Student finance-change of circumstances

Fire_Fox

princessamy86 wrote: »

I don't have an overdraft, they fill me with horror! I don't think they'll find any wiggle room in the budget-we were ok until OH got made redundant. Can't get discounted transport as I have to get to uni for 9am, so my railcard isn't applicable! It just sucks finding out that I can't support myself even though I work hard, sorry for having a moan I was just annoyed! Guess I'll have to put up and shut up, suppose it's only another year :rolleyes:

A 0% overdraft is little different to a student loan - as long as you use the account as your main account, know when the interest kicks in (3 years on some accounts) and have a plan for paying it off rather than randomly spending. I suspect you would be the 'plan' type. I get twitchy if mine goes over £1k even tho I use it to get interest off the savings!

I have never yet seen a budget without wiggle room being posted on the DFW board - but it's your call.

Do you mean you can't use your Young Persons Railcard before 9am? That wasn't what I meant if so. Systems vary, but in my area (Yorkshire) we can get the following which you can use any time of day
1. A bus pass that covers the whole term and the whole city for half normal price, or
2. A combined travel pass (bus and rail) which you renew weekly or monthly and covers the whole district for half normal price.

Also a pink bus card for city residents (not actually students) which gives a discount after 9.30am and bus miles (points) AND the Young Person's Railcard which is after 9am I think. You need to ask in college (try the SU) AND at your nearest travel centre/ large bus or rail station as these are often a well kept secret! Or try the travel company's website.

Don't worry about having a moan - you work hard and have a mortgage, that is impressive. I think you really need to go back to the drawing board: explore avenues you think you have looked at before with an open mind, in case you missed something.

Look again at benefits, look again at every single penny of outgoing (spending diary?), look again at if you could get more student loan by filling in the forms for non-income assessed (£500 does not sound enough). I have a spreadsheet for my financial stuff, which I have predicted monthly and annual income and outgoings. I fill it spending daily and tot up monthly and quarterly. I am constantly learning from it, even tho I thought I knew where the money went!! :money:

princessamy86

I definitely can't get help on travel, I went and asked when I first started. I have to get the train as I live a 2 1/2 hour drive in rush hour away from uni :eek:! I will have a go at the spending diary and see where I can chop it back, looks like no more nights out for a while! Just need to cross my fingers that OH's business gets off the ground soon and starts making us some dosh. I'm really not keen on having an overdraft, I've loads of friends with them and they literally haven't got a hope of paying them back for ages. As a last resort, I'll definitely go there but I think cutting back will be the first option. Thanks for trying to help.

MrsManda

With regards to trains:
Season tickets are probably best if you are in everyday but if you're not in every day or you go in at different times, it may be cheaper to buy individual tickets, early.

You can't use a railcard for season tickets but you can use it to buy train tickets even at peak time. The only restriction is a minimum price - so Anytime tickets have a minium price of £18 and most other tickets are subject to a minimum of £8.
Which still means that if you want an Anytime ticket which is usually £25 you can get it for £18.

I get a train into London five days a week for university. I am usually in for 9 so the cheapest way for me to get there is to buy a season ticket which covers my term dates. However during my exams I will only be in a couple of times a week and London Midland (my local train company) have just released new advanced tickets. So I have now booked tickets for all the dates I know I'm going to be in university - as some of these tickets are only £3.30 one way I am saving a huge amount (even with a season ticket it normally works out about £40 a day).

You've probably gone through all the options but thought I'd mention it just in case as trains, even with the newly 'simplified' system, can be complicated. Good luck with the planning