How Much Money Do International Students in Romania Need per Month?

Romania has seen prices going up for everything in these past few years, and as a result, the monthly budget for students in Romania should increase.

Even so, as you will see below, Romania remains a cheap option for international students, offering solid education opportunities at lower costs than those in other parts of Europe or the world.

Today, I will focus on how much does a student in Romania need each month to live a decent life. I will help you create a monthly budget and also talk about potential job opportunities for international students in Romania.

I have already shared a more generic cost of living in Romania where the conclusion was that you need at least €1,200 per month. But students have more benefits and lower costs overall, so they will need less to live a decent life in Romania.

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Living cost in Romania for international students

Breaking down the budget into categories, here is how much I believe a student needs each month for a decent life in the country, in one of the major University cities here, like Bucharest, Cluj Napoca or Timisoara:

1. Rent

Rental costs will usually be a huge chunk of your monthly budget, especially since these skyrocketed recently (and keep going up).

Have in mind to check for options on the best websites in Romania for finding an apartment for rent, and try to get a place as close to your university as possible. You will save money and time this way, especially if you can walk to school.

If not, you will have to rely on the public transport system in the city, which is not always reliable and it’s generally slow, albeit cheap. Read my guide to Bucharest’s public transport here.

Prices will vary a lot depending on what you choose, but you can still find some nice deals like the ones listed below:

• 75 Euros / month (if you choose to share a dorm room with other students). Have in mind that there’s massive competition for these rooms.
• 150 Euros / month if you share an apartment with 2 other people (or more). It’s not uncommon for a two bedroom apartment to host up to 6 people: 1 couple in each bedroom and living room, with the kitchen and bathrooms shared.
• 350 Euros per month for a decent studio, all for yourself.

Except for the dorm rooms, rental placed don’t usually have utilities included in the price, so expect to pay anything between 40 – 150 Euros extra for these, including Internet, Cable and Mobile Plan.

2. Food expenses

This is where your costs can truly skyrocket if you’re not careful and you eat out a lot. At the same time, you can keep them to a minimum if you cook most of your food at home, take advantage of any student cafes and menus in your areas and shop at cheap stores like Lidl.

With the increased prices in Romania, I would budget 200 Euros per month for food. This will help you eat a more varied diet, including fruits and vegetables (as well as meat), so not “Ramen each day.”

Still, the nice thing about food and students is that you will have a lot of colleagues from Romania who will generally receive a lot of delicious food from their parents.

And it’s a custom to share, so you will probably get quite a few free meals if you’re sharing an apartment or living in a dormitory.

Also, splitting costs with others if you share an apartment is a great opportunity to save even more money!

So if you are to ask me, go for shared accommodation and your budget will not take a hit – plus, you’ll get to experience student life to its fullest!

3. Transportation costs

If you’re not within walking distance to the University, you will have to go for some of the public transport options available: metro (in Bucharest) or bus/tram lines in Bucharest and the other cities.

On average, expect to pay around 20 Euros per month for unlimited rides on all lines. If you take the train to visit other cities, you will also get discounted prices: learn more about riding trains in Romania.

4. Entertainment costs

I would say that the three categories listed above are covering the basics and in theory you could make it work by only spending money in those three.

However, you will have other costs and since you’re an international student in a foreign country, you will want to party like the locals. As well as enjoy the different events, from the top music festivals in Romania (like Untold, Neversea or Beach Please) to local plays and concerts.

Fortunately, there are lots of free events for students, as well as many places where you can spend quality time for free and fellow students will know about them.

But you will still most likely wish to go out for a drink, maybe spend a night or more clubbing, go to the cinema and so on. And while sky is the limit here, I’m taking a limited budget into consideration and sharing my thoughts below:

A night out in a pub will cost you a minimum of 15 Euros (drink about 3 local beers or soft drinks) if there’s no entry fee – most pubs don’t require one.

If you go for a club, cut the number of drinks in half and you can call it a night after spending around 30 Euros.

