What is the cost of living in Australia for international students?

Question

Priscilla Han · Accepted Answer

This is the cost of living, not tuition — what it takes to actually live in Australia month to month, and it is the part families most often underestimate. Think in components, not one number: accommodation (by far the biggest line), food and groceries, transport, utilities and internet, a mobile plan, and Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC), which is mandatory for the whole visa. The single biggest lever is city choice — Sydney and Melbourne are the most expensive places to live, while Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and regional university towns can roughly halve your living costs for a similar quality of study. One honest warning: the government sets an indicative minimum living-cost figure you must show savings against for the student visa, but real costs in Sydney and Melbourne often exceed it — so treat the visa minimum as a floor to satisfy immigration, never as your actual budget. That figure also changes, so confirm the current Department of Home Affairs amount before you plan. Walk through the components, biggest first. Accommodation dominates everything else and swings most by city and by type: a sharehouse room is usually the cheapest, on-campus or student accommodation sits in the middle and is convenient but rarely the cheapest, and homestay (a room plus meals with a local family) suits younger or first-year students who want a soft landing. After housing come the steady monthly items — groceries (far cheaper if you cook rather than eat out), public transport (ask about student concession fares, which vary by state), utilities and home internet, and a mobile plan. OSHC is a separate compulsory cost charged for the full length of your visa, not a month-to-month choice — see our health-insurance answer for how it works. The cost families most often forget is the upfront 'settling-in' hit before any routine even begins: a rental bond or deposit plus the first month's rent, flights, and the initial setup of a phone, bedding, kitchen basics and a transport card. Budget that as a one-off lump on top of your monthly figure. Be honest about the two things that actually move the number. First, city choice is the single biggest cost lever — choosing a regional or smaller-city university over central Sydney or Melbourne can roughly halve your living costs, mostly through rent, while still giving your child a strong institution and, in some cases, regional study incentives. Second, part-time work can offset some living cost but it is capped by visa rules and must never be the funding plan; treat any earnings as a buffer, not a budget line, and check our part-time-work answer for the current limits. Practical levers that genuinely help: share housing rather than living alone, pick a cheaper city or campus further from the centre, cook at home, use student concession cards and second-hand textbooks, and compare mobile and energy plans rather than taking the first offer. BrightKey takes no payments from schools, agencies or landlords — our honest line is to build your budget bottom-up from these live components for the specific city, confirm the current visa minimum separately, and never assume the two are the same.