Incidental costs for new students can run well into the hundreds of pounds, even before rent, food or books are included, an investigation by Varsity has revealed.

Much of this cost comes from the colleges themselves. Gowns, which are compulsory for matriculation and produced exclusively by Ryder and Amies, the University shop, cost on average £36 across the 31 colleges. Matriculation photographs, though not compulsory, are also a common purchase in Freshers’ Week. However, this figure conceals significant disparities from college to college. Twelve colleges offer gowns for £30 at the bottom end of the range, while the most expensive gowns, at Gonville & Caius and Sidney Sussex, cost almost double that at £54.50.

Matriculation photographs, though not compulsory, are nonetheless a common purchase for freshers. Organised independently by colleges, there is considerable variation between cost options, but JET Photographic, a popular company which in 2015 was hired by Churchill, Fitzwilliam, Girton, Hughes Hall, St Edmund’s, St John’s, Trinity and Wolfson colleges for their matriculation photos, charged £52, with an unframed option available for £39. However, Gillman & Soame, who in 2015 were hired by Sidney Sussex, offered several more expensive options, ranging from an unframed picture costing £45 to their most expensive framed picture at £95, apparently mirroring the disparity in gown cost. The student finance manager of the college had, at time of publication, not responded to Varsity’s request for comment on the disparity.

Significantly bigger disparities exist, however, in the cost of society membership, which in some cases exceeds all the other costs identified by Varsity. Among the cheapest societies were the main political clubs, with the Conservative Association’s £10 life membership undercut by the Labour Club’s at £4, though neither includes membership of the associated political party. The Student Liberal Democrats occupy the middle ground at £5 life membership. The University sports teams typically charge an average of £20 annually, according to CUSU, although college-level sports and societies are generally free to join.

By far the largest, most prominent and expensive society to join, however, is the Cambridge Union, where the value of the £170 discounted life membership fee for freshers has been hotly debated in recent years. Over half of current Cambridge students are members, yet Asia Lambert, president for Michaelmas 2016, fought her election with a prominent manifesto pledge to prevent an increase in membership fees. The Union’s treasurer, James Antell, told Varsity: “our data shows [sic] that our members come from a range of socio-economic backgrounds”, citing a £110 discounted membership offered to the recipients of a full Newton Trust Bursary as proof of their commitment. Despite this, the Union website itself accepts that its high fee “creates a barrier to students from less privileged backgrounds”, and Antell expressed a desire to reduce the fee in the coming years.

Considerably cheaper options can be found among the less prominent societies: the Steelpan Society charges £20 per term, while the Rambling Club charges an annual levy of £1.

Perhaps the most important element of Freshers’ Week, the cost of the college parties and club nights where freshers can socialise, is also among the hardest to calculate. Varsity contacted the Junior Common Room (JCR) committees of all 26 undergraduate, non-mature colleges, and all those that responded had a different policy regarding freshers’ costs.

Generally, the responding JCRs were committed to keeping costs down for freshers, especially for their own events. None charged more than £5 for entry to their bops, with the majority charging nothing and subsidising drinks to, for example, an average of £1.75 at Robinson and £2.30 at Churchill. The majority of respondents plan to hold three bops each and, (assuming free entry, an average price of £2 per drink and two drinks per bop) this totals £12 spent on bops.

More variable was the JCRs’ policies on subsidising club nights. While Robinson subsidised one club night, reducing the cost of entry at Kuda to £5 on Sunday the 8th, Trinity Hall and Magdalene JCRs sold wristbands giving free entry to clubs throughout the week for £12 and £15 respectively. Entry to the clubs without a wristband during Freshers’ Week costs an average of £5, though this increases on popular nights.

However, in a sentiment shared by the majority of respondents, Tom Guilliatt-Griggs, the Events and Societies Officer on the Girton JCR, told Varsity: “the overwhelming cost of Freshers’ [Week] is from the ridiculously overpriced drinks in Cambridge clubs”, and beyond their control.

The four main clubs frequented by Cambridge students: Kuda (Life), Ballare (Cindies), Lola Lo’s and Fez offer dozens of drink options, with prices varying throughout the week and the evening. To calculate total costs, Varsity has estimated £5 on average per drink, with freshers buying two drinks per night on three nights during the week. Including undiscounted entry, this suggests students are spending a total of £45 on nights out in Freshers’ Week, which we consider a very conservative estimate.

However, estimations of cost cannot accurately account for all freshers’ experience during the week. Some may choose not to join any societies, and some may not spend money on nights out or alcohol.

Zach Lande, a Sidney Sussex JCR Freshers’ Rep, told Varsity: “it’s partly to do with being sensible. It’s easy to burn through all your money on alcohol, club entry and eating out. However, if you budget sensibly there is no reason why you should not be able to participate in everything going on in college and in Cambridge, especially during Freshers’ Week”.

Cookbooks and condoms: Student stinginess through the years

The urge to save money is one shared by almost all students, transcending the cliques that otherwise divide the student body. Traditionally, this might be expressed through the purchase of budget cookbooks, with the third edition of Joy May’s Nosh for Students quickly reaching the number one slot on the Amazon cookbooks chart and staying there for several weeks in 2013. Alongside this and other low-cost guidance for cash-strapped students, student unions have traditionally played a major role in helping students save, with heavily subsidised drinks available at union (and JCR) bars across the country, alongside free sexual health supplies. On the national level the NUS Extra card, perhaps the most popular aspect of the organisation, can save you up to 40 per cent at Pizza Express, among other things.

Both of these players have maintained, if not increased, their importance in recent years. Amazon reported in 2013 that student cookbooks had enjoyed a 70 per cent spike in sales following the popularity of cooking shows such as Masterchef, despite competition from free recipe sites online. Meanwhile, CUSU in 2015 joined seven other student unions in subsidising the cost of the ‘tampon-tax’ on tampons and sanitary pads, which they object to, while 10 other student unions distributed tampons entirely free of charge.

However, a new player is emerging: the student saving website. Save the Student, which publishes advice on how to save money on things from bank accounts to Christmas, has amassed almost 230,000 followers on Facebook, with UNiDAYS’s offers of discounts at shops and restaurants attracting over 650,000. Whether these sites co-exist with old savings tactics remains to be seen.

Analysis: Fresher costs a small part of a far wider living cost issue

While the costs Varsity identifies seem trivial in the context of the £3,821 standard maintenance loan, for some students they may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Many of them are unique to Cambridge, a city which also has the third most unaffordable living costs of any student city in the UK, and they may prove difficult to budget for.

Add to this average rents at a number of colleges that on their own exceed the standard loan amount, some students’ bank balances will inevitably be plunged into the red.

Of course, many receive help from their parents to fill this gap, and there is generous support on offer from the government, university and colleges. But these grants often come with conditions, and many far-from-wealthy students will not be eligible, while also being strongly discouraged by the University from working alongside their studies.

They will then be faced with a choice: amass overdraft debt, initially attractive at 0 per cent interest but spikes sharply upon graduation, or resort to drastic measures, with more Cambridge students registered on the leading ‘sugar-daddy’ website than at any other British university.

Neither option offers anything near a sustainable solution.