Budgeting
Call the finance helpline
Tel: 01332 592000
Monday to Friday
between 10am-11am and 1pm-2pm
We also have face to face appointments available.
Many students are understandably concerned about the difficulties of managing a limited student budget.
Talking to a Student Adviser can help you to explore the best ways of making your money last. We can help you to learn from the experiences of other students by suggesting ways in which you can minimise your expenditure and also maximise your income.
One step you can take now is to use a budget planner to see how to balance your finances.
Budget planner
A budget planner, fully completed, will show you what money you have coming in (income), and what you have going out (expenditure).
By putting down an amount of money for each item on the sheet and then adding up the two columns you can easily see what you spend your money on over a week or longer and whether you can afford your spending. If the total of the expenditure column is bigger than the total of the income column then you are spending more money than you can afford.
This is the time to look at your spending to see where you money is going and whether it's on priority costs - Items that will keep a roof over your head, feed you and keep you at university.
Priority items are usually:
- Rent or mortgage
- Living costs such as food, laundry, gas and electricity and telephone, childcare, travel etc
.
These priority costs need to be met and budgeted for before any other costs are met.
Being at university is primarily about gaining a qualification but it is also about enjoying yourself as well. In order to do both and not get into unnecessary excessive debt, budgeting is essential. By budgeting sensibly you can pay your bills and still have some money left over to spend on entertainment, clothes and refreshments without worrying too much about whether you can afford it or not!
