The great 'what I wish I'd known before I was a student' hunt

mrjonthehat · 3 September 2008 at 9:31PM

Brew your own beer and wine. Most home kits are idiot proof.

If you get enough like-minded students together you could form a brewing society, and get a grant from the student union to cover the cost of equipment. (A membership fee could be charged) Events can then be held for members where quality-tested, home-brewed drink is GIVEN AWAY FREE !!! This avoids H.M. Customs and Excise concerns. (What student can resist free drink?) Breweries and organisations such as C.A.M.R.A. may even support you and provide drink for your events.

A fun, cheap hobby that can save a lot of cash without diminishing your social life.

d:oD

ryandj · 3 September 2008 at 9:34PM

Budget, and try to stick to it!

Get a job! The student loan doesn't go very far, and if, like me, you had to support yourself, even an extra £20 a week from one shift at a bar or whatever will come in very handy! Plus, if you are a student you will have loads of free time anyway, and you will probably see your mates coming into the pub as well!!

Steer clear of credit cards (unless paid off in full) and try not to run up a huge over draft like I did - its interest free at the time, but as soon as you graduate, you are stuck with very high interest debt.

"Reduced to clear" items in the supermarket. Nuff said.

Watch out with telephone/internet contracts in houses - 12 months minimum seems to be standard, yet many student lets are only 9-10 months so you might have to pay for the 2 months unless good at blagging.

Don't lend your mates money! It never seems to come back, and you will leave yourself short. Sad but true.

ryandj · 3 September 2008 at 9:36PM

Also don't be shy in asking for more money!

I spent all my loan one year, and was able to apply for a hardship fund (no need to pay it back), plus extra hardship loan which got added to my student loan. I applied at the university.

O yes, last one, enjoy yourself! It will be the best 3/4 years of your life - and especially the first year - first time away from home for most, loads of new mates, freedom to go out, have fun, do what you want! And also virtually no work to do in the first year either!!

djhworld · 3 September 2008 at 9:40PM

Don't buy rounds, they sound like a good idea but in reality you'll probably spend more money then what you wanted AND you'll probably end up worse off anyway.

Buy your own drinks, don't think it's "unsociable" to do this as pretty much all students learn from the rounds mistake at one point in their student careers, it's just a better way of managing your money!

djhworld · 3 September 2008 at 9:42PM

Don't buy rounds, they sound like a good idea but in reality you'll probably spend more money then what you wanted AND you'll probably end up worse off anyway.

Buy your own drinks, don't think it's "unsociable" to do this as pretty much all students learn from the rounds mistake at one point in their student careers, it's just a better way of managing your money!

On the "take your loan and put it in a high interest account" thing.....this is only applicable to those who have enough money to live on WITHOUT the need for a loan.

buylessthings · 3 September 2008 at 10:20PM

This may have been mentioned before, but never ever put the phone bill for a shared house into your name. No matter who made the calls, if you can't get them to cough up, it will be you who is liable for the debt, and BT will track you down and demand the full payment.

If you do get a phone in the house, the best option would be to get it restricted to incoming calls only - so you are only risking the line rental (your housemates might be fine, but you never know which one(s) of their friends is going to take liberties with your phone bill]:mad: . Definitely get the line blocked for international calls.

nienta · 3 September 2008 at 11:03PM

Just from my own shopping around: don't assume Amazon is cheapest! Use a book price comparison site- I've been able to find books for up to a fiver cheaper than Amazon.

GraceC · 3 September 2008 at 11:14PM

boldaslove wrote: »

any tips for college students? i'm doing art and design and will be extremely strapped for cash (no student loan, have applied for tuition fee waiver and adult learning grant but not entitled to anything else as far as i know, having big problems getting a part time job!). thankfully i live with my mum so the financial strain is less than would be for someone living on their own, but i'm still very nervous about surving this year!

