I’m guessing most of you have heard about a little thing called Student Finance England? For those of you who haven’t it’s basically the government lending moneys to pay for aspects of your university life, including tuition fees, maintenance costs and, if you qualify maybe even a grant (all depending on your household income).
So that’s the brief, now to the more practical stuff (don’t worry it’s not a bad as you think).
After applying for Student Finance and becoming enrolled with the University you decide to check your bank account. You realise that the first loan installment that you have applied for is in your bank account and your first response is “DRINKS ON ME EVERYBODY!!”. The next thing you know, everyone wants to be your friend, which is fine, until the next week in which you realise that you have no money left to buy food, let alone to pay your rent. You then reflect and think “hmm, maybe spending all my money at once wasn’t such a good idea.”
Well, hopefully by then you would have learnt your lesson, however, before it gets to that stage allow me to give you some advice on how to manage your finances (because let’s face it, we all get a bit excited when we get a bit of money in the account).
Top tip would be as soon as you get your loan PAY YOUR RENT, at least then you know that what is left is your own money. And you won’t have emails or letters from the housing company asking for their share.
When it comes to food shopping, I would recommend getting a jar and putting a certain amount of money in it per month, this could be anything you like. This method would allow you to see how much you’ve spent on food and how much you have left.
Lastly, we all go out and socialise, I guess it’s a part of the University aura, but try to budget how much you spend each night you go out. Don’t spend ridiculous amounts as tempting as it may seem.
Well that’s all I have to say, financing is difficult, put its part and parcel of the University Life so the best thing you can do is to enjoy it by managing it.
