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Budgeting for students – a guide

Posted 28th September 2022

However, it can also be a huge change if you’ve always lived at home, and responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning and budgeting may be a completely new concept.

Budgeting can take a bit of getting used to. If you receive loans and funding at the start of each term can seem like a lot of money but making it last across the year can be hard. Here, we’ve put together an easy-to-follow guide to budgeting for students to help manage your expenses each term.

Why is budgeting so important?

Budgeting is essential to financially get by during your time at university. It’ll help you understand the difference between essential spending and non-essential spending so once you’ve established how much your essential spend is, you can then enjoy spending on non-essential purchases without leaving yourself short.

How to calculate a budget

This might be easier than you think! All you need is some paper, a pen and a calculator and follow these simple steps:

1. Work out your income

The maintenance loan you receive from Student Finance England (SFE) is based on your household income and individual circumstances and will arrive into your bank in 3 instalments across the academic year at the beginning of each term. At the start of each term, add up the total income for each term (see bullet points below) and divide this by the total number of weeks in that term. This will tell you what allowance you have each week.

Your total income derives from adding up everything that will be coming into your bank account, including:

• your student loan
• any grants/bursaries etc that you’re eligible for
• money from parents/guardians
• income from a job
• any other source of income you might have

2. Work out your outgoings

The next step is to work out all your essential outgoings for each week, including:

• accommodation costs
• tuition fees
• utility bills
• contents insurance
• weekly food shop and toiletries
• phone bill
• textbooks
• commuting or car costs
• credit card or debt repayments

3. Work out what’s left to spend on other things

You can then work out how much you have left over for non-essential spending by subtracting your outgoings from your weekly allowance.

Whatever is left can be spent on non-essential things such as nights out, takeaways, clothes, gym memberships etc – woo hoo!!

Creating a budget is one thing but sticking to it can be a whole other ball game! A budget planner can help you to keep tabs on your money, and you can either do this on a simple spreadsheet or you can buy a traditional budget planner if you prefer (Amazon or stationary shop sell them for less than a fiver). There are also various student budgeting apps such as Wally or Emma which some might prefer to use to keep an eye on your expenses.

Give it a go! You’ve nothing to lose and figuring out a budget is a fairly quick exercise which’ll probably save you money in the long run 😊