University £110m more expensive than thought
People currently sitting A-Level and Highers underestimate the cost of university by £110 million, new research reveals.
When the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) compared how much school leavers expect to spend, and how much undergraduates actually spend, it found a large gap in expectations.
"Our Financial Realism Report highlights the need for school leavers to prepare financially for university," said Paul Jeffrey, head of student banking at RBS.
The bank reveals that school leavers are currently underestimating the cost of student accommodation by £47 million and living costs while at university by £63 million.
And the pressure of imminent exams coupled with a lack of budgeting experience mean that three school-leavers in five have not even considered what their financial situation will be when they reach university.
When questioned on the point, however, some 55 per cent expect to take time out from their studies to get a job in term time.
The financial reality gap was largest among year 13 and Scottish sixth-year students applying to study in Aberdeen.
People applying to the Scottish university estimate they will spend £2,519.90 a term on average, but students already there spend an average of £3,180.50 a term on rent and living expenses, RBS data shows.
This means students applying to the university face a potential shortfall of £660.50 a term.
However, not all university applicants got it this wrong.
Applicants for Leeds and Glasgow universities underestimate the cost of living by less than £100 a term, while people applying to Manchester, Nottingham, and Edinburgh actually over-estimate how much money they will spend while studying.
The biggest single mistake in budgeting that university applicants made was in how much they will spend on alcohol.
While hard-drinking students spend an average of £274 a term on booze (18 pints a week at student prices), university applicants' estimates of how much cash they would splash on the demon drink were almost 50 per cent too little at £186.30.
Applicants were far more clued-up on the cost of food and shopping - underestimating the termly spend on this by just £6.20.
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