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bristoluni-acs · 6 years ago

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Money Management

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXaKIG3j-shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXaKIG3j-shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXaKIG3j-s***PLEASE NOTE***: This particular post will continue to be updated when new sources of funding are found. Please do let us know if you find anything of use!

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Student loans dropped 1 month, 14 days, 19 hours and 0 mins ago (and counting). And in that time, you were probably living your best life, not realising (or ignoring the fact) that the next student loan will drop in over 2 months?

In this week’s post, we’ll be focusing on the importance of staying afloat, how to manage your funds and where to get help if needed.

Money tends to be the main source/trigger of a mental health issue. Trying to avoid dealing with it would only just exacerbate your problems., esepcially if you’re stuggling to stay afloat in other aspects of your life. Being a university student, theres a huge debt looming over your head, but it doesnt mean you cant find ways to make things easeier for yourself.

You may have now noticed that Bristol is acautlly an expensive place to live in, especially with the amount of funding the governemnt gives to students who dont live in London. So, having a good budget and extra sources of income will come along way!

Budgets

Creating a weekly/monthly budget can go a long way. Yes, it may be long and boring, but its not by force to continue a lifestyle of just indomie (I mean indomie bangs, just not for a daily meal for 3 months straight). Heres an example.

Having a budget has many benefits, such as:

· You’ll have greater control of what comes out of your account

· You can see where your money is going (them £5 here and there for lunches really do add up)

One of the key issues that many students face is their finances. Having very low income can play a significant part in your overall wellbeing. Therefore, it is very important to keep track of such.

Amending rent plan

Most of you will be in halls and would’ve set up a payment plan with the accommodation office for your rent. You would have noticed that the first payment is significantly higher than the last two payments. This can be amended. If you have already paid the first instalment, but feel that you still need to amend it, you can contact the student funding office and get it sorted. This can be quite helpful as your last student loan payment tends to be the highest out of all three.

Unidays, Totem (NUS extra), Student beans etc.

Make use of these student discounts, they are designed to make student life easier!

Health/Medication

If you know you have to get prescriptions often, there are two options for you. Either get a Pre-Payment certificate (PPC) or “Help with NHS Costs” HC1. PPC is paid for, but in the long run, you’ll save more money if you have to get two or more prescriptions a month. The HC1 form entitles you to free NHS treatment i.e. prescriptions, glasses, dentist etc. The process takes up to 8 weeks but can be very helpful!

Funding your studies:

Getting a Job

You really thought I wasn’t going to mention getting job in a money related post. Obviously, this is good if your contact hours aren’t intense and you can manage, you’re time efficiently (click here for tips). The university has a “temporary staffing service” that is essentially the best for students. They have suitable term time positions if you want to get a job. Have a look at the stores/restaurants Bristol, a lot are looking for staff especially for the Christmas period.

Make SMART use of your student overdraft

This doesn’t mean that go neck deep in overdraft to get those Balenciaga’s...

University bursary

By now you should have received notification on whether you’re entitle to the bursary and how much. you can check on MyBristol>Fees and Funding> Bursary and payments. If not. And you believe you’re are entitled, you can contact the student funding office. On most occasions, if you’re entitled but and haven’t received notification/not showing up in bursary and payments is because you told SFE that they shouldn’t share info about your application with the university. This is how the university assesses if you’re entitled to further funding or not

University loan

The university has set up a scheme where any student can get a loan of up to 350. They are there to help in instances of falling short, but you’ll DEFINITLY have money coming in SOON to help pay back. This should be a last resort, as its money that you HAVE pay back within 30 days. Failure to do so can result interest being added. The first 200 can be given without questions asked, the last 150 or asking for 350 in one go, you’ll have to explain what its for and how you plan to pay it back. Bear in mind, the university can prevent you from sitting your exams if you owe them money. So, like I said before, only do so if you know you’re going to get enough money to cover that and survive i.e. bursary/student loan

Financial assistance fund

This is another scheme the university has set up to help those in need. They aren’t guaranteed and they do assess your outgoing (as in they will like at your bank statements to see where your money is going). The process can take up to 6-8 weeks, but if you’re successful its very helpful!