#collegefinance

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You’ve decided you want your higher education to be completely free – no student loans, no accommodation cost.

Whether that’s a wise or not, it’s up to you. But yes, you can go to university for free. Two things you’ll need: a lot of hustle (researching and applying) and flexibility (free education means you might miss out on something else).

Here are some tools and programs you can use to lower those big costs:

Grants

Grants are basically a sum of money the government gives you to help you out with university. Notice the give: you’re not expected to return it, unlike student loans. If you qualify for these grants and supplement it with something else, they can help you get to college for free. Pretty sweet.

You get different types of grants:

Maintenance grant

For living costs. You can get up to £3,475 if your household income is £19,203 or less. If it’s more than that, you may be eligible for a partial grant, depending on your income. These may not always be easy to get, but they’re worth a try.

Special support grant

This grant is to help with additional costs such as books, equipment and travel expenses. You could get up to £3,475 depending on your household income, but you also need to be eligible: be a single parent, have a certain disability, come from abroad, etc. You can’t get both the maintenance and special support grant, but you could try for one of them if you believe you’re eligible.

Travel grant

This one’s pretty cool. It’s basically a grant the government gives you to travel abroad, whether it’s on an Erasmus or to do with your university. The amount you’ll get also depends on your household income and some other factors. Here’s how much you can get (it’s a little confusing IMO):

There are a few other grants such as the Disabled Student’s Allowance and Dependents’ and Childcare Grants. As you can see you need to be in pretty specific situations to qualify, so grants are not the answer for everyone. But still worth a mention and a try.

For more info on grants and how to apply visit Gov.uk

Bursaries and scholarships

Bursaries and scholarships are pretty similar to grants except they offer larger amounts of money and aren’t always from the government. Although they may sound like the easy path to free education, they can be quite a hassle. The hardest part: research. There’s tons of bursaries and scholarships out there but you really have to find the right ones and apply as soon as possible. This includes asking your university, asking other students what they’ve done and spending a lot of time on our lil’ friend Google.

You also need specific criteria to pass: your household income, gender, nationality, grades, talents, etc.

The research isn’t easy because there’s not a huge directory with all the scholarships and bursaries available – you gotta do the work. Here are two of the largest directories I found to help you get started:

The Scholarship Hub

Scholarships for international students

List on TopUniversities

NHS

The beloved NHS! If you’re studying anything health related (dentistry, medicine), the NHS might come and help you out with the costs. The thing is, this one’s pretty complicated. You get different amounts depending on where you live, your household income and what you’ll be studying exactly. It varies so much that it’s kinda hard to be specific here, but here are some extra resources to find out more:

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

The great thing is that this can then help you do practices and internships with the NHS, which will then lead on to a job, a better opportunity, etc. All I’m saying is it could be worth a try…

Armed Forces

Not for everyone but could be a good option. No matter which degree you’re thinking of pursuing, you could get the Armed Forces to help you out with your education so you can then move on to working in the army. There’s a pretty large range of different bursaries available for army students depending on what subject you want to study.

In some places not only do you get a bursary but you also earn a little income of about £2,000 a year. You get different bursaries depending on what you qualify for: if you have amazing grades and potential to become an officer, you could be getting a total of £24,000!

There’s a ton of different options: training to become an Army medical profession, joining the Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force. I’m telling you, you’d be surprised by the amount of options out there – do a bit of research and planning and the free education will come rolling.

Find out more about your options and check out the guide to getting into the Armed Forces:

Sponsorships

Sponsorships are basically schemes where a company pays for your education in partly or in full. You could already be working for the company, going to work for them in the future or not working for them at all. There’s tons of different sponsorships available for different degrees and different cases. An example is Google: offering sponsorship to female students studying Computer Science and who demonstrate strong leadership skills.

You have a few odd ones here and there: sponsorships for vegetarians, for Welsh speakers only and even for golfers! Think you don’t have any skills? Look around… maybe some company has thought of you and has a pretty sweet deal you could take advantage of.

The Scholarship Hub has a section on finding sponsorships, or ‘company scholarships’ as they call them.

Apprenticeships

These are pure gold. And they’re becoming more and more popular nowadays as people realise getting a degree doesn’t always mean getting a job.

With an apprenticeship the company basically trains you for the job and combines it with some classroom style education. Then, the training is over and if you’ve done well – bam, a job.

You can also get a degree apprenticeship: basically the company sponsors you to go to university so you can then go work for them once you graduate. Not only do you get a degree for free but you are guaranteed a job once you graduate. Pretty sweet.

This page on Gov.uk has tons of resources on finding apprenticeships for your particular degree/field.

Crowdfunding

This plan may be a little on edge but could work if done well. It basically consists of asking strangers to donate to you to pay for your education. You go on a site like Crowdfunder, Hubbubor GoFundMe and ask for money to support your studies. You write a good essay on what you’re going to do with the money, what you’re going to study and why (something that stands out is better).

