Expenses

Nicke011

I am planning on going to UCD from September 2015, I was just wondering about some expenses and what to expect.

Where do you usually eat if you live on campus? Is there some kind of canteen or anything? How much do you pay for it and is it any good/worth the money?

Are sport societies free or do you have to pay the membership? Particularly, I am interested in Boat Club. What about gym and pool?

How much do you pay for laundry?

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And a good question will be, if you are/were a student at UCD, could you tell me any expenses that you came up to throughout the college life, but that you didn't count on/thought of them at the beginning?

Any info would be appreciated! :rolleyes:

omicron

Nicke011 wrote: »

I am planning on going to UCD from September 2015, I was just wondering about some expenses and what to expect.

Where do you usually eat if you live on campus? Is there some kind of canteen or anything? How much do you pay for it and is it any good/worth the money?

Most people on campus will cook. There are loads of places open for lunch around campus (€4-7 mostly) but very little choice in the evening - the deli in Centra is the most popular option.

Are sport societies free or do you have to pay the membership? Particularly, I am interested in Boat Club. What about gym and pool?

Sports clubs are mostly €20 as far as I know. Think the boat club is €20 anyway! Clubs get grants based on the number of members, this amount is basically to ensure only people who are actually interested join the clubs!

How much do you pay for laundry?

Wash is €3.00 and drying is €1.50.

And a good question will be, if you are/were a student at UCD, could you tell me any expenses that you came up to throughout the college life, but that you didn't count on/thought of them at the beginning?

People generally put aside money for books - this isn't really necessary, every book you need is in the library or can be obtained through other means . . .

Not sure what else really, would depend on what you've thought of so far! Living on campus is expensive in terms of rent but it does mean that all utilities etc are thought of in advance and you know where you stand re deposits etc. Don't break their rules (parties, unauthorised guests etc.) as you'll prob get fined.

Most of your shopping will be done in Centra which isn't the cheapest but isn't bad either.

Nights out can get expensive if you don't plan them well!!

After rent you can get by easily enough on €50-60 a week as a student if your standard of living expectations are fairly reasonable!

Maldesu

One thing to be aware of it your Student ID. If you lose it, it's €30 to replace it and it was a €50 fine if you showed up to exams without it.

omicron

Oh yeah, one unexpected expense is failing an exam, repeats are €230 a go, apart from the hassle of extra exams the following semester!

descheness

The gym is free to all students! I think you might have to pay for the pool though? They also do classes through the gym that you can do for free as well.

Nicke011

@omicron
Thanks, I thought that's the case, but I was not sure if you have enough time for everything beside studying... Anyway if most people are living like that, obviously there is enough time :rolleyes:
€20 monthly for a boat club? Are you a member? If you know anything let me know how is it
Yeah, I know the books are pretty expensive, but we were told on the Open Evening (Computer Science) that we won't need many books, cause we'll be studying from PP presentations or something like that.
How often it happens to fail an exam? Did it ever happen to you?

@Maldesu @descheness
Thanks!

errlloyd

Nicke011 wrote: »

@omicron
Thanks, I thought that's the case, but I was not sure if you have enough time for everything beside studying... Anyway if most people are living like that, obviously there is enough time :rolleyes:
€20 monthly for a boat club? Are you a member? If you know anything let me know how is it
Yeah, I know the books are pretty expensive, but we were told on the Open Evening (Computer Science) that we won't need many books, cause we'll be studying from PP presentations or something like that.
How often it happens to fail an exam? Did it ever happen to you?

@Maldesu @descheness
Thanks!

Sports clubs are 15e for the year unless it's gone up recently. If you're travelling to intervarisites you'll get slightly subsidised but will have some expenses.

omicron

Nicke011 wrote: »

€20 monthly for a boat club? Are you a member? If you know anything let me know how is it

€20 for the year! I'm not a member I'm afraid sorry!

How often it happens to fail an exam? Did it ever happen to you?

Really depends on the person and the course Some courses require very little to pass, others need a lot of work. If you don't take the piss completely all year you'd be unlucky enough to fail, but it does happen! Never failed one yet myself, touch wood!

