Graduate Living Costs

Living costs summary

Living cost rates for 2010/11 have not yet been set. These rates should be available in December 2009 and will be published on this website as soon as they are available.

For 2009/10, the average living cost for a graduate student at Oxford living in college accommodation or a shared house is expected to range between £9,200 and £13,300 depending on whether you plan to stay in Oxford for 9 or 12 months of the year. This is based on the projected costs below:

Accommodation

Accommodation for graduates may be organised by the college, the University or privately.

a) College accommodation

Details about college accommodation can be found on individual college websites. Colleges offer accommodation of a high standard and charges are reasonable compared with other universities. When you live in college accommodation you only pay rent during term-time unless you make special arrangements to stay during the vacation. Rents vary so you should contact those colleges you are interested in to obtain figures.

b) Living outside college

The average rent in a shared house is between £350 and £450 per month (excluding bills i.e. for water/gas/electricity/phone) depending on how many are sharing, and you will normally be required to rent the accommodation for 12 months.

Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) publishes a Living Out Guide and provides information and advice to anyone who is looking for, or living, private rented accommodation in Oxford. You can also get details about University and some private housing from the Accommodation Section and the local Daily Info website.

If you are living outside college, you do not have to pay council tax, a property-based tax payable on most houses/flats. See Oxford City Council's website for more information.

Food

Meal arrangements vary by college, and the best place to look for further information is the Graduate Studies Prospectus or the individual college website.

Colleges typically provide three meals a day, seven days a week in the dining hall, and have a variety of ways of charging for food. In some you pay directly for what you eat, in others you pay a fixed charge per term to cover catering overheads, and are then charged solely for the food you eat; others have variations on these patterns.

College catering is run on a not-for-profit basis, and college caterers work hard to provide balanced meals to suit a wide variety of tastes and diets. Eating in the college dining hall is generally regarded as excellent value and is an important part of college life, enabling you to mix with other students and staff. However, in most colleges it is possible to opt out of eating in hall, and many have basic self-catering facilities. Some colleges have an additional refectory or cafe where less formal meals can be bought.

There are a number of medium-sized supermarkets and smaller groceries in central Oxford that sell a range of foods for those who are self-catering. You can also shop online with some of the major UK supermarkets. See the Living & Shopping section of Daily Info for more details.

General living costs

Oxford has a high cost of living and your general living costs will vary depending on your individual needs. These are costs that you should budget for that could include, but may not be limited to:

• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Other personal requirements
• Books (you do not always have to spend a lot of money on books at Oxford because the library resources are outstanding. Your tutors will advise you about buying books; in some subjects it may be necessary to spend more than others on books, but you can often find cheaper copies in second-hand bookshops)
• Communication (phone bills, broadband etc)
• Stationery
• Special course equipment
• Medical expenses not covered by the National Health Service (See Student Health and Welfare for more information)
• Local transport (your transport costs as an Oxford student will be very low because departments, libraries and colleges are easy to reach on foot or by bike. You may like to refer to these maps of Oxford.

All colleges have computer rooms where you can work and make use of free internet access and e-mail. Many colleges and departments also provide an ethernet and wi-fi service.

Additional costs

In addition to the accommodation, food and general costs that you must budget for, you may also need to include additional expenses to cover the following costs:

• One-off costs at the start of your course (e.g. bicycle, computer)
• Expenses relevant to your circumstances (e.g. childcare)
• Travel to and from Oxford
• British visa
• Inflation and fluctuations in exchange rates