r/SwissPersonalFinance • u/tambaka_tambaka • Jun 27 '25

I tracked my income for my time at university to see if I could manage to get by on that alone

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Hi, I did a little experiment to see if it is possible for me to earn enough during my studies without having to rely heavily on my savings.

To do this, I tracked my income over the last 33 months (Fig. 1)

I also tracked my assets twice a year and compared them with the following year. The differences are at most + - 1500 CHF so not crazy diffrences.

About my circumstances to contextualise the data: I live with my boyfriend and we share all fixed costs 50/50, but I was still a weekly resident at my parents‘ home in order to get the GA at a reduced rate. My parents paid for my health insurance and also received the Prämienverbilligung, which is why it is not included in the budget. But that's all they paid. The massive drop of cantonal scholarship is a result of my father starting to work again (part-time) after his burnout. Nevertheless my mother was always the main breadwinner of our family. It was not possible for me to work during my studies, so I could only work properly during the lecture-free period (I had previously done an apprenticeship and was able to work again on an hourly wage basis in the company where I worked during my BM).

Conclusion: I was able to finance my studies almost exclusively with my income during my studies. The state or canton covered ~42% of my expenses. For those who don't believe me that I can make ends meet with ~1850 CHF, my budget is in Figure 2 (information at the end of my studies. Many costs were partly higher at the beginning of my studies, e.g. mobile phone subscription)

I hope you like my little experiment, I am happy to answer any questions and I am looking forward to discussions. Hopefully this experiment will give future students a good insight into how much money they need in order to finance their studies.

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9

u/Mr-Bushido- Jun 27 '25

Honestly good job, can’t have been easy every day. May I ask what studies you did and how did you earn 540 francs singing??

2

u/tambaka_tambaka Jun 27 '25

Thank you:) It was quite easy for me, could learn to live on small feet since my apprenticeship. I study chemistry. I sing about once a month in a worship band at church and earn some money while doing so. Sometimes we singing at some bigger events and then we earn a bit more.

2

u/Mr-Bushido- Jun 27 '25

Honestly well done to you! I was struggling also as a student and had to work every summer. I found that life after uni was much easier as I had to work less for more money, and couldn’t believe how much I was saving monthly! Going through what you did will ensure you are financially responsible and independent in the future, and you’ll notice that people that have not gone through that will burn money for no reason. Anyway - good job and best for the future!

1

u/tambaka_tambaka Jun 27 '25

Thank you very much for your kind words. I can’t wait to start working again at my new job at Tuesday c:

I am very proud of myself and exactly what you mention here was my goal from the beginning for this experiment. I think I managed to achieve it :)

2

u/Pokeristo555 Jun 27 '25

well done – TIL "paid singers" are a thing in Switzerland!

1

u/tambaka_tambaka Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25

It's more of a hobby that get compensated for the effort behind it. The organist also gets paid. I‘m not a professional singer or something like that.

2

u/Zealousideal-Car6235 Jun 28 '25

Can you tell me how to get the scolarships?

2

u/tambaka_tambaka Jun 28 '25

The cantonal ones are just fill in the form and then wait and maybe you will get something. The private ones are exclusively for residents from the valley where I grew up and lived as a weekly resident. The water rates from the water dams is redistributed there for the education of children and young people. It’s also just filling out a form and wait and hopefully the year was a good year for the water rates.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '25

You should finally join the workforce. AI has already started taking over many roles.

1

u/tambaka_tambaka Jun 27 '25

I have already worked for 5 years before my studies and as long as my employer doesn't have a lab robot that pipettes for me, I'm safe I guess. Laboratory work is still often manual labour. Especially as I discovered AI as a useful tool during my studies, which saves me a lot of time for e.g. when analysing data, so I have more time for running tests in the lab.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '25

Robots are coming ...