We will collectively spend a million pounds in Fresher’s week

With fresher’s week about to start and the prospect of over 3,000 new students descending on the Edgbaston campus, it’s hard not to be jealous of all that has to come for these newbies.

But the main question is, how much will the latest crop of students actually spend in this crazy week?

Most of us can remember a significant dip into our student loans and food becoming a second priority during that time. But back when budgeting was still a lost concept, what damage did our bank accounts actually take? It’s easy to remember splashing out for Fresher’s Fest tickets but what about all those pre-drinks, house parties, taxis and late night cheesy chips? What total did we eventually rack up?

Fresher’s packs: £45-£60

Whether you decided to splash out for the ball, or play it conservative with just the nights out, fresher’s fest is an expensive investment, but an essential one at that. Whilst there is loads more to offer during Fresher’s week the tickets allow for you and your new flatmates to bond over bad vodka and getting your outfits together for the series of themed nights.

This guy spent a lot…

 Pre-Drinks: £50-£100

A bottle of supermarket own brand alcohol could cost you anything between £6 from Aldi to £15 from Tesco. But there is also the alcohol with a slightly more recognisable label which will cost around £20, and remember you also need mixers, so pre-drinking may quickly become the most expensive aspect of freshers.

Some of us may resign ourselves to cheap wine and most of us will drink beer/cider for one night, but the cost still adds up! With a bottle of wine averaging at around £5 and crates of beer around £12, these options may be slightly cheaper, but chances are, you’ll have to drink more – pre-drinks is an honoured tradition and that means going anywhere sober during the week is totally unacceptable! The cost also beats anything you’ll find at a club, and all the fun happens at our halls and houses, right?

Mad pre-drinks

We love the cheap booze

Taxis: £4 a night average: – £28 for the week

Not something most people factor in when budgeting for their first week in the city, but taxis are something that all of us at some point will learn to resent. Scraping for change and everyone only having £5 notes is a constant problem. For some of us though taxi riding can be a great time – but only if you’ve got a driver who’ll whack on the tunes, and you are extremely drunk. Almost £30 can be set aside just for travel.

Two am Munchies:- £15-£30

It’s a guarantee, ask anyone, you can’t avoid it…  two am cheesy chips. Drunk food becomes a steadfast in most people’s fresher’s week and with so many options on Broad Street it’s hard to ignore it. Queues outside kebab shops and people sitting on curbs munching away on burgers, is another image of money being spent that a lot of people don’t really think about. With a burger costing around a fiver and a kebab as low as £4, some of us keep it cheap with just the cheesy chips at £2.50 – but if we do this every night it starts to slowly add up.

Miscellaneous: £25- £50

This category covers anything from buying items for fancy dress nights to losing your keys! Many of us will find small items pulling up our fresher’s budget. Some of us will lose our phones or misplace our keys, some of us will realise our wardrobes are not up for 7 nights out, or even as a flat realise that yes a colander really is essential and we can’t just use our hands. This category covers all the small things that add up during the week.

Fancy dress rules all

All in all, that means some of us may spend over £250 in just the one week, and that’s only really on nights out.

Some of you out there may have more self-restraint and only reach £150, but remember it is still a lot for one week considering that most of us only have student loans to rely on. That’s almost 1/5th of our loan gone in a flash.

Almost 4,000 freshers are set to arrive at Uni of Brum this September, so that means up to £1million will be spent over the week total, and some of us will inevitably spend more than the average.

But don’t be disheartened ask most people and they’ll have the same response – fresher’s week is more than worth it and it sets the tone for an amazing year to begin.