Tips from an ex-student

StudentLife

As my name suggests i'm used to student life. I have just finished an undergraduate degree and i'm about to embark on a postgraduate course. I thought it would be useful to share my tips and experiences for any new students starting this year. I realise that most of these points will be covered elsewhere, but it might be useful to have ideas in one place.

Happy reading!!

Making your student account work for you:

I'm sure you are all aware that student accounts come with an interest free overdraft, normally £1000, or there abouts, in the first year. As soon as you get this, withdraw the full overdraft and put it in a high interest account, so you can earn up to £50 interest over the year.

NB. If you decide to do this a) make sure that the savings account has easy access with no withdrawal penalties, so that you can access the money in an emergency situation and b) don't go for a barclays account!! They offer only a £200 automatic overdraft in the first year - you have to apply for the other £800, and you may not be approved.


Reasons why you should save up:

Saving money may not seem a top priority when you first become a student, but here are a few reasons why you should put some money aside:

a) Most students will have part-time jobs to help fund their studies, but you may find that you want/have to give it up in the 3rd year to concentrate on your studies therefore you should put a small percentage of your earnings in the 1st/2nd year aside to tide you through the 3rd year.

b) If you live out of halls in the 2nd/3rd year you will have to pay a deposit up front and often pay for rent over the summer holidays (ie. when you don't yet have your student loan in). I had to pay over £800 in this situation, so any money that you have saved comes in very useful.

Money saving tips:

Become a friend of Poundland - Whilst there is some rubbish sold there, there are also some fabulous bargains too. Toiletries and cleaning products are amongst the best buys here.

Cook with your housemates - Bulk buy items of food are great value, but only if you actually use it all up and don't end up chucking the rest. I'm thinking here of Tesco value carrots, mushrooms and potatoes to name but a few - they come in huge packs - impossible to get through on your own before they go off! Cook with your housemates and you won't waste the rest. BUT beware of any snobbery amongst them - you'd be surprised of the amount of students who will only buy finest/taste the difference food!! If you share the food bill will them it'll soon hit your wallet.

Beware of NUS - yes, yes we all know that 10% discounts are great, but don't forget that means you have to pay for 90% of the item. Far too many student loans are fittered away in topshop.

Megabus - An intercity bus service that costs just £1+ for a seat. Great for travelling home at the end of term https://www.megabus.com

Budget - This is pretty obvious, but it really does help you keep track of your finances. There are great tips on this site, but just remember to include everything that you will need to buy. I.e. booze is bound to be top priority in the first term but you will eventually need to buy textbooks too.:beer: A few categories (besides the obvious) that you will need to include:

photocopying - price will vary depending on your course - some are reliant on textbooks, others on articles which you will need to photocopy

laundry - you are likely to have a laundry room if you live in halls where you will have to pay per wash&dry of your clothes.

Hope some of this comes in useful - please add any tips of your own.

rhig

Good post, in fact I was just going to post some financial advice. My theory of managing student finance builds on yours though so I will post it here.

Putting the student overdraft and the current account balance, minus a couple of hundred for cash withdrawals and direct debits into an ISA will make you interest on the banks money. Then moving the value your credit card balance to your current account a few days before payment is due and making payment via debit card makes you interest on money you would have spent if using a debit card. Of course this requires a little more work and some kind of reminder to move the money but will make a substantial amount during the course of a degree.

Investing the student overdraft from a Natwest account for a three year degree will yield £212.50 and £402.50 for 5 years of study. The yearly interest increases as the overdraft limit increases each year (£1250,1400,1600,1800,2000). You have to remember to leave some cash in the current account for cash withdrawals which are chargeable though this can be avoided with the use of cash ISA which comes with an optional cash withdrawal card.

Of course my plan requires a credit card but they are great tools so long as you don't borrow with them. Just keeping a credit card for a few purchases or emergencies is not a very logical step; you get more consumer protection when paying with a credit card and also build up your credit score. The optimum course of action is to buy everything on a student credit card and pay it off monthly. Not only will this count towards your credit history but you will earn interest on money you have already spent until you have to pay the bill.

Barclaycard will knock at least 10% off your interest within a year or so if you spend a lot and pay off every month - card companies make money on transactions as well as interest. A better credit history allows you to get non-student credit cards with cash back or loyalty points as well as higher limits.

As a student it is wise to build up your credit history, you may need to borrow when you graduate which will be more difficult if you haven't borrowed much in the past. If your history is not good enough (or non-existent) you can have trouble with something as simple as getting a contract mobile phone.

