MASTERING MONEY AT UNI

For the majority of students starting university, this is the first time in their life where they have to manage their own finances and juggle life expenses. Between rent, food shopping, bills, going out and many more purchases, money can be difficult to manage with many students resorting to eating pot noodles on a regular basis to accommodate for their lack of funds. Today I will be discussing some ways you can avoid the classic “broke student” persona by managing your finances better.

AGENCY WORK

This solution seems pretty obvious. However, many employers shy away from employing students as they know they most likely only want short term employment. This is where agency work comes in! Across the UK there are many agencies who allow you to work in different venues and pick what shifts you want to work, no experience needed. I myself work at an agency in Glasgow and this has allowed me to work in football stadiums, rugby stadiums and concert venues. Here are a list of some agencies across the UK which employ students:

• Scotland: https://www.selectivepersonnel.co.uk/

• Northern Ireland: https://www.youngones.com

• England: https://www.berkeley-scott.co.uk/

• Wales: https://www.cateringinternational.co.uk/branches/cardiff/

    

BUDGET

Using a budget tool can be the perfect way to ensure you don't spend your precious student finance all at once. For the first few weeks of uni, track on average how much you spend on your food shop, eating out, nights out etc and calculate a weekly or monthly budget from this. I would advise having two bank accounts, one which is attached to your apple pay or the card you use, and one which is for your student finance to go into. This means you can transfer your budget into your main account every week/month, giving you a clear indication of how much you can spend in that time frame and keeping you out of your overdraft!

EMERGENCY FUNDS

You never know what's around the corner, this is why it's important to keep some funds aside in case of emergency. Many online banking providers offer “pots” e.g. monzo or starling bank, I would recommend opening a pot for emergency money and putting your desired amount in each time you receive student finance/pay cheque. This means should anything bad happen, like your laptop deciding to stop working in exams week, you can be prepared for the extra expenditure to get it fixed!