02.09.2008
Calculating a Student Budget
for your time spent in Russia
last updated: September, 2008Many students ask the question, "How much money should I bring to Russia?" The answer, of course, depends on several variables and your habits. Below we list the most commonly reported expenses that students incur - and what our students often pay for them. Looking at these expenses (which are based on Moscow prices, which tend to be at least 10% higher than most other areas in Russia), hopefully you can estimate a budget that will work for you. EATING Feeding yourself can cost anywhere from $70-$300+/week, depending on the type of food you eat, how much you eat, and where you plan on eating (cooking for yourself, getting street food, or going to the stolovaya or restaurants). Students who mostly cook for themselves report spending about $70/week on groceries. Keep in mind if you plan on doing this, you will also incur some "start-up" expenses for kitchen supplies. At bare minimum (for a plate, fork, knife, spoon, bowl, one storage container, coffee mug, water glass, 14 cm stove pot, a fry pan, and a spatula) you can expect to pay at least $25 (for cheap items). If your kitchen skills and palate are more developed, you may end up spending a lot more for things such as spices, oils, different types of cooking dishes, spatulas, knives, etc. Students who mostly eat in the MGU cafeteria (stolovaya) report spending about $110/week for food. For a meal consisting of meat and potatoes, a side salad, a drink and dessert, you can expect to pay about $5-6. Meals at street food kiosks and fast-food restaurants (including McDonalds) will run about the same and perhaps a bit more depending on your appetite and tastes (a meal with a Big Mac or Big Tasty will be a bit more, for instance). Restaurants can put a hole in your budget very quickly anywhere and this is especially true in Moscow. A "sit down" dinner without alcohol can very easily cost $15-50, depending on the restaurant. Most of our budget-conscious students report going to restaurants only once or twice a week. TRANSPORTATION This will depend on how frequently you need public transportation. If you live in a dorm and your classes are in walking-distance, you'll likely incur this expense only a few times a week. If you live some distance away from where you study or are serving an internship, or if you find work as freelance English teacher (for instance), you will likely frequently use the service. In Moscow, a one-way ride on a bus within city limits costs about $1. A single ride on the metro costs a little less than $1. Students who frequently use the metro may opt to buy monthly metro passes for about $25. For the most up-to-date info on metro prices, click here (in Russian). INTERNET This is an oft-overlooked expense: many people don't realize how much time they actually spend on the Internet, taking their constant connections for granted. Also, the Internet is usually the easiest way to stay connected to family and friends while abroad, so you may end up online more than you might think. In many cases, you may be able to get a connection where you are living (in the dorms at Moscow State University, this costs $30/month with a small start-up fee of about $5). Another fairly economical option is to buy an Internet card to connect to a telephone modem if you have access to a land-based telephone line (if to use the one at your home-stay, you should ask first and be mindful that this ties up the phone line!). These cards will often cost you about $.60 - $1 per hour, but the speed is often quite slow. See the rates at Zebra telecom (in Russian) for example rates. If you are in a situation where you cannot get an account (fairly often the case in dorms other than MGU and in many homestays) or a landline phone (often the case in dorms), you will then have to rely on Internet cafes. In one such cafe, CafeMax with several locations around Russia, you can buy 10 hours of Internet time for about $27, or pay more to use their WiFi connection. TELEPHONE SRAS students on RSL or FSA programs in Moscow or St. Petersburg will be given phones as part of their program. Otherwise, a cheap phone can be purchased for about $60-70 (or less) in most stores. If you are really looking to save money, ask around about used phones. These can often be found (though without warranty, etc.) for about $20-25. Most cellular phones in Russia are pay-as-you-go, and you can add money at the numerous kiosks that dot nearly all Russian cities. Students who don't use their telephones very often (a few short calls and text messages per week) report spending about $10-25/month. Students who frequently use their mobile phones (for example, as a way to use