Finally when you set up your student accounts register them to your home address unless your parents have bad credit or a very low income. Student accommodation addresses may have had tenants with bad credit histories and credit checks take address into account, not only if the address has had previous bad debtors but if the post code is less desirable. You can also claim you have lived at your home a longer amount of time make sure you are also on the electoral roll for this address.

More money saving tips:

Alcohol,

Fresher’s, every night will have at least one venue with offers, take the flyers that you are swamped with when you arrive and learn where to go each week for cheap drinks. Beware of £x per drink offers if you have to pay to get in as it may just be for a couple of drinks, same with BOGOFF. Unions usually do great deals; my union does double Smirnoff and coke for £1.65 and double G+T for £2.10 on Fridays. There are usually themed nights where you get free entry if you dress up, ladies nights are also a good way to save as you can go in mixed groups and split the entrance fee.

Get a hip-flask, my house mates bought me one for my birthday in February and it has saved me £100s. Don’t use it all the time, the pubs have to make money but I find it great for making a pint of coke a quad and coke when you get somewhere expensive or you are about to leave for the union. They are also great for after parties as you already have alcohol to bring later in the night.

Cheap not so great wine; House of Fraser have an arrangement with Laithwaites where the first case is £44.99 instead of £77. However if you are not completely satisfied and have had a couple of the bottles you are offered a £20 refund as opposed to having it collected, this means your getting £2.10 a bottle. It’s questionable how moral this is but I was just offered this as I wanted a refund as my wine was very poor quality, if you are told the wine will be good and it isn’t you should be entitled to a refund.

Brewing your own beer is a common idea many students have but I have yet to see anyone make anything they can stand drinking so unless you know what you’re doing or have the time to learn it’s probably worth the investment. Unfortunately distillation is illegal in the UK but for some reason the equipment isn’t.

Transport,

Local:

If you are in a rough city it isn’t worth walking, if there are meter and non metered taxis haggle with the non metered ones, you can usually get the price down a couple of pounds if you are leaving town a little earlier or later than everyone else as the driver knows they will just be sitting around if they don’t pick you up. If there are two or three of you and you are going to halls you may find a couple to share with, they will jump at the chance as it will cut their fare in half.

National:

National Express and Megabus are usually the cheapest ways to get around. Coach cards are very cheap, £20 for 4 years I think and usually knock around 25% off the fare. Look at the ‘Fun Fares’ section of the National Express site, you can get to many parts of the country for a few pounds. I sometimes get London to Plymouth which costs £6.50; I think London to Bristol Uni is £2 or something. Do not lose your coach card; they are non-replaceable although you get your money back from a second card if you find the one you lost. Also book tickets a week or so in advance, National Express sometimes charge more than the train companies if you book on the day. National Express also allows you to print your ticket from the website instead of collecting it from the station.

Rail travel is much more comfortable if you are travelling further and are not on such a tight budget, not to mention we want to use the railcards from our student bank accounts (HSBC/Natwest). Use https://www.trainline.com as you can check fares for any day/time, usually the last Friday of term are much more expensive as students leaving increase the demand for tickets. If you can leave on Thursday or Saturday you may pay half as much, sometimes it may be better to wait till Sunday, if you travel on Sundays you can usually upgrade to First for £10 or £15 where you can have your own table for work, unfortunately you only get one free item from the food cart. Lost railcards can be replaced as long as you still have the receipt.

International:

Sky Scanner is by far the best flight checker, it allows you to search all flights from a certain airport on a whole month at a time so you can choose the best days to fly. This is all covered in the travel forums and other parts of MSE though.

Insurance,

It is debateable whether student insurance is actually worth buying; most companies charge around £50 for a few thousand pounds worth of personal items and a computer. Usually you are covered by your home insurance but a claim on home insurance will almost certainly carry a higher excess and increase your parent premiums, making claiming for accidental damage or theft of one item pointless. It may only be worth insuring a few high value items as fire/floods etc are not very likely in halls and thieves are just going to take your electronics/jewellery unless you leave your door unlocked over the holidays or something. If you do buy insurance check the maximum item values and for accidental damage, most students don’t buy insurance and I don’t know anyone who has been burgled or made any other claim.

Food,

If you cant cook, live on BOGOF offers, it still costs a lot more so its not great financially but you will cut your food bill by a good £10/week. Try not to order food in if collecting is a better offer, Dominos usually do 2 for 1 collections so you can feed four people for £3 each.

