Guide to student banking and finance - part 1 of 2

The importance of a budget
Pre-preparing a budget may help you keep a tight grip on your finances. It's crucial to take EVERYTHING into account as money will be extremely tight. Think beyond the obvious major outlays such as rent, bills, books and food and think about the smaller expenses that will quickly add-up. Think about the costs of using your mobile phone (including texts), printing, photo-copying, using public transport and factor in those inevitable night-outs. The more you can plan for the better.

Budgeting is a vital tool not just at university, but in life. Thinking ahead and sticking closely to your plan is crucial if you are to avoid student debt.

Work out your cost of living
A little bit of mathematics can go a long way and a neat calculation can help you prepare for university life. Here is what we recommend that you consider:

Income for term - This will include parental contributions, a student loan (usually about £1,250) and a wage from a part-time job.
Term expenditure - This will include rent (usually about £800), books, clothes, CDs, etc - larger sums that you will spend over the course of a term.
Weekly expenditure - This should factor in the essentials and non-essentials, so food, leisure, travel, household bills and more.
Firstly add up the income and then add up your term expenditure. Also calculate your weekly expenditure over the course of a term - there are normally twelve weeks in a term. Once you have the three totals worked out, add the two expenditure totals together and subtract them from your income. The total will be the money you have left after all these costs are factored in. Consequently you might wish to reduce certain costs based on these results - you could decide to cut out the odd night out or spend a little less on leisure to keep yourself within a budget. Always reserve some cash for emergencies.

Part-time work
Though many like to claim that students are work-shy the opposite is often true as many young people hold down part-time jobs to ease financial worries in addition to dealing with their studies. Of course work should never come ahead of study, but if you can cope with perhaps a weekend job or even work through the holidays it is a great way to boost your income.