# Forum About Russia Travel and Tourism  Need income while in Russia

## Danilo

Hello, I want to go to Russia to study, but I don't have any money. I mean I do have a little money, enough to buy a plane ticket to get there, but it would run out soon after I got there. So would I be able to find some kind of part time job there to make enough to live on and pay my tuition? Or maybe universities there offer some kind of on-campus work for foreign students?

----------


## VendingMachine

What kind of job did you have in mind? Unless you're a brain surgeon or nuclear physicist, your chances of finding gainful employment are virtually zero.

----------


## drew881

i met some students who taught english for a couple hours a week.  Wasnt enough to live off of though, but they got 15 bucks an hour.   Just didnt work that many hours a week.  They were extremely lucky to get that though

----------


## Danilo

So the only way to go study in Russia is if I first save up enough money in Canada to live on while there? How much would I need to last me about a year in Russia, including tuition?

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

Tuition for a year: USD ~$2000
Dorms for a year: USD ~$2000
Food for a year: USD ~$1200
Alcohol for a year: USD ~$500 
Of course this depends on where in Russia, these prices should be true for Petersburg... 
More expensive in Moscow, less expensive in Norilsk

----------


## Darobat

and how expensive the alchol you want is.

----------


## drew881

Probably best if you are a student to pay tuition for abroad as you are now at your home institution, if you are a current student at a university.  Whether that be from your pocket, loans etc.  Say you go next fall, start working asap and over the summer to get some cash saved up.   I think i spent around 1200 or so for one semester for "fun" expenses.  Food, drink, travel.  I did have some included meals at my homestay, but still ate out a lot.  Lunches, some dinners.  1200 bucks over 5 or 6 months can go a long way.  You can also blow it real fast if you make a habit of going to expensive places, and there are a lot of them.

----------


## VendingMachine

> Tuition for a year: USD ~$2000
> Dorms for a year: USD ~$2000
> Food for a year: USD ~$1200
> Alcohol for a year: USD ~$500 
> Of course this depends on where in Russia, these prices should be true for Petersburg...

 I can't tell you about tuition fees, but I can tell you that USD $1200 is OK for a month, but not for a year.

----------


## Danilo

Hmm I would prefer not to go to Moscow or Sankt Peterburg because those are very large tourist-oriented cities and therefore expensive. I would prefer a smaller city, but not a town. What are some cities which have a population between 200,000-500,000 and have a university?

----------


## waxwing

> I can't tell you about tuition fees, but I can tell you that USD $1200 is OK for a month, but not for a year.

 Ah but that's because you spend all your time sitting in the cafe eating блины с красной икрой  ::

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

I hear of people learning Russian in Pskov, Murmansk and Vladimir... maybe those are better places? 
$1200 for a month!? You will live like a king!

----------


## JJ

> What are some cities which have a population between 200,000-500,000 and have a university?

 All of them have. I live in a city which has population about 200 000. There are some universities here. Most of them are bad or useless for foreigners, I guess you don't want to study russian laws or something like that. Speaking frankly, I know only one which is not bad but it is a branch of university from another city and about last 2-3 years students study at main university in a big city, but anyway it has specific subjects local industry oriented  - there are a lot of metallurgical works in my city so the main stream in the university is "обработка металлов давлением" - metal forming and "механика" - mechanics. The prices are lower here than in a big cities, a couple of years ago tuition costs about $700 a year, 1 bedroom apartment rent is about $120 a month and so on. But remember you will have no chances to get part time job.

----------


## VendingMachine

> $1200 for a month!? You will live like a king!

 I dunno. I spend more than $1200 a month and consider myself a very frugal person. On the other hand, it might be different for students - they have discounts and all. Unless, of course, you go to those horrible peasant places where they will fry you a sarcoptic manged up stray and call it 'rabbit stew'...  *waxwing*
No, I don't eat blini s ikroi - I hate ikra and I don't like blinis.

----------


## JB

If you live in a dorm and cook your own food you can live quite cheaply. Eating out will cost you $4-8 a meal at the cheapest cafes and fast food stands. 
supermarket prices=
bread 7-11p
1kg potatoes 17p
1L juice 35p
250g frozen farsh 19p
1L milk 21p
instant noodle soup (1packet=1 serving) 3p

----------


## VendingMachine

> ...Eating out will cost you $4-8 a meal at the cheapest cafes and fast food stands.
> ...
> 250g frozen farsh 19p
> instant noodle soup (1packet=1 serving) 3p

 Gotcha!   ::   ::   ::   ::  ::  ::  So you're not a doctor then. (I knew you weren't a doctor but I needed proof, something I could show everyone on this board) Only a quack or a Nazi "doctor" would advise people to eat out at "fast food stands" or buy "frozen farsh" and "instant noodle soup". Thanks, JB, you've made my day.

----------


## JB

Doctor???  VM, I don't know what you've been eating for $1200 a month, but I think it may be causing brain damage. 
And for all those Moscow students who can't afford to eat the VM diet but don't like Роллтон soup, you can check out this weeks sales at www.mosmart.ru  and www.perekriostok.ru

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

I lived in Peter a year, and had my own apartment. I also bought my own groceries. I bought mostly imported food and I spent about $20-25 for one week of food.   
Rent was $500  (3-bedroom apt), my share: $200
food: (conservative) $30*4 = $120
resaturants (happens to the best of us): $20*4 = $80
Alcohol: Expensive beer at bar: $2*100  ::   = $200 
still only $600 
what will get you is museums and stuff, unless you are a student. I was a student and got free entry to nearly all museum. The Russian Museum I visited almost every week at one point.

