We asked students, and recent graduates, to tell us about the biggest financial shock they had when they started university, and what advice they had for freshers. The price of public transport is ridiculous. I pay the same price back home in Switzerland, but the trains and buses are actually on time – I want to visit my best friend, who goes to university in Exeter, but it’s £90 to get there.
Get into cycling: buying a secondhand bike is cheaper in the long run than all of the bus and train tickets. And try to befriend people who have cars. Moving to London from a rural part of West Yorkshire I knew it was very expensive, but I didn’t realise just how big the margin between spending at home, versus at university, would be until I was doing my weekly shop and getting the tube.
Track your spending weekly as well as monthly. It’s easiest to do this by opening another bank account on top of whatever your student account is, and transferring a weekly allowance into it. If I had any money left over from the week before, I’d transfer it into my savings account – giving me a bit extra at the end of term if I ran out of money, that could gain interest in the meantime.
The rent in the second year. I lived in cheaper halls in the first year and left sorting my second-year accommodation to the last minute. The quality of my house was poor – mould, leaks and a faulty washing machine.
It was £700 a month, without bills. It definitely gave me a reality check. There’s no harm in being proactive: you’ll know people looking for houses as early as the November before.
But from experience you can still find good deals later on. Just ensure you know who you want to live with first – and check for mould. How many people received an allowance, or financial support, from their parents.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
