Making Ends Meet

For the vast majority of students, university life is the first time that they have lived away from home for a prolonged period in their lives. Accordingly, there are many challenges both big and small to be dealt with and high up on that list is making ends meet. Here, then, is an alternative guide to getting through University without going broke:

• Get your books second hand. At the start of each term course books can cost well over a hundred pounds, and you don’t need to buy them all new. Look around for good deals on second hand books, many second and third year students will be looking to sell their copies. Also, check with an existing student (if you can find one) if you need to buy the whole reading list, many crafty lecturers put their own books on the list even if you never actually have to read/study it.
• Food is one of the more fundamental expenses of student life, and if you want to be able to afford to drink, you’re going to have to save money elsewhere. If you can, eat with a group of people (it saves costs) if not, it might be worth getting familiar with the ‘value’ or ‘basics’ range of the local supermarket. The trick with really cheap meat is to cook it slowly, as slowly as possible.
• Work for the university. Many university have office/admin type positions going that aren’t always that well advertised. These are a great opportunity for students, they generally pay well, the employers will often be flexible and you won’t have to walk too far to get to work.
• Be inventive. With so many people around at uni it’s tempting to want to go out all the time, this is tiring, expensive and not good for your degree. So if you want to do something in an evening, come up with different things to do – for example, get an appallingly bad film and play drinking games to it, you’ll watch a lot of rubbish films, but it’s good fun (and cheap).
• And finally, one slightly more sensible one. Make sure you get a really good deal on where you live, rent is always the biggest cost (bar tuition) of university and it’s worth getting a good deal, and, if you have to, paying a little bit more to make sure you get a good landlord.

Of course there are thousands of other things that you can do to save, or earn, a little bit of extra money, but the best one of all is to get a good student bank account. Most don’t offer any interest (you do, after all, get an interest free bank account) but one or two banks like Santander are actually offering accounts that give you a little interest on your savings. A good student account is vital to making ends meet at uni, so make sure you get one.