Financial worries are one of the most common worries to have when planning to attend university. Whether you come from a family with money or not, I’m here to tell you that there are ways to make these worries feel more manageable and not as big of an issue. Budgeting is something that you will constantly hear when you attend talks about finances and university. But what does it actually mean to budget? For me budgeting consists of ways to track and keep on top of my finances, so my money doesn’t feel overwhelming anymore.

One of the first things I did when I accepted my place at university is to get two extra bank accounts on top of the one, I already have to manage my finances. One being the standard student bank account which you can set up and another being just and ordinary visa debit card account. For me I chose HSBC for my student bank account (lots of people choose Santander for the free rail card but make sure to check other companies perks on offer) as they have a really good graduate account. For my second account I choose to go with starling bank. The reason I recommend this is so you will always be able to afford your rent and bills whist spending for leisure. As what I do is once I receive my maintenance loan instalment, I work out how much of this is for my rent and take what is remaining and put it into the starling account so I know what I can spend freely. By doing this I was able to not over spend during freshers and be able to pay my rent with no worries. With Starling bank (and Monzo also), they create summaries of what you spend each day and each month so you can easily keep track.

Another thing which was helpful for me was once I have separated my money into the two bank accounts to do my first shop. Firstly, don’t go shopping whilst hungry as you are likely to by unnecessary food and it is best to go with a list. During my first shop of the month, I usually buy all of my meats, fish etc. This will initially make your first shop more expensive, but it will work out cheaper in the long run as you can then use your freezer space to freeze the meat till you need it. Then each weekly shop will be cheap as you will only need to buy perishables like veg and fruit. Also, it is best to shop at places like Aldi and Lidl rather than Sainsburys and Tesco as their prices can be quite expensive which isn’t helpful for students, especially when our money is limited. But if you do want to still shop at Tesco and Sainsburys look out for reduced stickers and look into getting a nectar card and Clubcard.

Another thing to consider especially during first year is to be aware that you might need to save some money for the deposit of your second year house. Housing is often scary for most, but it is nothing to worry about as the university have many resources to help. But be aware of the cost needed for deposits.

Once you arrive at university and move into your halls, you are more likely to be in close proximity to takeaway places particularly if you are in Fallowfield. However nice these may seem, they are devastatingly bad for your bank accounts. Remember you have food at home! This is especially important if you flatmates are like mine and often like to go on sweet treat trips!

Some of my tips maybe work out to be more useful for students who move out of home to their university, but they still should be useful if not. But my one piece of advice to definitely take away from this is to no think about your student loans as a debt and to not let the fear of the debt stop you from attending university. As even though we all don’t come from financially rich families we can still make it work with the right budgeting skills. The university of Manchester has further help available with finances for those who need it.

Written by Camille Cox, a 1st year BSc International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response and Chinese student

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