldn't pay 40pw on bills

redout

ChristinaIndigo wrote: »

Doing the Leaving Cert 2011 (sympathy much appreciated :P) - plan on doing a Journalism course, possible DCU or DIT.

Fingers crossed fees won't be brought in, that'd rightly screw things up. :rolleyes:
Just wondering though - even with the fees the way they are at the moment; how much will college roughly cost annually?

I've been told a figure of roughly about €1,500 a year & then books/clothes/ accommodation on top of that.

What exactly is the €1,500 for (what does it cover) and, is it the same everywhere?

Just making sure I leave enough in the savings account, car insurance will be taking a massive chunk out of it.

x

http://www.dcu.ie/students/finance/guide.shtml

DCU one is about a year or two out so you would want to add about €75 - €100 to both living at home and in digs.

http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/index.jsp?pID=95&nID=228