JUST like a good last-minute essay, student budgeting is all about making a little go a long way. Your university days may not be your most lavish but with careful planning you can finish next term with enough money left over for Christmas shopping.
First, you must learn to live within your unusual financial arrangements. Just before term begins, oceans of money will gush into your account: loans, grants, scholarships and grandparental good-luck tenners will give the impression of bottomless wealth. Do not be fooled. You are not getting any more until January, so divide the figure by about 15 to get your basic weekly budget, allowing some extra for a suitably exciting freshers’ week.
For the first couple of months this will leave you with a hefty surplus, which you should put into a savings account and drip back into your current account throughout term. Any money that you are not using can grow by more than 5 per cent a year.
Economies can be made painlessly on household bills. In halls of residence you are stuck with university charges for utilities but when living out you have more choice. Price comparison websites such as moneysupermarket.com and simplyswitch.com offer advice on the cheapest providers of everything from electricity and gas to broadband and telephone lines. Type in your details and they will give you a dozen quotes.
If you are sharing the bills with others, make sure that they are not all in the same person’s name. The cheapest way to pay is usually via a monthly direct debit but you may want to make it a quarterly bill so you only have to chase up flatmates four times a year. If it is a fixed bill, it is best to get your flatmates to set up a direct debit to your account on the day before the bill is due.
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When it comes to the telephone, agree in advance how the bill is to be split, especially if anybody’s boyfriend or girlfriend is on a gap year in Australia. Many packages allow unlimited calls to landlines at certain times.
As for your mobile, phone companies are desperate for students’ custom. The cheapest deals are the cash-back offers available through third-party internet resellers, which you can trawl through at onecompare.com. For example, you can get 750 “anytime” minutes and 150 texts, plus a new phone, for £1 a month. Under the deals, you sign up to an expensive tariff — the example above costs £41 a month — and then claim back the cash via coupons throughout the year. The companies make their money because most people forget or cannot be bothered to recoup the vouchers but, if you are switched on, the deals are seriously cheap.
For the less savvy, one of the best standard deals is T-Mobile’s Flext tariff, which allows five hours of calls and 300 texts plus a new phone for £25 a month. Look out for even better student deals.
Once you have acquired these gadgets, you will need insurance. As far as your mobile is concerned, you are probably best off declining the expensive policy offered by your network and seeing how much it would cost to put it on your household insurance.
If you are living in halls of residence, you may be covered by your parents’ policy, so check first. If you need extra cover, the National Union of Students recommends Endsleigh, which has policies for student digs.
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TIM CARTWRIGHT
Page 13: How to avoid a debt you regret