Do you like to buy a coffee instead of making your own? Expect to pay at least 3 Euros for a Latte – so better learn making your own, ha!

Still, prices are low in Romania compared to other countries, especially when it comes to entertainment options and you can still have a lot of fun on a budget.

So if you have around 80 Euros per month put aside for entertainment, you can have some wild fun, without going too crazy. It all depends on your style – 80 Euros can easily be spent in one night, so always keep your budget in mind!

Other costs

You will also need clothes, consumables, health-related expenses and ideally put some money aside for emergencies.

Again, these costs depend on your way of living, but you can keep them to a minimum easily. I, for example, rarely brought new clothes during my University years and I kept all other costs at a minimum.

Prices for consumables are really low too: you can get a bottle of shower gel for as low as 1 Euro, a 16-pack of toilet paper is around 4 Euros and a no-brand package of condoms can be found for 1.5 Euros.

While we don’t have dollar stores or anything similar, all cities have Chinese shops and what we call “plastic shops” where you can find all sorts of very cheap products that are not of a horrible quality.

Also, try visiting these larger stores with good prices and decent quality products: Pepco, TEDI, Jumbo for all sorts of items, or DM for cheap cosmetics and various other products.

Most likely, a budget of around 100 Euros per month will cover all these extras, unless you very specific needs (e.g. expensive products).

Rounding up the monthly budget for international students

All things considered, if you’re really on the lower end of things and only look at the basics (basic rent, cheapest possible food, little to no entertainment and keeping all costs to a minimum), you could make it work as a student with a budget of around 350 Euros per month.

This would be some pretty extreme stuff, though and you will probably miss out a lot on many things, including proper nutrition. It’s not sustainable long term!

Instead, I would recommend a minimum budget of 650 Euros per month as an international student in Romania.

This would give you a lot more options when it comes to living in a nice shared place, you will eat better food, afford some quality entertainment, new clothes every now and then (non-brand ones though) and a decent life overall.

If you want even more options, without going into full party mode, a safer budget of around 750 Euros per month would be perfect.

Remember: Most Romanian students will probably live on around 500 Euros/month, maybe even less, but they have at least some of the food costs covered by their parents.

Have in mind that students also get access to lots of free stuff, free events and they have major discounts basically everywhere.

Girls usually get more freebies when it comes to entertainment (usually free entry in clubs and even free drinks), but everything’s evened out pretty much everywhere else.

In the old town areas of the larger cities, for example, there are sometimes free drinks offered to passers by: small shots of low quality alcohol to lure you in to a specific pub or another.

We used to simply roam those streets, soak in all the free drinks that they offered us and only afterwards choose a place as our “home base” where we’d rot for a couple of hours on a soda.

This is not one of my proudest accomplishments, but the point is that you will always have options to score stuff for free – and completely legal.

Overall, as an international student in Romania, expect to pay between €650 – €750 per month to live a decent, enjoyable life here, but without it being too extravagant.

But remember: these are guidelines and the reality could be a lot different than the calculations that I’m making here as your way of living could simply not work with my somewhat modest estimations.

IMPORTANT! The budget above does not include any University fees, as they vary a lot from free to 10,000 Euros/year. Make sure you have these in mind too when deciding total costs.

Can international students get a job in Romania?

Fortunately, the short answer is yes, you can get a job in Romania if you’re an international student! No matter if you are here with a Student Visa or coming from one of the other EU countries, you are allowed to work in order to supplement your income.

But you are only allowed to work part time jobs and most likely you won’t find anything that’s well paid – think stuff like the HoReCa industry or anything that doesn’t require a lot of skill/experience.

Still, you can earn at least 200 Euros extra per month by getting a part-time job in Romania (or you can earn much more, depending on the job you get) which can help a lot when it comes to your overall monthly budget.

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If you have additional comments or questions, don’t hesitate to let me know and I will gladly answer.

Also, if you are a student in Romania and already know your expenses, it would help a lot if you would share them with the world!