----------


## VendingMachine

> Doctor???

 Well, I know you never claimed to be a proper doc, but you did say you were into pulling 'em babes with a pair of tongs, a midwife of sorts, and you were always making it look like a big deal, weren't you, a midwife with an attitude... Thing is, even an ignorant orderly will tell you that eating junk food won't do your health any good. I can only conclude that you aren't connected to any medical profession whatsoever.   

> VM, I don't know what you've been eating for $1200 a month

 Are you familiar with the expression "ne khlebom yedinim"? A chap has other needs besides eating out in style.   

> but I think it may be causing brain damage.

 And who gives a hoot about what you think now that you've entirely discredited yourself as a medical person?   

> And for all those Moscow students who can't afford to eat the VM diet but don't like Роллтон soup, you can check out this weeks sales at www.mosmart.ru  and www.perekriostok.ru

 I told you, it's not just about feeding your face, it's about _living your life to the full_. Not that you'd know much about it....

----------


## JB

VM, your psychotic ramblings are way off the subject of the original question.  ::   Danilo wants to know how to survive in Russia on a student's budget.

----------


## VendingMachine

> VM, your psychotic ramblings are way off the subject of the original question.

 Since you turned down that invitation to a tea party anything that exposes your porkies is spot on in any thread, innit?   ::   ::   ::     

> Danilo wants to know how to survive in Russia on a student's budget.

 Mission impossible.

----------


## JB

VM, you are way random (and totally lame).

----------


## VendingMachine

> VM, you are way random (and totally lame).

 And you're jealous of my success.

----------


## JB

What success?  ::

----------


## VendingMachine

> What success?

 Unattainable by you.  ::

----------


## kwatts59

> Tuition for a year: USD ~$2000
> Dorms for a year: USD ~$2000
> Food for a year: USD ~$1200
> Alcohol for a year: USD ~$500

 I think the alcohol price you quoted is WAY too low.   ::   
At a modest $25/week that calculates out to over $1200.

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

Well I guess it depends on currency rate, but yes you are right, it is kinda low. But when I was there, a bottle of champagne cost $2.. a couple of those and I was good to go for the evening!

----------


## VendingMachine

> But when I was there, a bottle of champagne cost $2.. a couple of those and I was good to go for the evening!

 I've asked some of my friends who aren't teatotal like muggins here and they said that a bottle of champagne for $2 wouldn't be champagne, it would be vinigar!

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

Well, I could find bottle of sovetskaya for 65 roubles. And I have tasted vinegar, they don't taste alike! Maybe I am a sucker for cheap champagne...

----------


## VendingMachine

> Well, I could find bottle of sovetskaya for 65 roubles. And I have tasted vinegar, they don't taste alike! Maybe I am a sucker for cheap champagne...

 Sovetskaya? To me Sovetskaya sounds like a type of vodka.  Perhaps you mean Sovetskoye? Champagne is neuter in Russian while vodka is feminine.

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

You are, of course, right. Sovetskoe Shampanskoe... my liver is already screaming!

----------


## wavetossed

It's easier to survive cheaply if you go far from Moscow. Try a city like Yoshkar-Ola. Here is one American student's travelogue  http://www.yoshkar.com/ 
Start with his Bio page and work your way back to People. Notice that some pages have multiple sections. If it has a Next: link on it, then check that out too.

----------


## Androvsky

I have to be honest guys, Russia sounds dirt cheap! Buy most calculations, you could live frugaly on $6-8k for a year. Thats only

----------


## VendingMachine

[quote=Androvsky]I have to be honest guys, Russia sounds dirt cheap! Buy most calculations, you could live frugaly on $6-8k for a year. Thats only

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

Don't believe the VendingMachine! No good comes out of talking machines! 
I lived non-frugally in Russia for a year on 10k, I don't see why anyone can't do the same, even if the prices are a little higher.

----------


## VendingMachine

> Don't believe the VendingMachine! No good comes out of talking machines! 
> I lived non-frugally in Russia for a year on 10k, I don't see why anyone can't do the same, even if the prices are a little higher.

 Obviously, your understanding of frugally is different from mine. 10K a year would be a disaster for me.

----------


## kalinka_vinnie

::  I won't even ask on what you spend your money on  ::

----------


## VendingMachine

> I won't even ask on what you spend your money on

 Charity, gambling and women.

----------


## Androvsky

speaking of gambnling, what are the card rooms in moscow and petersburg like? 
anyway, 10k sounds like plenty to go with for a few months :P

----------


## VendingMachine

They are like card rooms, comrade Androvsky.

----------


## Androvsky

I meant, what do they play and what prices. (ie, $50 pot limit hold em, etc).  
Though i htink you already knew what i meant....

----------


## El Casey

I'm a drinker, I enjoy going to restaurants and clubs, and every Russian I've asked (I'm mainly active on WayToRussia Talk Lounge) says I should be able to live fairly well on US$20K/yr. in Moscow. Granted, I'll be living in a single dorm room at MGU, but it's only ~$130/month so how can I complain?  
Anyone want to weigh in on this? Will I have to be careful about going out a lot with a budget like this (I'm budgeting $1000-$1200/month)? Granted, I know I can't go to NightFlight or Rasputin every night ( :: ), but I think I'll be able to have a good time, pick up the check for eating out with friends and the like. 
Am I wrong?

----------

