Managing your own money can be a cause of stress for new students. The 2023 Save the Student Money survey found that 82% of students worry about making ends meet. We’re here to support you with making financial decisions during the cost-of-living crisis and our Firstpoint team can put you in touch with our Money Advice Service for those looking for help with their finances.

What can students do to improve their finances? 

 

Budgeting

It’s important to work out how much money you’ve got coming in each month. This income might be from your maintenance loans, a part time job, money from your parents, money from your savings, or money from bursaries and scholarships.

Once you know how much money you have each month, you can work out your essential outgoings. Essential outgoings are things like rent, groceries, bills, TV licence, transport, and books. Once you’ve subtracted your essential outgoings from your monthly income, you can divide this into a monthly budget for non-essential activities and expenses.

Firstpoint have extra tips on budgeting, current bill costs and boosting your income. Information on accommodation costs is available on our accommodation webpages.

Apps such as Starling Bank and Monzo and budget calculators such as UCAS and Save the Student can also help you work out how much money you need.

Funds, allowances and grants

There are many different types of funds, allowances and grants you can apply for to support yourself at university depending on your circumstances and the course you have chosen to study.

Some of these include:



Earn as you Learn

You can take on a part-time job to improve your employability and earn money whilst you study. Our specialist Earn as you Learn webpages have more information about working whilst studying.

Our Careers Team can support you with the planning and management of part-time work and post weekly lists of vacancies for students as well as offering careers and employability resources to help you build your CV, practice your interview techniques, and write job applications.

 

Working as a Student Ambassador

You can work for the university as a Student Ambassadors to earn money during your studies.

Ambassador roles include:

  • Student Events Ambassador – working at taster days and open days
  • Course Ambassador – representing your specific course to potential students
  • Digital Ambassador – creating digital content for the University such as videos, blogs or taking photos for social media
  • Becoming a Unibuddy – Unibuddies talk to potential students online about their course and university life

You can find out more information about becoming a Student Ambassador on our Student Ambassador webpages.

 

Food on campus

Heat and Eat

We offer a ‘Heat and Eat’ scheme and are committed to providing microwaves on campus to enable students to bring food from home to re-heat. This is a great way to save money through batch cooking.

Saver Menu

Chartwells, our onsite catering company, now offer a ‘Saver Menu’ at our St John’s Campus and City Campuses. Students can now get breakfast for just £2, hot meals for only £2, and coffee from £1!

This new selection is available at MADE Dining Hall (St John’s Campus) and Hastings Café (City Campus) throughout the day.

 

Money Saving Tips

Food

Make a meal plan before going grocery shopping. Weekly meal planning helps you know exactly what you need to get and makes it easier to keep track of what you’re spending.

Get loyalty/rewards cards for supermarkets. Get a rewards card for your regular supermarket and collect points every time you shop. Once you have enough, you can claim discounts on your groceries.

Go grocery shopping in the evenings. After about 6pm, most supermarkets start discounting food that needs to be sold by the end of the day, meaning you could get some great savings.

Shop in the world food aisles. Kitchen staples such as lentils, beans, rice, sauces, and spices can often be cheaper in the international food aisles.

Don’t shop whilst hungry. The more hungry you are whilst shopping, the more likely you’ll end up buying more than you need.

Grocery shop online to catch deals that might be missed otherwise. Despite the delivery cost, grocery shopping online can often be cheaper than going to the store due to online-exclusive discounts.

Cook at home instead of buying takeaways or eating out. Meal deal lunches and pizza deliveries can quickly add up. By taking packed lunches and cooking at home, you can save money and eat healthier.

Have meat-free days once or twice a week. Trying “Meat-free Mondays” can help cut down the cost of your grocery bill.

Cook communally with housemates. Cooking and eating together is a great way to save money and socialise.

Freeze food to make it last longer. Lots of different foods, such as milk, bread, and pasta, can be frozen, which can help it last past the use-by date. You can also bulk cook and freeze meals to reduce how often you have to cook.

Use leftover food apps. Apps like Too Good to Go make sure good food gets eaten by allowing customers to collect food that is nearing its sell by date from businesses. 

Banking, budgeting, and saving

Create a budget. Use our budget sheet and spending log to help you keep track of where your money is going and identify places you could make savings.

Get a student bank account. A student bank account often has benefits including interest-free overdrafts and sometimes freebies such as a 16-25 Young person’s railcard. Shop around for the best deal and remember to prioritise things like good repayment conditions and long interest free periods over free pens or equipment. You will need to prove student status when opening a student bank account which is often a letter of acceptance from your university or a UCAS offer letter.

Try the 1p Saving Challenge. Start by saving 1p a day, increase how much you save by a penny every day, and in a year you’ll manage to save over £650.

Have at least one “no-spend” day a week. This might require a bit of planning, such as bringing lunch with you from home and doing a weekly grocery shop.

Round up your spending. See if your bank runs a “Save the Change” scheme, which rounds up your purchases to the nearest pound and puts the remainder into a saving pot.

Go to training schools for haircuts. Find a training school or a salon with trainees to save money on your haircut.

Student discounts

Apps and websites such as Totum, UniDays, Student Beans, and Money Saving Expert offer lots of deals and freebies for students.

The 16-25 Railcard currently offers a 1/3 off train travel (2023) and can help you save money if you’re travelling home.

Save the Student lists the latest student deals and allows you to subscribe to their newsletter for more information.