Eating out can be pretty cheap if you know the offers, Wetherspoons do a full English Breakfast for £1.99 although some drinks like coke are quite expensive, £1.25 for a small glass (best to get a pint for £1.40). Coffee is only 69p. The ‘beer and a burger’ offer is good for a small meal at £3.99, ‘Curry Night’ is £5.50 and the same with ‘Grill Night’ sirloin steak for £4.99. House of Fraser also do a good breakfast for £2.50 but they are not usually too near campus.

DrFluffy

Only chavs fliter away their loan in TopShop

dmg24

if there are meter and non metered taxis haggle with the non metered ones

In many places the non metered taxis are actually not licensed or insured, especially if they are not prebooked. Please be very careful with these cars, you don't know who you are getting into the taxi with.

Whilst I'm sure the majority of them are quite genuine, it really isn't worth taking a chance in getting into an unlicensed cab.

Check out the local taxi system, as they do seem to vary in different areas.

In Nottingham, green Hackney cabs are licensed to pick up from anywhere without being prebooked. Hackney cabs will never be unmetered. Other cabs, even those that are licensed, must be prebooked. If they are not prebooked, you are not insured should you have an accident.

Daniel1234_2

Great, great posts guys. I specificly registered for these forums to ask questions with you have both answered, and received no reply. So.. you have validated my registration :-)

Incidentally I'm now in the process of signing up for a register Lloyds current account with which to operate their high-interest savings account so I can do just this -- invest my Halifax overdraft. I told the Lloyds bank manager, she said it was a very good idea and that she hadnt thought of it, but that there was no reason why I couldnt do it, and she might suggest it to other people. This was a relief: I was fudging the truth a bit at the begining of the interview I'm afraid.

Anyway, great posts.

Daniel

C_Ronaldo

this is especially for female students buts males too, if you decide to get into an unlicensed taxi make sure you get in with 2 or 3 other people in case if something does go wrong you can get away,

DrFluffy

Yes - because there are no reports of more than one person getting into an unlicenced cab, the cap stopping and picking up 5 or 6 men, resulting in gang rape, are there? NEVER get into an unlicenced cab...

lottery_dreams

Hi All,
As a graduated PhD, I spent 9 YEARS at uni so here are my tips for getting cheap books.

First - do you really need to buy them? If you're smart you'll get your reservations in for exam time down at the library or for the short loans round essay submission date (do it right now!)

Obviously, check out the second hand price for books on Amazon and ebay. For really pricey textbooks you should have a look on ebay.com if they are by American publishers as it may be worth paying the postage.

Look around the campus noticeboards for books for sale signs and you could post a 'wanted' list too.

For really specialized textbooks, go to https://www.academicbooktrade.com for second hand copies.

Warning - be wary of older publications going for low prices - they may have out of date info or lack what you need for your course. Newer textbooks often come with CD ROMs.

Have a flick and see if you actually like the recommended tests if they are general books - they may not be written in a style you like at all. They may be written by the lecturer, who could just want your royalties!

Finally, come the end of term, sell on your textbooks right away (don't be sentimental!). If you don't they're sure to go out of date and lose value. Keep them in good condition and if you make marginal notes, make them in pencil. Easiest way to sell them is through noticeboards but for anon. go for ebay or amazon; amazon is better for unusual books as they list for 60 days free although they take a fair whack as a fee and ebay is best if you think people will fight over them. Watch your postage charges though as textbooks are heavy.

Love
lotto

Tallulah22

great posts, very useful

jojo19_2

DrFluffy wrote:

Only chavs fliter away their loan in TopShop

Hmm Topshop isn't very chavvy. You might want to think about Bay trading if you want to go for the Chav look. Topshop is quite a fashionable and affordable shop, you not been in there over the past year. There will always be a small minority of topshop clothing which is chavvy to cater for the chavs that live in the towns where Topshop is located.But on the whole the items on sale are fashion forward. So ... you are quite wrong. I spend a lot of my money in Topshop, the person who said you still have to pay 90% for the item is quite right, ten percent isn't really much., which is why people should be smart and wait for online codes which save 25% (which is the equivalent to an Arcadia staff discount) and trust me these savings do come along. So when one does, splash the cash as you will be saving quite a bit.

djhworld

Good post....

Although the first tip is out of the question for me. I'm not a wealthy person, and neither is my family, so the overdraft facility is vital to keep me afloat, putting it in a savings account is great if you've already got cash available/saved up, but when you're paying £80p/week in rent, this is just nigh on impossible.