Important information when arriving at Howest

The account cannot be opened if the student

• Is minor or incompetent
• Does not hold a foreign identity card/passport 
• Has no foreign domicile address

If other conditions are not fulfilled (eg. older than 25 years, married, no Application Form or rental agreement of a student residence in Belgium), only a regular bank account can be opened (with costs).

Please note that if you are a non EU student, your fully signed rental agreement of your student residence in Belgium may not be accepted by the bank for opening a Belgian bank account. In that case you are recommended to request the city hall for a document called ‘Model 2’, which will confirm your residence address in Belgium. 

In general we can state that you will monthly spend about €240 on food, €80 on social life, €20 on printing costs, €50 (per 3 months) on public transport and/or €6 on bike rental in Bruges /€5 on bike rental in Kortrijk.

Accommodation prices can be found in the respective sections.

Below you find a few prices of some current food products to give you an idea of the costs of living in Belgium:

• small loaf of bread (400 g): €1.60
• big loaf of bread (800 g): €2.20
• 1 litre of milk: €1.14
• 1,5 l of Coca Cola: €1.49
• 1 kg of potatoes: €1
• 1 kg of oranges: €2.30
• ham/kg: €16.90
• cheese/kg: €7,59
• 1 pint of beer (in a pub): €2.00
• 1 coke (in a pub): €1.80 à €2.00

You can keep a lid on these costs by shopping in cheaper supermarkets (like Aldi, Lidl or even Colruyt if you stick to their cheap generic brand) and visiting student-friendly places. Moreover, students enjoy reductions on many sports events, culture and leisure activities, and in some shops.

Each Howest campus has a restaurant, a cafeteria or a bar where you can buy a hot midday meal, snacks, soup, bread rolls and drinks at very democratic prices. Of course, each campus has all necessary facilities to eat your own packed lunch. The cafeteria is the place to be for meeting other students and participating in social campus life.

Here are some prices to give you an idea (these are indicative prices):

• fresh soup costs €0,70
• a daily special can be bought at €4,00
• warm snacks cost €1,80 to €3,00 

Bear in mind that Howest has cashless campuses. 

In Belgium waste is being sorted in order to be recycled. Some types of rubbish are collected at your house. But you can also get rid of it at collection points and container parks.

You can reduce your waste by buying products with less packaging, by using glass instead of plastic bottles etc. The following categories of rubbish can be sorted:

• Glass
• Paper and cardboard
• PMD waste
• Organic waste
• Small hazardous waste
• Old and expired medications
• Building waste and rubble
• Reusable textiles
• Discarded electrical and electronic appliances

Every waste type has a specific pick-up day and needs to be put in front of the house or residence between 6:00 and 7:00 am on collection mornings. The waste collection calendar, provided by the City of Kortrijk, shows the different pick-up days.

Incorrect sorting or not respecting the pick-up days will result in fines. The official bags for waste collection can be bought in most supermarkets.

Container parks

Every city has one or more recycling centres where people can bring their large domestic waste, small dangerous waste and other specific waste fractions such as construction debris, wood etc. In the Kortrijk area, there are four recycling centres.

You can only access the recycling centre with your electronic ID-card. Small dangerous waste and old electronic appliances can be brought in for free. For all other waste you will need to pay a fee depending on the kind of waste and the volume.