Overdraft charges & going round in a circle

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Natwest's student account says that you can have an o/d of upto £1000 in your first year - see if they will allow you to increase this to the maximum, then use it to pay off Nationwide (and close this account).

See if you can get a Uni hardship fund loan.

Also, it might be worth your while getting a part-time job - even one day or evening a week would help you out and is unlikely to have any detrimental affect on your studies if you are well organised. Most uni's recommend students not to work more than 20 hours/week - one day/evening would be well under this.

Most students who work do so because they have to rather than want to - it looks like you may have to.

Start looking around now for what the work possibilities will be for over the summer so that you can pay-off your overdraft, and have some savings behind you for your second year. Start writting to companies in advance (and ahead of other students)

josephine82

Hey there

Just wanted to suggest the possibility of waitressing? I did this all 4 years of my degree, at the lovely Pizza Hut! They had loads of people who wanted to work at the weekend but not during the week- so I used to work 3 4 hr shifts M, W, F, which including tips gave me food money and contributed towards books etc. And they were always happy to give me extra full time shifts during the summer.
Its definitley worth considering- then you have the weekends free to study. I came out with a first too with a 9-4 M-F uni course so I know how hard it is!

cattyboo

Hiya lovelyx,

Didn't want to read and run. I also studied for my degree in Sheffield and know that the University has a 'hardship' style financial support loan available for extreme circumstances, the advice centre in the union will be able to point you in the right direction for forms etc if you need to use this. (It obviously needs to be paid back though so is only a short term solution).

I should imagine that being a student you could increase your interest free overdraft limit, they're normally more than £500. Again, this obviously this isn't in ideal solution (just look at my signature...overdraft tastic).

If you go to Uni of Sheffield then you can apply to be a 'Union Link' which is a paid student representation job, doesn't take up much time and looks great on a CV! :T Alternatively there should be a jobshop in the union to help you look for something suitable, there are of course rules about how much you are allowed to work as a student, and you'll have your own restrictions depending on the demands of your course and what degree classification you're aiming for. They sometimes do opinion panel type things at the union too which are paid, and there's normally a few studies kicking around (psychology department?) where you can get paid £5 for doing a survey or popping in for an interview or something. All adds up.

I know it's horrible struggling to make ends meet, and the crazy price of halls doesn't help matters (university is now more about affordability than ability, and the whole system is a mess, there's so much pressure to get a degree and so little support available for school leavers who want to pursue something else...plus with pushing so many people into them they're devalued and the graduate job market sucks at the moment...but that's another matter, rant over, let's not get me started on that!). Can you apply to be a tutor/mentor or something in a university halls next year? Sometimes you can live in halls at a discounted rate and get paid for mentoring?

Also, what about ebaying some stuff? Or have a look on this site about cashback websites where you can get paid for doing surveys, signing up to free trials (although you must remember to cancel them!) etc?

You must feel pressure from other students around you to keep up with the expected student lifestyle too, try and stay strong and live within your means, believe me you don't want to end up getting desensitised to your debts and sticking your head in the sand like I did. You've done the right thing coming here though, one step at a time things will get better and you'll be a stronger person for it! Chin up!

C xx