Going to University or College is an expensive process, and it can cost you £10,000 or more per year for your rent, fees, and other living expenses, so it’s important to know how to spend your money wisely when you first leave home, so that you get the most out of what you have and don’t end up leaving with a degree AND a large debt problems
Make a Budget
It may sound like a boring thing to do, but if you draw up an income/expenditure sheet
which details all your incoming money, and all your outgoing money, you will be able to
see easily whether you have enough income to support yourself, or if you need to look for
extra income. The simplest way to do this is to create a table with the dates of the
month in column one, income in column two, and expenditure in column three. Column four
can be used to show a running total of how much money you have left after each amount
goes in or out.
What to do if you require extra money
Most students find that unless they are very lucky, even with help from mum and dad,
and a part time job, they will fall short on the amount of money they need each year to
support themselves. There are a number of different ways you can get borrow money:
Student Loans
Official government supported student loans are the cheapest loan you are ever likely
to receive, and currently they have an interest rate of just 1.5% and this is dropping to
0% from September. There are two sorts, the first is for tuition, the second for living
expenses. Neither will need to be repaid until you have graduated, and only then when
you are earning over £15,000 per year.
Overdrafts
Student bank accounts are offered by most banks today, and these accounts
generally have reasonably good interest rates compared to normal current accounts.
Most of them also come with a free overdraft facility all ready set up for you to
use as the banks understand that you may need this. Many of these accounts come
with perks like free gifts, cashback, etc. but it’s important not to let yourself be
wooed by these perks, but to pick the account based on it’s actual merits.
Credit Cards
As a last port of call, a credit card can be a useful thing, however it is very easy
to become seduced by the ease of using a credit card and saying I’ll pay it off
later. The problem comes when later arrives and you don’t have the money to pay
it off. Credit cards generally have fairly high interest rates which means that the
debt can build far more quickly than you might imagine. If you do decide to go for
a credit card, try to keep it for emergency use only, and remember to pay it off
every month so that you do not incur charges that you can’t afford.
Make use of Discounts
Student discounts are available today in all sorts of places, from online sites selling CDs
and DVDs, to fast food restaurants, and book stores. These discounts are offered
as an incentive to you to buy from that store, and they can save you quite a chunk of
money. However, it is important to make sure that you also check out other places that
don’t offer discounts too, as prices can vary, and you may find some items are cheaper
elsewhere even without a discount.
Look at websites aimed at saving students money such as studentbeans.com and snapfax.co.uk as they keep lists of all the stores they know who are offering student discounts both on and offline. Find out about the NUS Extra card as well, this card does cost a small fee, but there are a lot of shops signed up to the scheme which means that most people find it can save them more money than it costs.
