We encourage our students to be responsible and arrange for their own food, shopping and then cooking at home. This may be the healthies and most economical option. Eating out and fast food are after a while very expensive and you will be able to see that you spent a large amount of your money on food.

Buying the food is not as expensive as you may think. This again depends also on where you shop.

Another option is eating in the University, dependin on which the price varies.

Each University has many computers available on campus where the student can connect to the Internet for free to contact family and friends.

Skype is also a method used by most young people to make free phone calls to someone who is also connected to the Internet, having a skype account.

Another recent method is Skype Phone which costs about £ 40 and allows free calls to any Skype account and anyone with a Skype account can call you on that phone. Calls between Skype users are free so many of our students have purchased these phones to communicate between themselves.

Even though technologies make communication around the world easier, we recommend especially at the beginning to allow yourself some adjustment time and not to be in touch with your friends and family too much.

The University offers several weeks of vacation during the most important holidays like Christmas, Easter and summer where the student may visit his family and friends. Most employers are also quite flexible regarding vacation.

Anyways you should bare in mind the cost of the journey and remember that although you are not using your room during this period it will continue to have to be paid.

Students in England have an academic workload of between 8 to 12 hours per week allowing them to have a part-time job and in some cases even a full-time job.

Working in England is not solely for the purpose of paying your expenses although that might be one of the most important roles. Working will also provide the student with a professional CV allowing the student to gain 3 years of professional experience by the end of his degree. Also it is a great way to help develop your English and professional vocabulary as well as meeting new people.

Those are indeed the sole essential expenses, however you might want to go out at night or go do some leisure activity, which OK Student considers to be extras.

All the books you will ever read or use for your studies will be available in the University library. You should still keep in mind that you might want to purchase some books for your personal use. The same happens if you need a computer to work.

In relation to your stay in England we recommend the student brings with himself an initial budget between 1000 to 2000 pounds for the first 2 to 4 months.

We believe that in England two months are sufficient to establish yourself and find a job that you can concile with your studies.

In relation to your expenses are:

• Travel
• Rent / room
• Food

Universities provide everything that is inherent in the conduct of a course; the student does not have to pay for anything. The everyday life can usually be covered with the income of a part-time job.

As to whether you find work straight away or not is entirely up to you. In our understanding and according to feedback from our students every year, it is clear that students with financial difficulties tend to find work within 1 to 2 weeks. Middleclass students tend to find a job within 2 to 4 weeks. Finally students with no financial difficulties tend to take longer to find a job. This shows that if you are willing fo find a job and take general student jobs it is very likely to find a job within a short period of time.

What we can guarantee is that there is never a shortage of student jobs in England, although to find a job you must be proactive in the search for it.

We encourage our students to go to England with at least 2 months prior to the start of their course. Why? Precisely to give the student the opportunity to have enough time before the start of school to find a part-time or full-time job, which can integrate with their studies.

The Universities have employment centres that allow students to find work inside or outside the University.

In England it is easy to find work especially during the summer months because a large number of the population in and around the University towns are students. Every year thousands of students finish their courses or simply go home for the summer and so all student-related jobs are renewed every year creating numerous openings for various jobs.

In addition to employment centres and several private employment agencies, there are also ways to find work within the University, through its own employment centre.

The national minimum wage is 6 pounds per hour approximately which means that a part-time 25 hours per week can provide a minimum return of 600 pounds per month.

Higher education in England is completely adapted to fit the international student and the working student which is one of the reasons why students have between 8 to 12 hours of classes per week allowing them to easily combine a part-time job and in some cases even a full-time job with their studies.

OK Student helps students in finding housing in two ways, directly and indirectly.

Direct - We have partnerships with real estate agencies in some cities so that the student does not have to worry about finding accommodation.

Indirect - We provide the best advice, local search methods and offer support with the registration for the University dormitories. Furthermore we provide contacts of the previous students, already in the UK that can assist you help a house, possibly even with them.

There are several possibilities:

The student in the first year has the possibility to choose to live in the University dorms and afterwards at his discretion share a house with other students.

Information regarding the dorms are available on each University’s website.

You may also want to live in a shared house or rent a flat.

These following websites are also great ways to find accommodation:
www.brettward.co.uk
http://uk.easyroommate.com
www.gumtree.com
http://www.homesforstudents.co.uk
http://goliveit.net

Have in mind you should never send a deposit for a room before seeing it or confirming with OK Student.

OK Student also has agents in some cities to assist finding a home. For more specific information about this service simply contact us.

Subject to the type of home you choose is mostly the economical aspect. The dorms are usually the most expesive ones, sharing a house can be the most economical one.

For more information please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .