Student needs help!

Levster

Hello!

So I am going to a music college in Brighton and applied for a student loan. I received confirmation of it today and have found out with dispair that it doesn't cover my rent, let alone my bills and food! What do I do? What are my options? Should I get an overdraft?

Thanks in advance!

Cranston_2

Levster wrote: »

Hello!
! What do I do? What are my options?
!

Get a part-time job for a start.

kimbi15

Hello Levster,

You might be able to apply to some funding within your University as in Access to Learning Fund.

But defo try and get a part time job

Levster

I will be getting apart time job, but that still isn't going to be anywhere near enough.

Lavendyr

1. Get a part-time job. You should be able to add on around £200 per month at least, working a minimal amount of hours around your course.

2. Work in the holidays. Especially over the summer you should be able to work for at least 2 months straight full-time, which you can save up towards the next academic year. That's not much help right now of course, but you can still work extra hours over Christmas and Easter.

3. Talk to your university about what hardship grants and access funds are available. Almost all universities have something available if you have no other source of funding than the loan.

4. Set yourself a budget on what you know you are definitely going to have coming in and stick to it! Say you get a part-time job and you know that will bring in £200 per month. On top of that you have, say, another £200 per month from your loan. Figure out what is most important (rent and food) and what else you need to spend (e.g. textbooks, music) and set a monthly budget for that. Anything left over is a bonus and can be put towards the next month. It's totally doable, you just have to be willing to work for it and sacrifice a few things (beans on toast is a very viable student dinner ).

5. Get a student bank account. Most give an interest-free overdraft of up to £1000 in the first year and more in later years. You shouldn't rely on it entirely as it's not a never-ending source of free money (you will have to pay it back, remember!) but it can help to give you a little bit of flexibility when things are tight.

I'm not totally up on how the student loans system works at the moment, but I assume that you are getting the full maintenance grant as well? That should cover your tuition costs at least, leaving your student loan for rent etc.

Levster

Thanks for the advice mate. I've just found this, it looks ok, I think!

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/student-banking/student-bank-account;jsessionid=0000SrYnfmpIfdNJ4NsqTW33BdG:12c58t9vd

Thoughts?

Lavendyr

I had the HSBC student account. It was OK - nothing brilliant, but not bad either. The only bad thing is that they keep trying to whisk interest-free overdrafts away (either by whacking a high interest rate on after graduation or simply by taking away the whole overdraft) as soon as you graduate.

When looking at student accounts, you should look at things like:
- what benefits are on offer? (overdraft and additional freebies)
- what are the terms & conditions? (some accounts require that you have your student loan paid directly into the account for instance)
- is there a branch near to where you will be at uni? and what are their other contact options like (e.g. HSBC have mainly overseas call centres which is not always easy from a communications point of view)

Why don't you have a look at Martin's article on student accounts to see the current best buys? It's here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Student-bank-account . Have a look & match them against your own criteria. There are several out there as they want to win your business for future years.

In fact, have a look through all of the MSE articles for students - it might help you figure out the best options for you.

scottyuk_2

Levster wrote: »

Hello!

So I am going to a music college in Brighton and applied for a student loan. I received confirmation of it today and have found out with dispair that it doesn't cover my rent, let alone my bills and food! What do I do? What are my options? Should I get an overdraft?

Thanks in advance!

Tbh that sounds pretty normal, my loan didnt cover my rent or anything, I think hardly anyones loan covers the rent so I wouldnt panic, welcome to the world of being a student. Personally I just found the bank with the largest interest free overdraft at the time, without the overdraft no way I would have ever finished University and I worked part-time. But just use the overdraft, thats what its there for.

gtx

try going to the local authority and applying for a rebate on the rent - you don't have to be renting from the council to qualify for it. - not sure if there are any exceptions about being a student though - still the worst they can say is no!