Wide-eyed freshers to spend nearly £1.2million in RHUL Welcome Week

Naive freshers will spend over £400 in their first week at uni on textbooks and expensive nights out.

The eye-watering sum means a total of nearly £1.2million will be spent by RHUL first years as they try to fit in and adapt to life at uni.

Roughly 3,000 freshers will descend upon RHUL in the next couple of weeks, splashing cash on everything from pre-drinks to late night cheesy chips.

Our proximity to London means nothing comes cheap, but if you’re looking to save a few pennies (or your loan hasn’t come in time) here’s a breakdown of what you’ll spend where.

Entry fees

Assuming the average fresher is terrified of missing out and buys the SU wristband which allows entry to all campus events over Freshers Fortnight, they’re already £50 down. Chances are they’ll also then buy tickets to the Icebreaker event at Pryzm (£16.95 with coach there and back) and Zoo at Tiger Tiger (£16 with coach there and back).

Total: £82.95

Get all the free stuff you can…

…even free donuts

Pre-drinks

A cheap bottle of wine from Tesco will set you back about £4.99. Five nights out in Freshers’ Week means five bottles of wine.

Total: £24.95

Drinks at the bar

We’re the largest consumer of VKs in the country, so it won’t be long before RHUL freshers are lured in by its sweet nectar. Two VKs (£3.60) is a standard amount in an SU night, with two Jägerbombs added on for good measure (£6). This means you’ll spend £25.80 on drinks over the three SU nights in Freshers’ Week.

The two nights in London are harder to price, but after predrinks around £10 could be spent at the bar in each club if you’re budgeting.

Total: £45.80

If you’re buying buckets of cocktails, expect to be spending more

Textbooks

The amount of textbooks varies with each course (and how keen you are) but you can probably expect to buy around four books for your course, with an estimated cost of £100. Buy second-hand if you can.

Total: £100

Food

This is where the disparities between catered and self-catered come into play. The majority of campus is self-catered, and as freshers haven’t yet made close enough friends to go halves on random condiments (spice racks need to be filled), the first food shop is extortionate. Also the prospect of buying whatever you want in Tesco is dangerous. Be prepared for this to be more than you’d think.

Total: £120

Pots and pans

Unless you can pinch some pans from home, you’re going to need a frying pan, a saucepan and some other utensils.

Total: £30

Grand total: £404.70

Better start budgeting…