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On arrival to York in October I placed several student cook books on the shelf in my room. Ever since, they have remained pristine, unmoved and slowly become dusty. My first term was mainly spent eating microwaved jacket potatoes, fried eggs and toasties. This term I have experimented into pasta and sauces, but I continue to lack in cookery performance. But don’t let that fool you into believing I can’t cook. The truth is, I just think there are much better things to do than to waste hours cooking a posh dish when a good hearty omelette is just as good!
An observation I have noticed is that student’s eating habits often dictate their background. For example, the three upper-middle class people on my floor have the best equipment, the best ingredients and the snazziest dishes. They have also all been to Michelin star restaurants and are all from London or the surrounding areas. I am not digging them, but I think it’s a funny observation. One of them laughed at my cutlery in the first few weeks, commenting it was “token”. Why thank you for laughing at my comedic cutlery Mr. Student-who-has-Royal-Worcester-crockery, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only student who shops at IKEA!
Whenever they get their huge woks out or leave their complicated espresso makers on the sideboard, it strikes me as all so unnecessary. When did students become so well stocked? It’s a rite of passage to live a cheap student life. And don’t worry, by cheap I don’t mean scummy. I mean live cheap and cheerfully, on a budget and not let it worry you. Students get off on moaning to each other about not having enough money to go out, but then just going out anyway and living life to the full, thinking: “Fuck it, I’m only a student once and I’m never gonna get such good rates on loans like these again!”. Although saying that, some people on my floor don’t even have loans! Why do they shy away from getting loans when they have great rates and are an easy way of gaining independence? Nonetheless, these are moments that we will all cherish when we’re successful adults, looking back and thinking how trampy we used to be. Knowing about how much we have grown, with grown being the operative word.
For me, university is about thriving on the minimum. It’s not about living off daddy’s money (not that I have daddy’s money to live off) but about having to buy everything on special offer, buying vodkat and cheap beer. It’s about pre-drinking loads in order to get drunk on as few drinks as possible when you end up going out. Sadly, it seems, shopping has taken over for many - expense is no longer a luxury but a necessity. University students are no longer forced to live out of a tin can for 3 years, but rely on a silver spoon.
I don’t care if you think I’m crap at my subject, or that I can’t write a good article to save my life, but the one thing that really grinds my gears is people looking at my microwaved lasagne and saying ‘eww’. I don’t need you to judge my food, as my food is an expression of everything I stand for. I am a lazy, cheap and an awesomely cheerful student, and I certainly don’t want you raining on my parade! And whilst you’re at it, don’t shove your salmon truffle platter in my face, it’s making my eyes cry.
But overall, I pity those people that feel the need for everything they buy to be expensive, because when they leave this place and work themselves, being able to finally afford all the things you’ve ever wanted won’t be special anymore, it won’t be a fulfilling existence. So for all you posh bitches out there, I say live independently. Trust me, you’ll have a good time.
Someone has a chip on their shoulder.
Wow, seriously? Liek I'm breaking my beautifully manicured nails on the keyboard typing this. I'll just go check my gucci watch for the time... SHOPPING TIME!!!!
"Why do they shy away from getting loans when they have great rates and are an easy way of gaining independence?"
I hope this is supposed to be satirical.
Student loans do have great rates, and they're better than living off the bank of mummy and daddy.
I kind of resent the stereotyping, and frankly this article comes off as massively bitter. I don't have a student loan - why should I owe the government money, especially in an economic crisis? Nevertheless, I budget well - I spent less than a thousand pounds last year on all my living expenses. Just because I don't get a 'great-rate loan' doesn't mean I'm fed with a silver spoon. You can still be responsible, and I fully intend to look after my family when they retire and I'm earning my own money. Isn't that the same thing?
#5 has a good point.
I do have a student loan and get no support off either of my parents. It's tough, I've applied for some bursaries from some places and got one, which gets me through with a little more money in my pocket. I think it's alot easier to get out there with your parents behind you - you don't have to worry about a job as much. I spend my holidays working full time to keep my overdraft in check, and struggle to get work experience elsewhere as a result.
From reading this I take away the feeling that it's not necessarily bitter, but observing a small minority of student that do tend to spend alot of time out shopping and not being a 'proper' student. Although I'm not sure these days what a 'proper student' really is.
Just my two cents.
