Budapest is the cheapest European city for a university student
As the next university session begins, Le Figaro was interested in how much French exchange students spend on living costs. For this purpose, they examined the data collected by the French Uniplace site, reports hvg.hu. Uniplace’s goal was to find those five European university cities, where an Erasmus student has to spend the least on establishing normal living conditions. Budapest came first, followed by Prague, Porto, Warsaw, and Lisbon.
Three expenditures were considered: rent, public transportation, and provisions. Here Budapest came first as the cheapest city, with two Portuguese and two Central European cities in the top five.
According to Uniplace, 250 EUR is enough for rent in Budapest, which at first may seem incorrect, but as Erasmus students usually rent flats in groups (much easier to make friends and get to know other cultures), it is correct, indeed. Public transport is 11 EUR, as students have a discount. You would not need to spend more than 100 EUR on food, but in reality, 3.2 EUR per day does not seem to be enough. Concluding, it would seem that an Erasmus student can live well off a monthly 360 EUR in the Hungarian capital.
The same conditions would cost 403 EUR in Prague, 406 EUR in Porto, 426 EUR in Warsaw, and 502 EUR in Lisbon. So the five cheapest cities, where 500 EUR will be enough, are Budapest, Prague, Porto, Warsaw, and Lisbon. At the other end of the scale is London, where the lodging only is 680 EUR, public transport 104 EUR and the minimal sum that one would have to spend on foodstuff is 340 EUR, altogether 1124 EUR. Paris is the second most expensive, with an end sum of 914 EUR. The German and Spanish cities are somewhere in the middle, where expenditures are around 600-800 EUR. An exception, however, is Munich, where the living cost is 893 EUR. The 900 EUR sum is not surprising in the cases of Amsterdam and Milan, either.
Uniplaces has looked into the enrollment fees previously, concerning scholarships that are longer term than Erasmus. In London, enrolling into a good university costs 10 thousand EUR, while the same would cost less than one thousand in German, Dutch, Belgian or French institutions. The reason for this is that the state is more generous regarding subsidies.
In another survey, they compared the sum that university students consider acceptable for beer. Budapest and Prague are the cheapest here too, where a jug costs 1.5-2 EUR. Paris is the most expensive: a jug costs 6 EUR on average.
University students can afford to eat at restaurants in Central European cities, as you can have a proper dinner for 10.5 EUR. For comparison, in other European regions, you would get the same meal for 15 EUR, cheapest.
Ce: bm
Source: hvg.hu