March 5, 2023
Costs of living and studying in Sweden
Hello everyone! Today I wanted to talk a bit about how much it actually costs to live here in Sweden as a student and give some tips on how to save a bit of money while living here. Since Sweden is a very popular destination for international students, and Linköping University as well, it might be a good idea to look into the costs of living here so you’re not surprised when you arrive to Sweden. The education is really good, but the living costs might be expensive from time to time.
First of all, let’s take a look at tuition fees. If you’re an EU / EEA / Swiss citizen or if you have been granted permanent Swedish residency, you won’t have to pay any tuition fees for your studies here. If you’re not from one of those countries, you will have to pay a quite high tuition fee. However, this is dependent on the university and even on the program. When you have to pay tuition fee, you can apply for scholarships. If you want more information on scholarships and the requirements here at Linköping University, you can take a look here!
If you don’t have to pay tuition fee, the most significant expense is then probably the rent of your student housing. Since Linköping is not a super big city, rent of the rooms is really affordable, at least compared to the Netherlands. There are a few different options, most students live in corridor rooms rented from Heimstaden or Studentbostäder, and in these corridors you only share the kitchen with eight people. Monthly rent for corridor rooms ranges from approximately 3.400 to 3.900 SEK. However, you can also choose to live in an apartment or share a “normal” house with people. These options are a bit more expensive most of the time. A tip is definitely to sign up for Heimstaden and Studenbostäder to get queueing points, so that you have a nice room when you come here. There are furnished and unfurnished rooms, so it really depends on what your preferences are.
Other things that I spent quite some money on are grocery shopping and other daily expenses, such as bus tickets, clothing. Food shopping can be expensive, so it’s a good idea to check the weekly discounts your supermarket offers and try to get a membership. When you have a membership, you get more discounts, and you save points in some stores for discount checks. Going out for dinner is reasonably priced, it’s of course cheaper to cook at your home, but one recommendation for eating out is MoccaDeli – it’s around 125 till 180 SEK per meal and it’s really good food and the restaurant is nice. When it comes to transportation, I would really recommend getting a bike since pretty much everything is on biking distance in Linköping. Bus tickets are also a bit expensive, so saving on that is really nice when you can take the bike! And it’s a good exercise to bike on the hills ;).
I have always worked next to my studies, and this has always worked out for me really well. However, doing your master’s is challenging and it’s time consuming so you need to check if you are able to work next to it. It’s also a bit challenging to find jobs as a non-Swedish speaker, but there are a few places you could work. This might help in paying the rent, possible tuition fees and other daily expenses.
Hopefully this was helpful, and hope you had a nice weekend!
Hej då // Milou
____________________________________________________________
Why not continue the conversation with us?
Start with checking out:
Our programmes, the application process, webinars, and our Instagram and Facebook account.
Still left wanting more?
Book an appointment with our recruitment coordinator at infocenter@liu.se.
Thanks for the insightful story. If you do not mind, would shed some light on the issue of getting a job? I really love to have a mental over view of the work scenario.
Hej Michael! Thank you :). Getting a job as a foreign student, without knowing Swedish, is pretty hard sadly. You can always try to look at the vacancies at the university – I know that sometimes they hire lab assistants, there is the student ambassador job, and there might be other possibilities as well. You can check them out here. Other than working for the university, there are summer jobs for example at tech companies, I would recommend checking LinkedIn for this I see it often on my feed. And lastly, working at a bar/restaurant is most of the time an option as well without knowing Swedish. I am working two jobs next to my studies, which is pretty demanding but I am used to working quite a lot so it’s not a problem for me. However, it really depends on how efficient you can work and how much time your studies take you, and of course studies should come first because you come to Linköping to study and not to work ;).
Hopefully this helps, if you have any remaining questions please let me know.