So your argument is that people should deliberately put themselves into debt (I don't care if it is a 'great' rate of interest - you're still paying back more than you borrowed) just for a fleeting sense of independence? Solid thinking. If your parents are willing to help you, then why not repay them later on when you get a job? I'd rather owe them money than the SLC. And like #5 said, it's not as if non-loaned students don't have to budget and eat meals from M&S every night.
#7 " don't care if it is a 'great' rate of interest - you're still paying back more than you borrowed" No you're not, governmental student loans don't have interest.
Good comment #5.
The writer has massively stereotyped that living off daddy's money makes you frivolous, and it has badly damaged the rest of their argument.
I live off "daddy's money", but that's fine, because my parents did a good job teaching me to be responsible.
The ironic thing is that this means I spend less than my loan-enabled housemates because I don't feel like it's my money. If I buy something, I don't take the piss, I live well within what "daddy" gives me, and probably spend a lot, lot less than the writer of this piece.
And your argument's credibility is soooo badly damaged by your seeming proudness of living on crappy/unhealthy ready meals, it's not even the cheapest way to live, and no doubt some people here really do have to plan their meals properly for low cost.
It's a real shame you could have produced a worthwhile piece out of this topic but your black/white, bad/good viewpoint killed it.
comment deleted by the author The point being made is not against those who don't get loans, but on those who live extravagantly and challenging them to try and live independently.
#11, I think I'd agree with the others that the point was more to get something off the writer's chest, I just wanted to make it clear to the writer that their generalisation was also unwelcome.
I live of mummy's money, but due to its ommision in the article I guess that's ok 
yay! Now a poor person doesn't think badly of me.
Yeah. Boo rich people.
The only thing more off-putting than the content of this article is its clumsy grammar and poorly-constructed sentences. Forget the salmon truffle platter, this quasi-literate journalism is making my eyes cry. Ugh.
#15, Maybe you should start writing for The Yorker to set everyone to rights. I love prima donna's. Clearly a legend.
I also happen to live off daddy's money. I have no loans. And I actually live off less money a week than some of my friend's with loans. I appreciate the fact that my parents are able to do this for me, so I'm not going to waste their hard-earned money on crap. I budget and spend my money as carefully as you claim to.
You will not make me feel guilty for being rich. My parents work ridiculously hard to provide the way they do for my sister and I, and you seem to think we, and those in the same position, are going to waste this opportunity, and I for one know how lucky I am to have it.
You seem to have forgotten that university is also about broadening your horizons and meeting people from all walks of life, whether that be working, middle or upper class. Sounds like you need to stop being so narrow-minded and embrace the other aspects of student life... not just eating crap food!
Get over yourself mate. Having a loan, eating omelettes and being proud of that doesn't make you any more special than the next student.
Dude, it is cheaper to make a real lasagne yourself than eat a microwaved one. The only equipment you need is a pot and an oven-proof dish. A tenner from any supermarket.
If you really cared about living cheaply, you'd be buying massive sacks of lentils and rice and living of veggie curry made with out of date but still good veg you got from Tesco's bins.
I too live purely off a loan, but it doesn't mean you need to live like a tramp...
Luke is right, it IS cheaper to make real lasagne than to just buy it... although then you actually have to cook it.
Admittedly, my parents do pay for my accomodation but why should that look like we're trying to get away with something? I still pay all my bills on my own without their support, I still work in the holidays to get money for food and going out and train tickets. Sometimes parents just want to help, it doesn't make us devoid of any independance at all!
Despite disagreeing with a fair bit of your article (despite my parents paying for my accomadation I still shop at Lidl and have the cheapest cutlery everrr) your rant amused me. I also save money by making everything from scratch then freezing meals for later. Though I did go through the point of buying alcohol to drink at home for a cheap night but by the time I'd walked into town I'd be sober again/too drunk to even get into town in the first place.
I actually agree wholeheartedly with #9 - A lot of my friends who take their whole student loan spend it in the first few weeks of uni - can't pay bills, can't go out and can't even buy food. I am very careful with my money and I do make sure it stretches even though I'm living on (as you so nicely put it) "Daddy's Money" even though "Daddy" may be living a little less to help out the son/daughter they love so much and want to help them out? So I do feel this article was a bit of an attack on so-called "rich people" when we might not even be rich at all.
And in a way you are right, the people who ARE too extravagent will pay for it when their parents eventually cut them off and they go into the real world
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