Student life in the United Arab Emirates

I`ll keep this straight to the point and as short as possible.

What are the advantages of studying in the United Arab Emirates?
- Great Resources and reliability on materials and content needed to enhance the studying experience.

What are the disadvantages?
- Very Expensive in terms of tuition for a full time student who takes all semesters of the year, which is a very unfavorable thing.


Are there proper housing options for students, or do most students have to find their own accommodation?
-Unfortunately after the UAE raised the cap on the estates market in 2005, finding reasonable and cheap housing plans is almost impossible. The reason i say this is that even many workers struggle to pay for rent mostly and would rather look for alternatives in the suburbs. When it comes to university housing, you can figure the "No price Cap" has also encouraged the universities to charge relatively high for their housing plans.
All in all it`s a disadvantage when it comes to housing.

Are living costs for students in the United Arab Emirates expensive?
- It is affordable just about enough with a very steep risk of crumbling if not managed well.

What is an average budget for a student per month, including rent, groceries, and social activities?
at least 2800 dirhams per month would be enough ONLY if a student decides to share rent but if decides to go solo i mean within the city or the suburbs Then Rent ALONE would take 3500 dhs + the 1800 needed for other relative expenses and that`s more than 5000 dhs... which is higher than the salary of an ordinary employee in UAE which is an average of 4000. Students would suffer mostly from trying to meet recurring requirements to fulfill day to day needs from transport to food and other expenses for study.

Is it easy to form a social circle in the United Arab Emirates? What are some of the preferred social activities?
- Not easy, social life is quite questionable due to many reasons i can`t disclose here but the reality hurts when you get to realize more about other people than they know about themselves. People generally in UAE always are judgmental and stereotypical before even learning anything about other new characters they meet, and the main question is where are you from before any further credible interest in the person can develop.

Are there international student societies or community engagement programs for international students?
- There are many efforts and good examples but the problem really is the selective nature of expats people living in UAE, not all are open-minded enough to accept cultural differences UNLESS it synchronizes with their nature. IN SHORT, people here don`t compromise their efforts to build strong relationships like before in the late 90s and early 2000s. Nowadays more focus is on meeting career objectives and expenses of a financially demanding nature of life in UAE (Hence the word 'materialism' )