A bowl of pho costs 60,000 VND, costs 2 million VND a week: New students "fall into the hole" of spending

(Dan Tri) - The journey of independence for many new students begins with financial "shocks". From a 60,000 VND bowl of pho to spending 2 million VND in just 1 week, many students have fallen into a spending "pit".

When independent living deals the first financial blow

Right in the first week of school, Hoang Bao Ngoc, a new student majoring in Renewable Energy at the University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, clearly felt the confusion when starting to enter student life, especially in managing personal finances.

Before, Ngoc never had to worry about expenses in life, but now, everything has changed when she has to hold the "keys to the coffers" herself to pay for daily needs.

Not having a personal vehicle, Ngoc has to book a ride-hailing service to travel from home to school, which takes up the majority of her expenses.

“My place is quite close to school, each trip only costs about 15,000 VND, but if calculated for the whole week, it is not a small number,” Ngoc shared.

With a monthly allowance of 3 million VND from her parents, Ngoc does not have to spend too much on food and accommodation because her older sister helps. However, for her, if she does not really control her spending, no amount of money is enough.

Many students are in a "broke pocket" situation because they don't know how to save money (Photo: Tuyet Luu).

Despite trying to save money, the prices in the city still shocked Ngoc because they were so high.

“In the first week of studying in the city, I spent about 500,000 VND, most of which was on transportation by motorbike taxi. Here, everything is quite expensive, I had to pay 50,000-60,000 VND for a bowl of pho, much higher than I thought,” Ngoc said.

Despite facing many difficulties, the new student still feels lucky to have the company of her sister, who has always been by her side, helping and guiding her step by step on the path to independence.

Ngoc's sister helped her realize the importance of financial planning from the very beginning, so Ngoc could prepare more thoroughly for student life in the city.

“After the first confusing week, I tried to get used to it and adjust my spending appropriately,” Ngoc said.

One of the notable changes of the new student is switching from eating out to cooking for herself to save money. However, she also admits that there are times when she spends on unnecessary things.

“I often buy a lot of snacks while shopping to prepare dinner, this is an additional expense. But I am trying to control it so as not to overspend,” the new student said.

Like Ngoc, Tiet Truong Kha, a student at the University of Finance and Marketing, said: “When I first came to the city to study, I had to buy a lot of things, sometimes spending nearly a million dong. Not used to living independently, I found it very difficult to balance my expenses.”

In addition to food and accommodation, Kha also spent extra money on meetings with friends, causing his savings to quickly "evaporate".

The main source of income for new students comes from their family allowance, which is fixed monthly, making it difficult to manage proactively. When that amount of money runs out, many students can only wait for the next deposit period. Therefore, if they do not spend wisely, the situation of "eating lavishly at the beginning of the month and being confused at the end of the month" is inevitable.

In reality, due to not being used to the pace of life in a strange city, many students quickly find themselves "empty-handed" after just a few days of school.

A social media post titled “A new student spent all the money his mother gave him in a month after just one week of school” has attracted many comments. Most people agree that spending is unavoidable in the early stages, as you need to buy the initial supplies; however, once you are settled, money management experience will gradually be formed.

Many new students share their experiences about their spending after 1 week of enrolling (Screenshot).

Currently, the average living expenses of a student in Ho Chi Minh City range from 2-7 million VND/month, depending on accommodation and spending habits.

The basic expenses usually revolve around tuition, accommodation, food, transportation and many other incidental expenses. For those who live with family or relatives, the burden is somewhat reduced, while students living far from home have to "weigh and measure" more.

From "pain in the wallet" to valuable lessons in independence

Nguyen Nhat Tam, a fourth-year student majoring in Journalism at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, said he spends about VND4 million a month, mainly on food and gas. Despite receiving a scholarship, Tam still went broke because he overspent during the sales season.

“Sometimes I have to borrow money from friends or ask my parents to send me more because I overspend,” Tam said.

Not only Tam, many students also often have difficulties because of spending money impulsively, eating out constantly, not planning their spending or "having fun".

Hong Quang, an Information Technology student at Saigon University, admitted that when he was in college, he ran out of money many times in the middle of the month but was afraid to borrow money.

“There were times when I had to eat instant noodles continuously but I didn’t dare ask my family or borrow from friends for more because I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough money to pay off my debt,” Quang said.

The situation of “meningitis” also happened to Pham Thanh Thuy, a student at a university in Ho Chi Minh City. At the beginning of school, Thuy often spent freely on meetings with friends but later had to gradually change her habits to adapt to life.

“Learning from the days of spending money without control in my first year, I started doing many different jobs and gradually learned how to save and manage money reasonably. Actually, balancing your finances is not too difficult, the important thing is that you have a clear goal,” Thuy said.

Many students buy ingredients to cook their own food to save on personal expenses (Photo: Tuyet Luu).

Unlike many of his peers, Cong Chinh, a senior in Sociology, rarely faces financial difficulties. Chinh believes that discipline in spending is the key factor.

“Many people buy everything they see without really having a purpose in mind or just following the crowd for fun. You should make a plan, note down your monthly expenses and most importantly, be sober before every shopping decision.”

Thanks to that, Chinh maintains a spending level of less than 2 million VND/month.

In reality, students often find it difficult to have extra money each month. Most of them spend it all or even have to borrow money. This is the result of the habit of "spending" too much. However, these experiences will also become important lessons in independence for each person.

Preparing mentally and financially from the beginning will help young people avoid a lot of pressure when entering the university gate. More importantly, you need to master the skills of personal financial management so as not to be passive or fall into a state of struggle due to lack of funds.

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Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/bat-pho-60000-dong-mot-tuan-het-2-trieu-tan-sinh-vien-lot-ho-chi-tieu-20250923061946889.htm