How much is enough for 1 person at NZ?

Hi all!

I've got my NZ uni offer, getting a bank loan to pay for my school fees and if nothing goes wrong, NZ here i come! (in year 2012 that is)

I've searched the forum, but I'm only seeing people asking how much is enough to support the entire family over at NZ. For my case, I will be there, all ALONE.. so i believe i can survive slightly easier? :)

Here is what's going to be for me when i go to NZ in 2012.

- should be renting a room from my best buddy who's PR at NZ.
- there's a chance that food is provided! (i dun mind leftovers =))
- my friend and I are going to the same uni, so i'll be tagging along as he drives to school. If not, I'm going to school on foot/bicycle.
- will be getting a part-time job as soon as possible.

Yeah i guess that's all the information i can provide as of now. I'll be able to save up at least $10k by 2012 but my mum isn't convinced that I can survive with this amount... In additional to monthly expenses, I'll be paying interest (roughly 100+ per month) because of my bank loan.

So how do you guys think I'll make it over there? With 10k+?

Thanks~!:)

Welcome!

Where will you be and how much rent will you be paying?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by harumachibito

I've got my NZ uni offer,

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Ask that varsity where you will study, especially their student association.
They will know best re local particulars!

hmm rent-wise...his mum's still calculating...shldn't be too high i hope >.< will post my rent here when his mym quote me a price..

as for location...its massey uni at albany...

anyway i am alright with scrimping and saving whenever i can... I am not a party-animal or those late-nite guys... I enjoy nature and guess i'll be fine with some sight-seeing and lazing around when i'm not working/studying.. this is the main reason i chose NZ as my study location!

At most for rent I would expect 200/week (that should be on the quite high side for renting just a room)
electric I would average out to maybe- 50-80/month
mobile phone bill can be anywhere from 10-60/month depending on how you do it
internet is free at massey- so as long as you don't need it at home you'll be fine
home phone I'm not sure about
I know you said food might be included- if not I would say you could pretty easily survive on 50-70/week (probably less than that)

All that together is way more than 10k.

but I upped prices assuming they're higher in Auckland than Palmy.

I pay 105/w rent= 5460
60/month mobile= 720
80/month electric= 960
45/month internet= 540
70/week food= 3640
total= 11320

mind all of the above is 1/2 what my husband and I pay. My living expenses are paid for mainly with loans, and I also have a part time job. (And I KNOW I could survive on less, I just don't have to, so I don't).

I did what you did, with about the same amount of money, and I was fine. In fact I found I was actually quite comfortable. Heaps of NZ students need to survive on a lot less (and they still go and party every weekend LOL) - watch them and learn!

You can get a room for $150 approx (incl bills & inet, maybe a bit more in winter), if you know how to cook and where to go to buy food you can feed yourself for $30 a week, mobile phone about $30 a month if you find the right plan, and the good thing about NZ is that the best things to do are free or cheap :).

I did find that living in Auckland, especially the Shore, was way more fun with a car (you can't cycle across the bridge, sadly) - it's just too big, the public transport system too underdeveloped, and as soon as you want to get out of the city, even just to any beach that's not Takapuna, you're definitely stuffed. So you may want to look into that.

Also... if you're worried, get a return flight (a flexible one). You'll quite likely end up cancelling it because you want to stay forever, but you may find it calming to know that if you get really stuck all you need to do is to somehow get yourself out to the airport.

Oh and - if you're going to be living completely off your savings, can't you pay off your loan before you go to NZ, so you don't have to pay interest while you're there?

Wow! Thanks pikkumyy for giving me so much insights from a student's point of view! I know the uni website does show us the estimated cost per year, but I'm sure one can live cheaper than that!

I have thoughts of getting a used car.. But I'll need to learn driving there first. Maybe i'll look into this when I am comfortably settled down. But mind telling me how much does a used car cost? N also the cost to learn driving..

As for the interest every month.. I'm having to pay off this is because I need to take an education loan to be able to study in nz.. So paying it off before going to nz is impossible..

And yes! I guess I'll be staying over at nz for good! Not much intention to come back to my home country to stay.. Maybe just for holiday... Guess it's really ultimate scrimp and save for the next 5 years to get a PR!

Any other additional insights would be great! Thks! ;)

My wife and I lived on about $2000 a month in expenses for a while when we first arrived in Palmerston North and my wife started school. A minimum wage job initially paid for all of our expenses with a lot saved as well until I landed more of a professional level job. We could have lived a bit cheaper if we wanted to and we lived VERY well compared to her fellow students. Like someone else mentioned, take a look at what the other kiwi students are doing. If they can live on virtually nothing, you can as well.

I would guess you would be able to live very easily for a long while on $10k and a part-time job will cover most of your expenses while studying.

I am not sure about the Albany campus but at the Palmy Massey campus, students have free access to public transportation which could eliminate your need to operate a car (and eliminate the associated costs) and save a lot of money. You might want to look into that before buying a car.

All the positive replies has given me hope that I'll be able to survive there on my own! My mum even tried to scare me by saying that I'll end up sleeping under the bridge one day if i go to NZ with that little amount of money. haha:clap

I survived on very little when I was a student. Other students were spending 2-3 times more than I did. I shared a rundown flat (toilet outside the house, cold, flea infested, rats), shared with 5 others and we buy vegetables/frozen meat from wholesaler (sometimes auctioned). In the four years I was there, I only ate in maybe only 10 times at a restaurant. Otherwise it was McD, School cafeteria or self cooked.

I worked whenever I could (school cleaner, babysitter, takeaways, factories, office). With that I bought 2 motorcycles, bought tickets to come home 3 times, skiing every winter and a full tour of NZ for 2 weeks. Most of my other friends were the same and we all lived very simple/frugal lives but we all still think it was the best times of our life.

The wonderful thing about NZ, in my opinion, is that you can always survive there somehow if you have the will to do it.