Its that time of year again, to pat myself on the back for saving money and being frugal đ All kidding aside, lets take a look at how much a year abroad at University of Warwick, UK cost.
In this post, I’ll look at my expenses this year, and also comparing them to my expenses last year, providing commentary where neccessary
I won’t be looking at my income this year, because I didn’t really work. Apart from scholarships, bursuries, and such totalling $4k (1k from exchange, 1k from scholarship by application, 2k from bursary), nothing much else to claim.
In summary, the total cost of exchange = $15,507
- includes my 1 month backpacking trip in sept ($1,400)
- includes airfare both ways ($350)
- includes $7,200 McMaster tuition
Remembering last year’s expenses clocked in at =$13,042
Expenses stayed fairly constant, despite travelling alot more, which is good. It goes to show an exchange is more afforable than you might think. McMaster kicks in an extra $1k for exchange students, depending on where you go, cost of living might be lower than hamilton and you can even save money.
Housing
At Warwick I lived on campus, in the cheapest accommodation. It ran approximately $720/month. Non of the residences had catering, so it allowed me to save on food. If you check this post, you’ll see by going to networking events fed me 1 month straight.
During the breaks, living is hostels was relatively afforable – they typically ranged from $5 – 25/night depending on the city. I also used Airbnb fairly often – incidentally, I recieved $100USD credit from Airbnb because of a communication error with my host. I found booking with Airbnb to be stress free and the company will guarantee either a night at a hotel or similar if anything goes wrong.
Transportation
Keeping it under 2k isn’t too bad considering the amount of travelling I did. The major long-haul flights between Canada to UK was kept under $350 roundtrip, thanks to credit card churning. From Canada to London was $88 and 30k aeroplan points. I also booked a roundtrip EU -> Canada -> EU this summer for $250 and 250 in td points on expedia.
Travelling inter-europe was also very cheap, most of the time I manged to score flights from $20 i.e. Birmingham to Dublin, London to Spain, etc. Megabus was another cheap option, costing around $30 for London to Paris, but beware its a 12hour bus ride, which can get quite painful.
The most signficant cost associated with exchange is transportation, no doubt. However its important to make the most of your time abroad so travel related increases (transport, food, entertainment, personal) is acceptable.