I did an art foundation course and loved it, but I did work part time throughout it. Once you start, try and find out about any other grants you may get. A lot of people at my college got grants for living over a certain distance away and there may be other ones you can get aswell. As far as buying materials for the course, this can get pricey but I found that in most cases the college shop was cheapest, so hold on til you get there. The Works also often do cheap art materials, but if you really want to save money all through college and university I would suggest that you concentrate on found object art! Good luck for it though, I had the best time of my life at art college so make the most of it! And remember that talent can't be replaced by expensive gadgets – although they do help :-)

Rosirox · 3 September 2008 at 11:18PM

I'm a 2nd year student just moved into my new house! I definitely agree with an earlier poster that you can get much cheaper accommodation by living further away from the city centre. I'm also at Durham and I'm living in a huge house which is much better equipped than most of my friends but at a cheaper price because I live a 15-20 min walk from the centre of town!

Also, when paying bills and stuff as part of a house [seven of us] we've set up a bank account with an overdraft and we have a direct debit into it each month for gas/electricity etc. This helps and means that someone doesn't have to run around asking people for money!

I am one of the people who likes to buy all the books! Last year I did use every single book I bought except for one [and I probably should have read that one]. As an eng lit student you can get quite a lot of these kind of books much cheaper on places like amazon marketplace or play.com. I always use bookkoob.co.uk which is a book comparison site and really good at working out where to buy different books from.

I rarely spent over £5 a week on food the whole of last year at uni by buying lots of frozen stuff or freezing everything and just defrosting it as and when I needed it. Also you can pick up cheap spices/herbs or whatever which are easy to just add to plain chicken to make a good meal. Don't be too snobby to go to places like iceland or poundland - you can get really good deals on food/soup/bread/cakes/biscuits/alcohol in iceland and in poundland I've bought fancy dress costumes/presents/cooking utensils/toiletries/cleaning stuff/stationary/books etc. etc.

Walk everywhere! It keeps you fit and cuts down on costs! A half hour walk to lectures in the morning wakes you up :]

Also, look through the uni to get jobs. Last year I worked as a modern language ambassador meaning i went on random days to work with schoolchildren in language activities and tried to make them want to study languages. You get paid really well for this type of job (£7+ ph) and it's really easy, fun and varied!

Oh and another thing - you don't always have to shell out for NUS cards. My uni card already has NUS on it so I didn't have to pay anything for it. And even when this card was stolen over the summer I was still able to get student discounts everywhere by just showing another random card that I had which showed I was a uni student.

Phew-hope this helps!!

rainbow_carnage · 4 September 2008 at 1:03AM

I've been a student on and off for years. Here are my tips:

Get a job. So many students claim that they don't have time to work, yet these are the same people whom you see at the student bar every night and complaining about being broke.

Don't automatically take a student union job. In larger cities, you can make 2-3 times as much money working elsewhere.

At 18, you're an adult. So try not to take money from your parents. It always comes with strings attached. If you pay your own way, you get to make all of the decisions yourself. If you want to change your course, you can. If you want to move in with friends/boyfriend/girlfriend, you can. If you want to go on holiday, you can. When you graduate, you will have to make your own way in the world. It'll be easier if you've had some practice.

Make friends with your professors. The ones you like, anyway. Don't think of them the same way as you thought about your teachers. You are an adult and so are they. They are the best people to talk to about working in your chosen field. They usually have connections outside of the academic world and may help you find a job.

Make friends. After you leave uni, it becomes much harder to meet new people (which is why some turn to speed dating, etc). Take this opportunity to join every club you can, meet as many different people from backgrounds other than your own. Uni is supposed to broaden your mind. Don't just hang out with the same clique of people.

Travel as much as possible. It's cheaper than you think (see travel board). And I don't mean a week in Ibiza. See the world. Experience new things. Meet new people. When you get older, you won't have the time to do it.

Get rid of the TV.

Don't buy lots of things. When you look back on your student years, the things you'll remember will be the places you've been, things you did, people you knew. It will not be the phone or the shoes you bought.

Take advantage of student discounts. You'll miss them when they're gone.

The great 'what I wish I'd known before I was a student' hunt

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