Nicke011

Wow, nice I see, they kind of care about students with not much cash in the hands

I get what you mean, what year you're in? I hope I won't fail any :rolleyes:
What about resitting the exam to get a higher result? Does that happen often? And can you do it at all?
(I guess we're going a bit off topic, but who cares)
:P

omicron

Nicke011 wrote: »

What about resitting the exam to get a higher result? Does that happen often? And can you do it at all?
(I guess we're going a bit off topic, but who cares)
:P

You can't resit for a higher result, and if you fail and resit you're capped at an equivalent of a D-. (i.e. you can get a higher result but for counting towards your GPA you get the equivalent of a D-).

errlloyd

omicron wrote: »

You can't resit for a higher result, and if you fail and resit you're capped at an equivalent of a D-. (i.e. you can get a higher result but for counting towards your GPA you get the equivalent of a D-).

If your module is continuous assessment and you're doing crap you can withdraw on the last day of term and do another module next semester uncapped.

Mr.Saturn

errlloyd wrote: »

If your module is continuous assessment and you're doing crap you can withdraw on the last day of term and do another module next semester uncapped.

At the hefty sum of 460 rather than a repeat's 230. A fact that has kept me in more sour modules than I'd like to recall. The extortative repeat/replacement fees do work as a nice disincentive to fail or drop anything lightly, mind.

I dread to think how much repeat money Arts was pulling in off the "Intro to Arts/Humanities" course. The failure rate was, in the realest sense of the word, epic.

We also have the distinction (as far as I know) of having one of the highest student union/centre fees in Ireland. A cool 230 a year. No exceptions or workarounds. You can, however, pay it in 2 installments. A third in September and the rest in January, I believe.

hdowney

Mr.Saturn wrote:

We also have the distinction (as far as I know) of having one of the highest student union/centre fees in Ireland. A cool 230 a year. No exceptions or workarounds. You can, however, pay it in 2 installments. A third in September and the rest in January, I believe.

Wait what is this?

sunshine and showers

hdowney wrote: »

Wait what is this?

The SU fee? It's the extra thing you see whacked on top of your Student Contribution Fee of however many thousand euro it is now. Since you have to (technically) be an SU member, you have to pay it. It's where your student centre came from with its "free gym". Plus they still charge it even if you manage to get out of SU membership like that guy did a year or two back.

Good news for students on campus is that I hear Aldi are starting free shuttle buses to their stores from campuses across the country. Cheaper food and booze for all! :P

IrishWelshCelt

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

At the hefty sum of 460 rather than a repeat's 230. A fact that has kept me in more sour modules than I'd like to recall. The extortative repeat/replacement fees do work as a nice disincentive to fail or drop anything lightly, mind.

I dread to think how much repeat money Arts was pulling in off the "Intro to Arts/Humanities" course. The failure rate was, in the realest sense of the word, epic.

We also have the distinction (as far as I know) of having one of the highest student union/centre fees in Ireland. A cool 230 a year. No exceptions or workarounds. You can, however, pay it in 2 installments. A third in September and the rest in January, I believe.

I honestly do not know how anyone failed that module, attendence was like 20% and when I did it it was another 10% for doing a list out of all your assignments and another 15% for putting your timetable into an excel document. If you failed it it was because you didnt bother doing the 'work' which essentially amounted to f all.

gline

Remember to budget some money in for printing up assignments/notes etc. It adds up.

SparkySpitfire

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

At the hefty sum of 460 rather than a repeat's 230. A fact that has kept me in more sour modules than I'd like to recall. The extortative repeat/replacement fees do work as a nice disincentive to fail or drop anything lightly, mind.

I dread to think how much repeat money Arts was pulling in off the "Intro to Arts/Humanities" course. The failure rate was, in the realest sense of the word, epic.

We also have the distinction (as far as I know) of having one of the highest student union/centre fees in Ireland. A cool 230 a year. No exceptions or workarounds. You can, however, pay it in 2 installments. A third in September and the rest in January, I believe.

In my time at UCD I really honestly believe that it's all about the money.

They'll do everthing they can to extract the cash.

aFunnyWorld

gline wrote: »

Remember to budget some money in for printing up assignments/notes etc. It adds up.

Agreed, this was definitely my biggest non-planned expense of the year. Some lecturers advise to print off the power points presentations of their lectures and annotate them as the class goes through the presentation so it can get quite expensive at 5 cents a page.

Another advice I'd give is to try and do weekly shopping trips off-campus for groceries (the mark-up at Centra is a bit depressing) but also for notebooks pens and other stationary that you'll need. There is a decent amount of choice in the student union shop but again the mark-up is annoying when you can pay less off-campus.