How much should I save for university? Urgent....

Simon11

Kilwinning,

I'm curently in a placement year between my 2nd and 3rd year. I stayed at home while at uni and managed to save around £20k by working hard at my part time job+ income from placement yr so far.

Well done for setting a target of saving £10k but don't just blow it for the heck of it!

If you wish to save for your own place in the future, now is the time to put money away and you'll need a big deposit when purchasing your first house!

While my mates moved to other cities to study, once they've done their degree, they're going to be comming back and living with parents for a few years to save for deposits and pay off any debt. While I will be leaving home at 22 for good:D

Everynamestaken

Hi, not sure if my quick response will help, but I'll try.


It all depends on what lifestyle you have, and if you are happy to adapt. I wasn't prepared to live on rations (completely give up on my designer clothes etc) and therefore worked all through my 3 years at university and full time in the summer.
If you are happy going out say once/twice a week, and living on packets of pasta and beans every day for your time there, you'll be fine, with just abit of money from your savings If you have money saved up and are working during university time, then you can live university life alittle more "luxurious" imo. Obviously, depends where you are studying, and what course you are studying, as you wont want to sacrifice your studies for minumum wage. Your going to university to potentially change your life, not to sacrifice your degree and have a "dead end job" to gain a couple extra quid for a few more pints in the student union. Alot of my mates did stewarding a football matches on Saturday afternoons.


It is all about scenarios, and your situation.


I will also say one more thing. DO NOT GET INTO GAMBLING.

From experience, many students do it in unversity, (boys and girls) and it can ruin them. One lad in freshers week gambled all his student loan on Austrialia to beat England in the Rugby Union World cup, and we all know what happened there. Some lad he met on his floor then gave him £2,000 out of his loan to get his money back, and he lost that aswell. His university life was short.


It's all about been disciplined with your money, and I would advise having money saved up before you do go, but it is not completely essential that you have "loads" as some people try and show off in the first week or two, and easily spend around a thousand pound buying everyone drinks etc. I was always known for been tight at university, but at the same time, all through the year, I could go out when I wanted to, afford nice clothes, afford nice food, and always have money for text books, etc.


Some of my point may have been blunt, and extreme, and some may disagree with what I have said, so apologies for quick reponse, and some of it may have not been explained to full detail. Also some of my points may have not been relevant to you but what I will say is:


Good luck

TDQO

Well I went to uni 4yrs ago with a debt of £750! I have worked my bum off ever since but spent every single penny having an awesome time I took a year out to work in a coal mine in Australia and that barely paid off my collective debts and didn't touch my overdraft!

My advice is to save as much as you can whilst still having parties etc. Being at uni is an oppurtunity to meet hundreds of people and do crazy things you didn't even know were possible, the more cash you have/earn then the more crazy things you can do

Fire_Fox

mimiwilk wrote: »

Hey, I'm going to uni in September this year and will be getting a student loan etc. Neither of my parents have been to higher education. The majority of my friends are taking up to £500 that they have saved to uni, or nothing at all. My mum is putting SO much pressure on me to save money - if I don't save £2000 to take with then apparently I "can't" go.

I was just wondering if anybody could share with me how much they took to uni, or any websites which can provide me with some proof that I don't need to work three jobs including night shifts in order to go to university?! I'm exhausted and very sure I don't need to be under this much stress in order to go to university.

Please help....

Your parents may never have been to uni but neither have your mates! Your parents have lived in the real world where red bills start coming in regardless of whether you can afford them or when you next get paid. Most of your mates have never lived away from home and so are not really best placed to give you the benefit of their wisdom and experience.

Unfortunately your final year will be stressful and exhausting ... or you are not working hard enough! Students who don't bother to plan their finances often find that by year three they have to work long hours to make ends meet, just the time when you need to be focusing on your studies.

You DO need a float to go to university - last year for example student finance didn't come through on time for many students, leaving them with nothing to pay their rent and nothing to live on. Other students rinsed their grant and overdraft in the first month and have nothing for the rent of the semester. Perhaps to placate your mum you could prepare a budget of how you are going to get through your first year? This is the budget planner used by the DFW board, it's great because it includes stuff like haircuts and Christmas pressies :money:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

You shouldn't need to work three jobs to save £2K by September, what else are your spending your wages on? I would strongly recommend you arrange to have a part time job lined up by the time you arrive at your university town, you can then cream off the best job, have a regular income from day one and won't have to compete with the masses when you should be studying and partying. :beer: This isn't that hard to do in practice, you may be able to transfer your current job if you work for a chain, or just send out a huge number of CVs and covering letters the month before you arrive.

Ignore the people that say you will be fine without planning your finances - the average student leaves university with seventeen thousand pounds of debt and this is simply not necessary. Worse, many students leave university with defaults on their credit file and some leave with County Court Judgements. These black marks affect your credit worthiness for at least six years after the debt is paid off!! :eek: