Student Money Advice Guide

Heading off to college or university is an expensive thing to do, you’re likely to spend around £10,000 a year on all your fees, rent, and other bills, so of course it’s important to know how best to use what money you do have, and how to keep tabs on everything so you don’t end up in debt when you leave university.

Learn to budget

One of the first things you can do is to learn how to budget your money, and one of the easiest ways of doing this, is to draw up chart of all the money you have coming in through the month, and all the money you have going out. You’ll need to remember to include everything you’re likely to spend including setting aside amounts for food and socialising.

Once you have a sheet like this, you should be able to see whether your income is going to cover your outgoings or not, or if there is likely to be a shortfall. If you’re likely to have a shortfall (many students do), then you can start looking into getting a part time job, or if you already have one of those, then taking out a loan.

Loans – What’s best?

When you’re a student, you will be entitled to a student loan, this is a loan which is backed by the government and it’s probably the cheapest loan you are ever likely to be able to get at the moment the rate of interest is just 1.5% and this will be dropping to 0% in September. As well as that, this loan doesn’t need to be paid back until you’ve graduated and are working earning £15,000 per year or more.

If a student loan covers things mostly, but once or twice per semester you think you may find yourself a little short, it’s worth knowing that many student bank accounts offer student reasonably good interest rates and interest free overdrafts while they are a student. Of course if you can avoid using the overdraft facility that’s best, but having it there available won’t hurt.

Credit cards are something very tempting and as an adult you’re may well find you will be offered one or more, but the problem is that they do not offer student rates, and if you aren’t exceedingly careful you could find yourself with a large debt to pay back. Credit cards therefore should be your very last option.

Saving money as a student

One of the best ways to debt solutions is to avoid spending too much money. Take advantage of student discounts that are offered to you. Look into getting yourself an NUS Extra card. This card costs a small fee each year, but most students report that it saves them far more as there are a lot of stores which are signed up to offer discounts to card holders.

Shop savvy too, take advantage of 2 for 1 offers that are on, buy things from sales, or second hand if you can, and try to keep things like takeaways to a minimum. You can get a decent pizza from the supermarket these days for around £3, but if you buy one of a similar size from a takeaway, it may well cost you £10 or more.

Use college notice boards to advertise for things you need such as books or CDs, you never know what other people are looking to sell. Sell off your own unwanted items too, it’s better to get a couple of quid back for a book that you don’t need, than nothing, and you’ll be saving another student from having to pay full price as well.