Here’s Brian who wants to go to Oxford to study a Masters in Development Studies. His motive? Research on LGBT communities in areas like China and South Africa. He also goes on to explain his achievements, where he’s from and even his sexual orientation (bisexual). He’s raised £18,117 so far. Congrats to Brian!

Crowdfunding is something that takes a lot of time and effort – you really need to convince people to give their money to you. They need to believe in you and trust that you will use the money well. But again, worth a try – and would look great on a CV if successful.

Go abroad

If you’re non-Scot, you won’t get free education offered next door in Scotland (and yes, we’re all sniggering over here). However, there are still some countries which offer a free education: Germany, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Why not learn another language? Study something a little different? Get to know an interesting culture? Many degrees are done in English and offer a great range of opportunities for foreigners. Why not make an adventure out of your education?

This is also great for your CV: studying abroad shows an employer that you are flexible, adaptable and you look for opportunities. Great way to stand out from other candidates and gain a different and more interesting set of skills.

I did this for China: one trimester studying Chinese overseas wasn’t too expensive and I made amazing money as an English tutor – effectively making my education free.

It’s a little trickier to apply and organise – no European version of UCAS. You’ll have to go to our trusted friend Google and search for something along the lines of  ‘apply for German/French/Norwegian university’ and see where it gets you from there. Some additional resources to check out are The Complete University Guide, list of countries and Top Universities

As I said before, if you want free/very cheap education, you’ll need some hustle. You can combine some of the options above and try to find what suits you best. Do your research, ask your university, do some networking. Keep going until you find something that works for you, and if you can’t find anything: do a gap year. Much better to go into university one year later doing something you want than going with everyone else and wasting your time (I say from experience).

Budgeting is an art.

It’s the art of being in control. Of having an efficient money system. Of knowing where your money is and how it’s doing. Budgeting is your ground base, your concrete foundation to managing your money well. It’s the bread and butter of personal finance.

Too many times budgeting is regularly associated with deprivation and restrictions – but it’s not about that. Budgeting is about having a plan. It’s a plan that you need to keep reviewing and improving, modifying and analysing, constantly trying to make it better. It’s a reflection of yourself: it shows your money habits, your goals, your discipline. The more you work on your budget, the better you get, which in turn improves your spending habits and discipline. It’s a self-improvement tool

So what I’m trying to say: do a bloody budget. And being a college student, now is the best time to practice, make mistakes, and prepare for the future.

What we’ll be talking about today:

What is budgeting exactly?

Why budget?

How to get started

Moving online

What is le budget?

As I said before, a budget is a plan. A plan to see where your money is coming in, where it’s going out, where it should be going out and where you would like it to go out.

Think of a budget as a flow chart of improvement. At first you see you’re in a bad financial situation. Your budget plan says your income and expenses aren’t looking too good. You analyse and see what you need to improve on. Then you re adjust, you track how you’re doing and you set your goals. Your budget will never be perfect, but it will be a little better each time. And every time you do this, you get closer to your goals.

A budget is a constant readjustment of your finances in order to reach your goals. And who doesn’t want to reach their goals?

All you need is a pen, paper and calculator.

Why le budget?

You already know budgeting is essential, especially in college – but let’s put the advantages of budgeting into a nice little list:

Easy to track income and expenses (good for tax returns)

Helps figure out your short and long-term goals

Helps keep track of your progress

Ensures you don’t spend money you don’t have

Prepares you for emergencies

Recognises bad spending habits

Puts you in control

Prepares you for the future: larger expenses, important debt, etc.

Gets you started on your financial education

And guess what? Money is everywhere. No matter whether you want to become a scientist, a plumber or an astronaut, money will always be involved in your life. You may hate it, you may curse it and you may have a fit every time you see cash. But you’ll still have to use those damn pounds and pennies. So why not make sure you’re using them right?

A budget lets you put your money on autopilot: no more worrying if I’m saving enough, no more ‘did I spend too much?’, no more ‘will I get to the end of this month?’. Nope, because your budget will tell you where to put your money and how much you can spend. And trust me, this makes sleeping at night so much easier.

How to get started

I’ve been blabbing on about how amazing budgets are for quite some time now, so it’s time to get started with the nitty gritty. Apologies if you’ve already taken the 6 day email course – I will be using the exact same examples and structure.

So it’s very simple – get a nice big piece of A4 paper, a pen and a calculator (maybe even a ruler if you’re a perfectionist).

Start by drawing 5 columns:

Then fill these out with the following: Income, Budget, Expenses, Savings and Debt.

Then, very simple: slot in your income every month and then your expenses. Have no idea where your money goes each month? Do a rough estimate – check your bank account or try tracking for a week, see what happens. Below we have Jimmy’s expenses (he loves takeaway).

Everyone’s budget will look differently. Maybe you have irregular income, maybe you have a credit card and like overspending every month (not good!) or maybe you have some expenses that don’t happen exactly every month. For this reason I always like to start with a piece of paper – write down whatever you feel is necessary. Add extra columns, strange signs, whatever helps you understand what’s going on with the ££.

