How to Manage Your Student Budget

What’s the age-old adage? Take care of the pennies and the pounds look after themselves. Well, this is just as important at university as it is anywhere else. 

When at university, you will be operating on a smaller budget than if you’re out of education. A student loan will only last you so long, so see how you can manage your student budget at university. 

Save up your vouchers and look for student discounts

Vouchers come in handy more than you can think! While it’s unlikely that you’ll be saving up £2,000 in vouchers over a one year period, you could still find yourself saving a fair bit on quite a few items when you go shopping. 

Tesco have a Clubcard points system which can entitle you to various discounts and perks, so signing up for a Clubcard is a good way of saving money and a good way of being able to offset potential costs against your points.

Some companies offer various student discounts and will have a lot of vouchers geared towards helping students that need to save money. Music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and TIDAL all have student programmes that will save you money in the long run, all you need is proof of being a student. 

Use your NUS Card

Your student NUS Card exists to help you out on the high street. Many students find themselves in need of a good deal here and there and an NUS Card is a great way of doing that. 

An NUS Card is mainly used as a form of identification for students and is essential for far more than just finding good deals in Nando’s! An NUS Card is also used for students that are looking for student council tax exemption as well. 

While you will need to pay an initial fee of £13, it’s worth it in the long run! On those rare occasions, you and your friends decide to go out for a meal, you will see 20-25% wiped off your overall bill. 

Look into transport options

Student Railcards are the best way for students to get around. 

For a lot of students, travelling to and from university or to certain campuses or even visiting home can start to tot up for you and can have a very negative impact on your student budget, so the best thing to do is to pick up some kind of subsidised travel service.

For some students, this will mean taking advantage of a travel bursary that is offered by their university, for others it will be about taking advantage of things like the aforementioned student railcard. 

Some universities also have transport systems offered as part of their campus, whether it be a coach service, integrated bus services, train systems that run through the campus itself or even a monetary scheme to help out. You can check out university rankings and see which universities are ranked best in their areas for transport. 

Use your university’s gym

Most universities will have their own gym on campus, which will help you to keep in shape. It makes sense to use your university’s gym rather than use a more expensive high street option that will likely cost an awful lot of money. 

It is unlikely that you would be charged for using a university gym and on the off-chance you are charged, it is likely to cost less than a regular high street gym would cost. 

A university gym will also have the added benefit of having a wider array of equipment for you to use as they will likely receive more people at the gym than a regular gym would, who said you couldn’t get ripped when saving money?

Avoid the meal deal

We’ve all been there, a long day and you fancy something quick to eat, so you quickly pick up the Tesco meal deal and drop £3 on a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a drink. Though it can be helpful sometimes and a good way of keeping yourself well-fed and hydrated, the deals do add up!

Five days-a-week of meal deals leads to £15-a-week being spent on lunch alone, factored over the course of a month and you’ll see yourself spending a whopping £60 on lunch alone! 

With this in mind, we recommend picking up the ingredients you need for lunch and preparing your own meal at home. This will mean that you will have food left over for dinner or for later lunches and the ingredients together will cost less or about the same as a whole meal deal does, while offering more possibilities.