calling cards to call friends and family back home and talk at length) report spending as much as $100-130/month. LAUNDRY If you opt to hand-wash your laundry (this sounds good in theory but it can be very tedious and time-consuming), you will have the start-up expenses of purchasing two buckets, a scrub brush, laundry detergent, and a sushilka (a contraption to hang your clothes to dry on). You can expect to pay at least $15-20. Students who use the laundromat at MGU report spending from $12-$25/month there. ENTERTAINMENT This is the most difficult expense to estimate. Not only does everyone entertain themselves differently, but we've found that people tend to pay the least attention on how much they spend for pleasure. When asked about spending on entertainment, students give very tentative estimates ranging from $200-$500/month – and no one ever seems certain. In Moscow it is easy to spend $50-100 in one night at an upper-end club ($10-20 cover charges are common, and clubs often charge $7-15 for beers and cocktails). Those students who follow the Russian tradition of buying beer from a kiosk and strolling with it through one of Russia's widespread parks, will find that the cost of mixing drinking and socializing will run them only a dollar or two per domestic beer. A ticket to a movie will run you about $10-20. Rock concerts can run from $20-200 (or more). Theatre tickets can run about $3-200. (For more on tickets, see kontramarka.ru - which sells higher-end tickets at a small premium.) Traveling outside of Moscow can vary greatly in cost as well – a day trip on a bus or elektrichka with a packed lunch to a nearby city to visit state museums or stroll can cost as little as $25-50. Taking a multiple-day trip to a location requiring a train ride or air tickets can run $200-500 or more. INCIDENTALS More than likely, you will spend more than what you plan! Most students who plan out a spartan existence before they arrive will (rightly in our opinion) decide that there are too many great experiences that shouldn't be passed up in order stay within a very constricted budget. They will find money from elsewhere to take advantage of their time abroad. Also, note that frequently there will be incidentals that you perhaps didn't write into your carefully-constructed budget: a new umbrella (it rains a lot in Moscow and St. Pete!), shoes and clothing (shoes and clothing tend to wear out quickly in Russia and you'll find clothing here runs about 25% more than back home), band-aids, hand soap, toilet paper, postcards, a souvenir, a snack on the street, a new lens for your glasses, a private taxi ride home at 3 am because you stayed out after public transportation closed, etc etc etc! Keep in mind as well that electronics are also about 25% more in Russia than in the States. Don't plan to buy them here. TRANSACTION FEES You should check with your bank to see what sort of "foreign transaction fee" they charge (most banks do!). You will need to figure this fee into your plans. Also, don't figure that you can just withdraw your entire budget at once to avoid this fee – most banks have limits to how much you can withdraw in a day (usually $300-500). Also, most Russian ATMs have limits of 6000-10000 rubles – or $250-400 – for each transaction (you can make multiple transactions at one ATM, but each one will count as a transaction with your bank). Some credit cards have these fees as well! We do not recommend using traveler's checks, as cashing them in Russia can be difficult (you will have to go to a major bank) and may also involve a fee. Carrying in a large amount of 100-dollar bills can also help avoid these fees, but comes with the obvious security risk of having a large amount of 100-dollar bills. TIPS FOR STUDENTS WORRIED ABOUT BUDGETS Actually keep track of how much you spend. This can be difficult to see through (as it requires daily accounting), but it can show you what you can cut out of your budget – and keep how much you are spending fresh in your mind. Many students report that they tend to spend a lot their first few days or weeks because they feel like they are playing with "monopoly money" (i.e. rubles don't look or feel like dollars, so it's easier to just throw them around). Try to get over this quickly by keeping up-to-date on the current exchange rate (currently around 24 rubles to the dollar) and forcing yourself to do a rough calculation each time you buy something. Try not to carry around too much money at once. Feeling rich can make you act like you're rich…
-- SRAS thanks former student and intern Lisa Honer for organizing and contributing to this page. More Frequently Asked Questions About SRAS Programs
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