Freshers splurge over £200 in Freshers’ Week alone

Freshers spend an average of £230 in their first week at uni – and that’s before going to their first lecture.

Most students probably have more money in their accounts than ever before and, with the prospect of going out every night for a week, hundreds can easily be spent without much thought.

Adding up average spends of students for the week – ticket costs, taxis, alcohol, food and fancy dress – revealed these figures:

• Freshers band and Events- £79.50
• Taxis- £10
• Predrinks- £38
• Drinks out- £50
• Takeaways and Hangover food- £18
• Fancy dress and Flu supplies- £34.50

Total- £230

Unsurprisingly to most, alcohol constitutes a good 38% of what we spend in Freshers’ week, but 35% on freshers’ bands and event tickets alone, and over £60 on food, fancy dress and transport, may surprise some.

Club nights and Events

York’s Fresher’s Wristband includes all club entries and college campus nights at £30 each. Not to mention some fantastic free t-shirts to inevitably spill vodka and coke on, rip, and tie up as you please.

These Fresher’s shirts have seen better days…

But, other uni-wide campus events do have added price tags, such as the uni’s festival-esque Live & Loud (£30), and the Comedy Night (£12).

Second year student at York, Beth Dunning, said: “The cost of the Fresher’s wristband is decent I think, it includes all your entry fees to all the club nights, and the events didn’t disappoint.

“I did think Live and Loud was overpriced though… it was pretty disappointing and I just didn’t really enjoy it.”

The hangover after the uni’s infamous bar crawl ‘Viking Raid’ also adds to the cost, with prices varying hugely in each bar.

Even a £3 drink average x the 10 bars= £30.

And that’s without the unplanned shots and the £7.50 ticket…

Taxis

With journeys roughly £8 from campus to town, even sharing means £10 gone for the week.

The brave hearted can choose the Clubbers Bus for only £1, but risking a long wait and a journey under horrifying, sobering bright lights on a double-decker full of worse for wear students, often doesn’t feel worth it. Although they do give out free lollies…

Booze

The big money drainer. Let’s say for predrinks you finish a litre of vodka, polish off a bottle of Sourz (with or without help) and maybe a bottle of wine and mixers is £38 gone for the week.

A familiar sight in student kitchens…

While most of us will spend a ton on drink in Freshers’, our Editor, second year Grace, miraculously only spent a tenner last year:

“The 2 litres of Vodka I managed to wangle from my parents as a ‘going away’ present sorted me for pres. Then by the time I was in town, I was pretty drunk anyway and people are so generous in the first week that free shots are just flying round everywhere.”

It seems predrinking is the key money-saver, as 19 year old Beth also said: “I did probably avoid spending as much out because I predrank so much.”.

Another few drinks out is easily another £10 which, whilst the drinks are reasonably priced, does add up.

2-for-1 Tequila Sunrises in Parish.. so cheap, we may as well get two more, right?

Cheap drink deals also mean we buy more. Buying and drinking more inevitably leads to seriously unplanned beverage purchases… and probably Willow.

That means another £2 in entry fee (or £4 Fri-Sat) at every York students’ favourite post-club haunt/cheesy school disco/Cantonese restaurant. And, inevitably, another £6 or so in dodgy £1 tequila shots and £2 cans of Fosters.

The stamp that never washes off…

Food, Fancy Dress and Fresher’s Flu

The post night out takeaway trap of cheesy chips at £3 a pop and pizza from Efe’s tots up to about £12 over the week, plus another £5 on a midweek pub lunch at Heslington’s ‘Charles XII’ as hangover cures when you can’t be arsed cooking.

And don’t forget the small fortune spent on baby dummies, pirate hats, Lucozade and Lemsips. Fresher’s flu hits most of us eventually and is just another expense (who knew Lemsips were £3.95 a box?).

So is it worth the money?

Sam Edwards, a second year at York, said: “Fresher’s Week was worth much more than the £200+ I paid for it, even though many would consider it expensive for ‘just a few nights out’.

“Freshers’ week was the perfect opportunity to get more comfortable with the uni environment and the people I was going to be living with. You can’t really put a price on that.”