Get Ahead: Learn How to Save Money at University Before You Join

1. Shop Around for the Best Student Bank Account

Many banks have offers on to entice students to open an account. Look for a 0% overdraft over the longest period of time, but only use your overdraft if you have to. And whilst you won’t have to pay back your overdraft as soon as you graduate, make sure you understand the repayment terms so you can plan ahead.

2. Start Budgeting

If you know how much money you’ll have coming in for your student loan, any grants or other financial help and how much your outgoings (for rent, bills, food, clothing, course materials, etc.) are likely to be, start putting a budget together to give you a rough idea of how much money you’ll have to spend each week/month while you’re at university. You can also download a budgeting app to help you manage and keep track of your spending.

3. Make Sure You’re on the Right Mobile Phone Tariff

Consider whether your current plan will suit your lifestyle when you go off to university. You might need additional data for downloading and streaming, and more inclusive calls and texts to suit a busy social life, so it’s worth looking into this before you rack up unwanted costs.

4. Look into Contents Insurance

If your valuables/contents will not be covered by your parents’ contents insurance, it can be far cheaper to replace lost or damaged goods by claiming on your contents insurance. Students staying in University of Chester owned accommodation benefit from free contents insurance as it’s included in the rent. And if you have a particular item that is more then what’s covered in the standard policy, you can just pay a small top-up, but most students find the standard policy covers all their belongings, giving you complete peace of mind.  

5. Start Looking into Student Deals and Discounts

A lot of major retailers offer great savings for students on everything from Amazon Prime to money off food and drink. Some clothes retailers also offer discounts as do health and beauty retailers too. Looking into student deals early means you’ll know where to go when you want to treat yourself.

6. Consider Bus and Rail Offers if you Plan to Commute

Bus companies often offer student discounts and with a Railcard you can get a third off rail travel. Once in Chester, you won’t need to worry about discounted bus fares; all our sites are within walking distance of each other, and the city centre is also within easy reach. Warrington has two train stations and a bus station, all within walking distance of our sites in the town centre. And Shrewsbury has a train and bus station within walking distance of the University Centre and the town itself.

7. Access to Free Software

Before you purchase expensive software to help you with your studies, do your research to find out whether the software may be available for free once you join university. University of Chester students benefit from free access to a variety of software including Office 365 and EndNote, and more specific course-related software too.

8. Learn to Cook Before you Start University

You’ll save money if you can prepare your own meals rather than eating out regularly. If you plan your meals, you can buy just the right amount of ingredients, saving you money and avoiding food waste.

9. Part-time Work

Consider getting a part-time job over the summer before you start university; you can either add your earnings to your income for your first year or save this money for a rainy day. You could also look into part-time job opportunities that may be coming up when term time starts to supplement your income. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for you to earn while you learn at the University of Chester. Our part-time vacancy service, UniJob, advertises paid positions working for the University. Also, the location of our sites makes it easy to access a variety of different roles in the local area. We also host Employer in the Foyer events, giving our students the opportunity to connect with local employers looking for students to undertake part-time work. In addition, our Careers and Employability team helps our students to find paid workplace experiences, internships and placements too.

10. Don’t Rush Out to Buy your Course Books

When you have your reading list, don’t rush out to buy brand new books. Once you’re at university, check which books are essential and if they’re not available at the library, look out for second-hand course books to save you money.