Newcastle freshers set to spend £1.5 million in their first week

That’s a tenth of their loan


Wide-eyed freshers will spend over £375 in their first week at uni on textbooks and expensive nights out.

Despite Newcastle offering one of the cheapest nights out in the country, the whopping sum means a total of nearly £1.5 million will be spent by first years as they try to fit in and adapt to life at uni.

With freshers’ week due to start on Sunday, here is a run down of some of the expenses you should expect:

Average night out on The Toon

Pre drinks: £8

Club entry: £6

3 Trebles: £5

Spirit & Mixer: £3.50

Taxi (to and from club): £8

Kebab: £4.50

This sum doesn’t even include other expenses like the freshers’ week wristband (£67), at least two fancy dress outfits (£25) and society sign ups (£5-£100+).

Factor in hangovers and you’ve got the obligatory Domino’s pizza (because it’s 50% student discount), and trips to the shops for more alcohol. Don’t kid yourself, one bottle of vodka will not last three nights.

Final year Josh remembers blowing most of his loan on the first week: “I spent over £1000 in first year and almost the same in second year too. I spend all summer working five days a week to fund my time at uni. I drink a lot in clubs and often buy other people drinks too.””

Josh works five days a week to fund his social life at Newcastle

However, some are better at budgeting. Second year Enya said it’s easier than you think: “I went expecting to spend loads and hardly spent anywhere near as much. Don’t worry about the money, only to spend as much as you want to spend.

“We just picked the nights out that we wanted to go out and for the other nights we just went out for food or had a flat party.”

Some freshers have already planned a budget for the week. English Language and Literature fresher Tara said: “I’ve saved £100 and additional money for society memberships. You don’t need to spend loads of money to have a good time.”

Tara plans to spend just £100 for freshers’