My Guide to Student Finance

mrsmith_3

Geology...i would recommend this to anyone for career prospects! Its 31k starting if you go into a graduate scheme with BP etc for oil (oil is variable but in the next 5-10 yrs there are more jobs going than people to fill them as most of the workforce is retiring), alternatively there is the mining industry (also big money and less variable) or environmental consultancies (growing rapidly, very steady and also big money).



kr15snw...that is a very good way of managing money! But i am stumped how you afford holidays,sky and football games when you also own a car!

kr15snw

I save for the holidays, putting a bit back each month.

Football games come from whatever is left from my wages (I get home games free, so its only away games I go to).

The £150 - £200 covers internet and sky and everything as this is my share of the household bills.

Me and my boyfriend dont buy alot of expensive un needed stuff. Hes never bought a sofa, or a bed, or much furniture atall (we still blag old stuff from family members). When I am working we will replace it with nice things

My car doesnt cost that much, and once again its all down to savings. Im insured in my dads name so its £150 a year. Petrol is £50 a month, Tax about £100 a year and I have a service done with the MOT which is £250 a year.

But next year were getting a new car as I have an inheritence coming my way

mrsmith_3

Do you mean 150-200 a month is ur bills+rent? Then i would understand a bit more, mine is alot more.

My worry with a car is if it goes wrong. Big unplanned expense! Plus so much cheaper to walk/use public transport, but i guess if you can afford it go for it for the convenience!

Nice tip about the furniture. And enjoy your inheritance!

kr15snw

I live with 20 minute drive from the university so I use the local park and ride which is a 15 minute drive from the house. I cant use local bus services as I have too much to carry in, same reason for walking!

Its kind of a need, I couldnt live without my car.

I pay about £150 - £200 a month to my boyfriend. He pays for all of the bills and this is my input to help out. Sometimes I have to buy extras for shopping and on the odd occasion have paid a bill myself, or bought the tv licence as weve been a bit skint. So there is extras i spend on.

With the car I pay £90 a year for AA cover, which covers me for most things. The yearly service also makes sure that I dont get problems during the year. Its a reasonably new car (S Reg) which also helps with that

missk_ensington

freebie_junkie wrote: »

contract phones can be good if you talk a lot, if i was on PAYG id be bankrupt! but on TMobile flext i get £180 worth of credit for £30 pm, you get a decent phone for free

Haha I'm on this Flext tarif as well and I can't get rid of my credit!!! Dont get me wrong I can gas and gas and gas, especially as I'm miles from any family sat in at home on my own night after night with DS, so I must talk and text and send photos til the cows come home, and yet I still can't use all my Flext credit!!! I have actually resorted to taking pictures of herds of cows days before my minutes expire and sending them to everyone in my phone book!!!

Sorry bit off topic.

I wish people would stop assuming that they will be earning mega bucks because they have a degree. Many people earn megabucks without a degree, I know I've done well out of amateur property developing and my Dad has done well buying runs down pubs without a degree, I alos know hundreds of people with degrees who are working on the fish counter at Tescos or in a basic admin role on £14k a year. You can have the best degree in the world, but if you dont have other skills too it isn't worth as much as you think in this competitive working world. On the same line of thought, someone with great skills and no degree can get a very good job. I used to work part time as a sectretary at one of the big four accountancy firms in Manchester and I earnt £20,000 pro rata.

So point is, there are no hard and fast rules!!! I've said it before, a 2.2 in Sports Science from UCLAN with no work experience other than a bit of bar work and £20,000+ of student debt is NOT going to be productive in securing a prosperous future... and getting into debt is never a goood idea unless you;re sure you can manage it well, can repay it and that you are absolutely sure it won;t ever snowball. And even then it should only be taken out to buy fundamentals (of which a weekend break in Amsterdam, or booze money for Oktoberfest doesnt count).

By the way, whoever said to take out a load of student OD's, I thought you could only take out one student Overdraft? My friend is just starting her degree and she said she tried to open a second student account and was refused as it came up on computer that she already had one with another bank?!?!

missk_ensington

Tetsuko wrote: »

It's not fair to generalise because not every student's situation is the same. My degree was in chemistry and yes, while some students had a couple of lectures a week and did not appear to do much else in between, my degree units were hellishly busy. When I wasn't in a lab, workshop or lecture, I was writing up my notes, doing coursework, revising for exams/test, writing up lab reports or researching for the next lab sessions. Not everyone has the luxury of fitting in work with their studies. And then I had to get back home after uni in time for my son to come out from school.

I got no help from my parents. I spent my summer vacations working in chicken factories trying to keep the roof over our heads. I had a home to keep and pay bills for. If I didn't have my overdraft there is a good chance I would have ended up homeless and there definitely would have been times spent hungry without it.

There were people I studied with who were always going out and had it easy but that's because they got their loans and when they ran out of cash they just phoned mummy and daddy who would send them extra.

No everyone has that option.

This is true, there are a few courses that are really demanding but I think they are the exception not the rule. I am also a single parent, I am only 21, I have a mortgage to pay, I run a car and commute 60 miles each way to uni, I no longer work part time as it was too much for me with my son and degree and I somehow manage okay. I don't have any family really except my Mum and there's no way she'd help me financially unless I was about to have my house repossessed or something really serious.

At my uni there are a LOT of spoilt brats whos parents pay their accomodation in the halls, pay their fees and give them an allowance on top of their loans and OD and then they go crying to student support that they need a hardship grant because they're so skint. Student Support told me that they see it all the time, and when they look over the 3 months of bank statements to process the grant application they see its all been spent on drinking, clothes, going out, city breaks, festivals, gig tickets...... It makes them really angry, so if you are thinking of applying for the Access To Learning fund I'd advise you scrutinise your bank statements before you hand them in!

For those who dont already know, you can apply for this grant (non-repayable, up to £3500 a year) from your Student Support office.

Tetsuko

missk_ensington wrote: »

This is true, there are a few courses that are really demanding but I think they are the exception not the rule. I am also a single parent, I am only 21, I have a mortgage to pay, I run a car and commute 60 miles each way to uni, I no longer work part time as it was too much for me with my son and degree and I somehow manage okay. I don't have any family really except my Mum and there's no way she'd help me financially unless I was about to have my house repossessed or something really serious.

At my uni there are a LOT of spoilt brats whos parents pay their accomodation in the halls, pay their fees and give them an allowance on top of their loans and OD and then they go crying to student support that they need a hardship grant because they're so skint. Student Support told me that they see it all the time, and when they look over the 3 months of bank statements to process the grant application they see its all been spent on drinking, clothes, going out, city breaks, festivals, gig tickets...... It makes them really angry, so if you are thinking of applying for the Access To Learning fund I'd advise you scrutinise your bank statements before you hand them in!

For those who dont already know, you can apply for this grant (non-repayable, up to £3500 a year) from your Student Support office.

Well not every student is lucky enough to be buying their own house when they don't have a job. I have a slight feeling you might be totally out of touch with reality :rotfl:

missk_ensington

Last time I checked I owned my own house. I kind of have a job as I develop property on a *SMALL* scale, I got my mortgage on a self-cert basis last year and anyone can do it if they they are creative enough and motivated enough to find a way of doing it. I now have £48,000 equity in my house which makes my mortgage only 60% Loan to Value, and in a few years I will *hopefully* have repaid my mortgage and that will give me a huge leg up after I've finished uni since most students will be trying to get on ladder and get a job and repay loans etc, and thats why I decided to use my first years loand and grants on a house deposit