As a student..

I never really budgeted.
First two years I had dirt cheap rent, and I got government grant and University Bursary. So managed to come out of uni without any unplanned debt, money in the savings account and a 5 paid for holidays.

Going into my masters now though, I don't have such financial luxury. I'll be living on £20 per week after food and rent/bills. It's enough to get by without worrying too much though
 
Freefaller said:
I was never that organised when I was at uni... I looked at my bank balance... and then used the credit card :o

I've come a long way since then! :p
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This was pretty much my way of living too, I could still do with chopping the cards up :o
 
I did work during the holidays and made good money. As well as working weekends etc.

However, having claimed complete indpendence from my parents - I was reliant on the loan and my earnings. However this was 12 years ago or so so things were different then in terms of loan etc..
 
Where people attend University and their parents income circumstances make a huge difference to all of it really, unless you are a mature/haven't lived at home for 3+ years student.

My situation wouldn't be quite as mad as it is if I wasn't going to University in London so peoples budgets are going to wildly vary unless locations taken into account.
 
The max i withdraw a week in £10 and that normally sorts me out for the whole week which mainly is spent on lunch. Books on the other hand comes from a bursary which my uni gives away. I live at home so i normally have my lunch there.
 
Only accountancy students should budget their university experience.

Living hand to mouth one day to the next is a life experience that will serve you well. Cover the accommodation and textbooks, beyond that come what come may. :)
 
I had a job during the holidays, but not during term times.

I could usually earn about 4k and thats a lot of money when you get the loan as well :)
 
I had about £60-70 a week from my loan for food and drinks, used to share my food bills with a mate so we could between us spend 40-50 on decent food and not die. That worked well, plus it left me hungry enough to appreciate how easy it was to get drunk on a tenner.

It was all about not being stupid with what cash you did have and not getting takeout food unless you were feeling lucky.
 
Theophany said:
Only accountancy students should budget their university experience.

Living hand to mouth one day to the next is a life experience that will serve you well. Cover the accommodation and textbooks, beyond that come what come may. :)
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When I have over £200 a week to spare after bills, it's er, hard to get into a situation where you are 'living hand to mouth'.
 
I get:

£6442 loan/grant from student finance per year.
£3000 in bursaries from University per year.
£5330 from part time work per yer (not including overtime)

That is £14772 per year or £1231 per month as I pay no income tax. My mortgage/bills/living costs come to about £600 per month including food and petrol so I have the same again to spend on whatever I like :D.
 
First year - student loan + overdraft + savings. After rent and books paid for, less than a fiver a week.
Wasn't able to find a job (spent a couple of hours every day hunting), basically resorted to selling my stuff.
It really was hand to mouth living, you don't realise how much you miss things like bread or milk when you haven't got any money at all, not even a bit of change down the back of the sofa.
At the end of the year I was basically having a bowl of dry cornflakes for breakfast, and a bowl of rice for dinner. Dear lord was I happy to come back to a stocked fridge.

Second year - Savings + student loan + job
Around £150 a week basic salary, more like £2-300 with overtime, well paid nights job in the library where I could study on my shift.
Also had some gigs which paid in beer.

Third year - It's going to be interesting, if I can't get my job back, even with the really decent savings, because of a reduced student loan (student loan company are retarded) I'll have about £10-15 a week after rent. Hoping I can get some hours back at the library but I don't know yet.
If not I may have a few gigs which pay more than beer coming up.

Never wasted money on halls, got a private landlord and get on with him like a house on fire (bad choice of phrasing?). It was about a grand more for halls and the rooms were ****ing tiny ****boxes, the room I rent is about 10x the size (no exaggeration there) and is an absolute bargain. The landlord just charges around the same for every room in the house, upstairs the rooms are about a quarter of the size and only £3 less a month, needless to say I've stuck with this house all the way through.
 
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£300 a month i normally had, never really had any left.

This year on placement i have £500 but im in london and that doesnt go much further
 
Hxc said:
Get an NUS extra card, or steal someones code, you can get it half price as a student.
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Haha I know I saw the offer recently just haven't got round to taking a photo and uploading to get an NUS card.

Saving the £5 a month means the card will have paid for itself in 3 months and that's without other benefits! Now that you've mentioned it, I'll get onto it now.
 
flibbage0 said:
Just found out that my 1st instalment of the maintenance loan will arrive 1 day after the due date for my accommodation. :(

I hope it comes before that.
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You should just be able to mention this to the people in charge of accommodation and they'll let you pay the day after. You'll find A LOT of people get into that situation, so you'll be fine.
 
Budgets i look down on you. Me i lived on overdraft for my two last years of uni. Once I finished the degree i packed up and left the uk and left the o/d here too.
 
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