Top Money Saving Strategies for Students in the UK

Moving to another country comes with various monthly expenses for necessities from phone bills and groceries to transportation tickets, etc, which you have no choice but to pay. To be able to plan fun activities for leisure such as travel, movies, going out, etc, you have to be wise about money and save. The easiest way to do so is to plan your weekly budget, spend accordingly and try to stick to it. In addition to this is smart food shopping. As students are still trying to adapt to a new environment, they often aren’t aware of online apps from where they can spend wisely on food, or learn about discounts and coupons, etc. Right from the start, we advise you to familiarise yourself with the applications that the locals use in order to make the most of your budget and avail of exciting offers. Apply for your TOTUM card, formerly known as NUS Extra Card UK, as soon as you can. This is a student discount card which will help you get good discounts at stores. Try out reward cards, such as the Taste card, which offers 50% off at various restaurants and coupons too.

The best option to make your student life lively is by working part-time. Don’t take this job as a task. Rather, you should see it as an opportunity to truly get exposed to the city and to connect with the locals. Also, it will add some extra money to your pocket, which will help in meeting your expenses. Some of the options to work in UK are bars, teaching, pet care, accountant and customer service. Apart from this, you can also work for your university and earn a solid living while working flexible hours.

According to the UK Council for International Student Affairs, there are some restrictions for working while studying, especially for international students. They are as follows:

• You can work up to 20 hours work a week during the term

• While you are permitted to do most kinds of jobs, there are certain forms of employment that are absolutely not allowed:

  • Self-employment: The HMRC, will guide you on whether your proposed work would be self-employment

  • Freelance or contract-based jobs

  • Jobs considered business activities

  • Professional sports, including coaching

  • Entertainer, with the exception of dance, drama and music students doing work placements for degree-level courses.

  • Permanent full-time job

  • Medicine or dentistry training jobs

• Some universities may have strict restrictions themselves on how much you are allowed to work during the term. For example, University of Cambridge “Undergraduate students are expected not to work during term-time”

Travel Cheap

Try to spend as little as possible on travel and transportation. Make sure you get weekly or monthly discounted passes on your frequent bus routes. Please note that public transportation cards are only available for students above the age of 18 with oyster photo cards. Purchasing these travel cards will save you a significant amount of money. Full-time students can purchase 16-25 railcards in UK for one or three years as well to travel across the country.

Buy Secondhand Textbooks

Aside from groceries and other daily expenses, textbooks are some of the most costly items for students. To solve this problem, consider buying second-hand books from up-to-date publications or shopping from charity shops. If you have access to a network of students from previous years, they may be looking to get rid of their books at a low price. The benefit of buying from these places is that the book will be sold at a fraction of the original price

Prompt payment of bills

Don’t underestimate the rules and regulations about on-time payments. For instance, if you don’t pay your bills promptly, it may result in an additional fee. You already have expenses that you have to bear, so why pay extra? Make sure to set reminders in order to pay your bills on time.

Do not forget to reap the benefits of the following:

While you are staying in university accommodations there are some great benefits that you can avail of for free, some of them are:

• Gym

• Counselling

• Career Guidance

• Public libraries

To summarise, all these ways will help you save money and the extra amount can be used for travelling and exploring different places. 

We hope our advice about living in the United Kingdom as a student guided you well. If your offer letter is in your hand and you are all set to study in the UK, then this blog will help you save some money. For more information, we advise you to have a word with our expert counsellors at Meridean Overseas Education Consultants (MOEC). If you cannot travel to the office, you can avail of our free online counselling service via the website. Our team of dedicated counsellors will provide you with the best guidance and support so that you can enrol in the UK’s top universities. Please do not hesitate to contact us at application02@meridean.org or call us at 1800-1230-00011.