AIBU to think student DS spending £50 on his nights out is ridiculous?

[OwlBabiesAreCute]

Maybe my age but I used to go out with £5 - into a club for free, couple of halves of lager, 10 fags. Admittedly a good few years ago!

DS (2nd year of uni SE England) says he cannot go out with less than £50 for drinks in the pub, then admission and drinks in a club. And possibly an Uber home after.

He does have a job but is saving that money for when he goes back to uni.

AIBU to think this is not a typical amount that uni students / teens spend on a night out?

YABU - £50 is a normal amount and you have no idea of the true cost of a night out

YANBU - he's a student with limited income and should therefore limit nights out / spending

£50 is very low for a night out these days at that age, more like £100

You struggle to get more than more coke for £5. I think £50 is cheap. Yabu

I bet he doesn't do it every night.

I bet the OP is in her fifties like me, and yes, I could go out on a fiver and get into a shit sticky carpet club, drink and buy ten Silk Cut on a fiver. Probably needed a bit more not to have to walk home 7 miles, but I’ve done that more than once. Seemed like fun at the time 🙄

Holy crap ! I never, ever go out with less than £100 (and always have emergency cash at home to pay for a taxi in case I overspend or lose my money or get it stolen).

I usually go out with approx 6 friends, so if we're buying rounds, and each drink costs approx £6, then I'm spending £36 per round. If we go on to a club, it's £20 admission and approx £8-9 per drink (sometimes more !).

So your DS needing £50 for a night out IS actually the 'skint student' version of this ?

he's a student with limited income and should therefore limit nights out / spending

he’s an adult and despite us as parents giving advice sometimes they have to learn the hard way about budgeting.

50 quid was a decent night out when I was a student 30 years ago. Psst, in addition to things costing more then in your time OP, there’s also something called a cost of living crisis which means everything is more expensive. Hell I’ve spent more in energy costs in the first three months then the whole of last year.

I used to spend £50 on a night out and that was back in 2005, I think that's cheap for these days!

When I was at uni my taxi home from a night out was £14. Admission into a club potentially £8. So that's nearly half of that £50 gone already. If wasn't a cheap student specific night, drinks were usually £3-£5. A fiver for food on the way home. Easy to spend £50.

I gave up 'going out' around twenty years ago because £50 was the bare minimum cost, £150 was quite usual. Not for me!

£50 for a night out in my 20s would have been a really cheap night out. I'm in my 40s now!

I wished £50 would be enough for a night out for me.
When me and my friends go out we spend about £100-£150 drinks aren't cheap these days.

I usually spend about £200 on a night out 😂

You must know that things cost more now than in the 90s? Do you never leave your house?

I used to be able to go out for £15 at the union. Pre game on a bottle of cheap white wine, get the bus, £3 entry, 241 on VK drinks, £1 on chips from the burger van, split a taxi home.

I went for a drink the other week and it was £15 for two drinks. I walked home to save cash!

I don’t think a student night out costs that. They have pres, the clubs are cheap then share taxis home. I know my student dc couldn’t afford £50 every week.

It must be a very long time ago - I am 66 and a fiver would not have lasted two minutes for a night out including a club.

Although anyone who can go out to the pub and then on to a club and only have two halves of lager is amazing. We would have had two drinks in the first 30 minutes and moved on to spirits.

Sorry OP but you don't live in the real world at all if you think £50 is to much for a night out, that is actually pritty cheap. I guess your son probably doesn't tell you about other things in his life if you don't even believe him about this small thing which everyone knows is true.

Wow. In London 2000 the hippodrome nightclub on Leicester Square was £5 to get in and £12 for a single Smirnoff ice (only went once and it was a very sober night). I think £50 now would be a fairly cheap/ budget controlled night.

I'm too old to remember but suspect a fiver wouldn't have gone far in 1978 to 1981. My dc are 28 and 25. I think they'd easily have spent £50 on a night out at uni. More at home in London.

He's only young once op. If he can afford it, let him have a wonderful time.

‘Maybe my age but I used to go out with £5 - into a club for free, couple of halves of lager, 10 fags. Admittedly a good few years ago!’

You’ve answered your own question.

I was at uni at the end of the 90s. Drinks, club entry and a taxi come back then would have come to £20 at the very least, and I was not a big drinker. My friends drank more than me and I would estimate more like £30+ for them. My uni town was a big town but not a glamorous city or anything and we weren’t going to posh bars. I think, given inflation, that £50 is about right or even a bit on the low side for these days.

I haven't been out-out for years BUT when I was on a tight budget

-- I wouldn't have bought drinks in a club at all (we did pre drinking in someone's room- which isn't always a good idea if you get the dose wrong).

-- Also used to arrive at clubs early when entrance was cheap/free, without a coat to avoid paying £2 for cloakroom.

-- Walked home (small town). I wouldn't have got a taxi as a student.

Everyone did the same.

Pretty normal. He needs to find it himself. You work out how much these nights are worth to you when you work out how many hours you had to work to afford them!

Also used to do same as you op and go out with a fiver in 2014.
Most of us were skint so we'd
Pre drink
Free entry into club or £2 student
Not drink when out or just one
Walk home

He doesn't have to drink loads when out but can he walk? Is it safe? Our students hall then house was only 15 minute walk from town.

I think £50 is on the extreme end. Even in London, a pint in a pub and a pint at the club is going to be £15-20? Then transport home if needed

How old are you, OP?
I am 52. I went to Hull University (i.e. a cheap city to live in) from 1989 - 1992.
I would go out with a fiver. £1 to get into the Union, £3 on 3 pints of snakebite and black, £1 on a bag of chips on the way home.

I have no idea what my student son spends on a night out. I don't get involved in his finances unless he's not managing and needs support.