Cost of Living in London
Private accommodation, average prices per week:
Central London Outer London
Rooms, bedsits, sharers £108.89 £ 77.79
Studios £187.50 £123.80
1 bedroom house/flat £265.12 £160.36
2 bedroom house/flat £375.70 £212.26
Food:
If breakfast and an evening meal are included in your rent (e.g. in some halls) you might expect to spend £35 per week on midday meals and snacks
In self-catering halls or private accommodation, food costs are likely to be at least £55 per week.
Travel:
London Transport travel cards are usually the most cost effective way to pay for your travel. They can be bought to include bus routes only, or combine unlimited bus and underground travel for a specific period. For transport purposes, London is divided into "zones" extending outwards from the centre of the city. You will need a card that covers you from Zone 1 (Central London, where LSE is situated) out to the zone in which you live (most students no further than Zone 4). Remember that all full-time students registered at LSE are eligible for a London Transport discount of 30%. Application forms are available from Student Union reception.
The prices of all London Transport fares and tickets are available here
TV Licence:
This is an extra cost specific to the UK that you might not have come across before. All households in the UK must own a TV licence in order to use a TV (the money raised goes to public programming through the BBC). If you are sharing a flat you should expect to pay a share of the licence fee. If you plan to have a TV in your room in halls, you will need to cover the cost yourself. Full cost of a TV licence is £121 (from 1st April 2004), and can be obtained by calling 0845 602 7777. If you don't get one, but still use a TV, you can be fined up to £1,000. For more information visit http://www.tv-l.co.uk/index_frameset.html
Having done all this budgeting, let's hope you find yourself with oodles of extra cash to spend on partying the night away, dressing yourself up in designer togs and supporting Charlton Athletic FC. More likely, however, you're beginning to realise exactly why all your friends went to the-university-of-the-back-of-beyond instead of to the big smoke. In which case...
Think about how you might maximise your income:
-Look back over how you planned to spend your money - is everything on the list really essential?
-Have you received everything due to you in terms of government loans (remember students with specific problems such as a disability may be eligible for extra financial help)?
-Can your parents contribute more?
-If your bank account offers an interest-free overdraft, are you using it?
-Have you considered part-time work? Working for Union services such as the coffee shop, gym or bars is perhaps the simplest way to earn some extra cash since all jobs are on the LSE campus. However, part-time work is not usually hard to find in London, and as long as you stick to the school's guidelines of no more than 15 hours paid work per week, your studies shouldn't be affected. Visit [Part-Time work|/main/support/finance/ptwork] for more details.
If you're still finding it hard to make ends meet, its worth checking out whether you're eligible for any extra help from government or Student Union hardship funds, or from LSE's own awards. Information on these is included later in this guide. A word of warning, however. Most funds are very over-subscribed, and only genuine cases of financial difficulty will be eligible - detailed evidence is required for you to prove your case. Think carefully about whether you're really doing all you can to find extra income and whether you're spending your money sensibly before you apply.
all figures are averages and are for guidance only*