The Spending

Now we get to the magical part:

Calculate 15% of your total income and add it to the budget column as ‘Savings’.

And now figure out where all the rest of the money goes. The magic is that you’ve already allocated a percentage to your savings – and so you don’t have to worry about making the rest lower than your income!  Let’s see how Jimmy’s done it:

Improvements

You may think ‘wow, that’s a large cut on my ‘fun time’’ (Jimmy went from £160 to £100)

I agree, which is why you can improve that amount in two ways:

Lower expenses: Look for ways of decreasing your ‘mandatory expenses’: find ways to lower your rent, cut on transport and find some gym discounts. Cutting down the bills and essential expenses means more fun money – so do some research.

Increase income: Now it’s important to note that as a college student, your priority is studying and making the most of university. If you feel you have time and are eager to earn some more, by all means go ahead and get a job, earn some passive income or start a side-hustle. But don’t feel pressured to do so.

And feel free to increase that 15% savings rate. As a budgeting beginner in college, 15% is a good place to start, but the more you can do the better!

Debt

The next column to tackle is debt. As a college student, you hopefully won’t have too many debts: student loans and maybe credit card debt. Student loans are a tricky subject, because you have to decide whether you want to pay them off or not. Credit card debt has to disappear for sure, the sooner the better.

First, if you have credit card debt or any high interest debt, slot the numbers into the Debt column. Jimmy wasn’t really sure what a credit card was last year and went a little crazy:

Second, read ‘Should I pay off my student loans?’. Then decide on whether you want to pay them off or not. If you don’t, no need to add anything else to the column. If you do, simply add on how much student loan debt you’ll have at graduation. Here are some websites to help you calculate the number: Complete University Guide calculator and Money Saving Expert calculator.

Here’s Jimmy’s Debt column:

You now have a pretty clear picture of how much debt you owe. The next step is to tackle it and make a plan to pay it all off.

Savings

Write down all your savings + that 15% of your income. If you don’t have any savings, just put the 15%.

As you can see, Jimmy has £127.5 every month just for himself (from the 15% of his income). He has goals, he has debt and he also has responsibilities. He decides to allocate this amount to three things every month: Debt, emergencies and personal goals. He know he really has to pay off this high interest credit card debt.

Half of the 15% goes to clearing off debt

A quarter goes to building an emergency fund

A quarter to buying his dream car.

His columns looks like this:

His 15% is truly working for him: getting him out of debt, preparing for emergencies and helping him get to his goals.

And yes, at £30 a month it will take him a while to get that car. But once you get started remember that you can always increase that 15%, change around the numbers and find other ways to work towards your goal. Keep trying until you find what works best for you.

Why an Emergency Fund? I’m going to cover this in a future article, but it’s pretty obvious: emergencies happen, and you want to be prepared. As college students it’s recommended to have around 1- 2 months saved up into a separate bank account especially for emergencies. Jimmy knows this, and so wants to start building his Emergency Fund bit by bit. Every month those £31.88 are allocated to a separate bank account.

I recommend setting those 15% apart the minute you get your loan/paycheck/allowance. At the end of the month, or whenever you get paid, take apart your 15% and make each part do its work for you. Save up for that car/trip/laptop, build up your emergency fund and starting paying off your debt.

You’ll suddenly start to feel like everything is in order, everything fits. You know where your money is going and you know that it’s going in the right places. Everything is calm. You are becoming an efficient and responsible adult. Congratulations.

Moving it online

You’ve done the planning and the forecasting, now it’s time to automate the process so that every month you can quickly and easily set your budget, keep track of expenses and keep working towards your goals.

Now really, everyone does this differently. There are tons of resources out there to help you budget, track, invest, build an EF, tickle your nose, etc. So it’s up to you to test and decide for yourself. To give you a bit of an idea, here are how some people do it:

Araminta (yes that’s me):

I keep track of day to day expenses with an app like Coinkeeper (check out Top Money Apps Every College Student Needs). The app also has my budget so I make sure I don’t overspend. Then, at the end of each month, I add everything onto an Excel spreadsheet and calculate where my 15% should go. I also have a separate spreadsheet with all my bank accounts and investments, which I update regularly.

Daniel from Reddit

I work out how much money I have to spend for the entire term and divide that by the number of days (as I’m living on campus it includes weekends) and it will give me how much I can spend per day. I will document how much I spend per day. At the end of every week, I will see how much I am over/under and document that. At the end of term I’ll have a full summary. I work week by week. If one week I overspend then the next week I’ll be more cautious.

Megan from Inside Megan’s Mind

My number one way to budget is using an app on my phone. The app I use is called Dollarbird and I like it because it’s laid out as a calendar and I’m able to add income/expenses by day. I can also see a monthly overview and this allows me to look at how much I spent during the month and what I spend it on. Using a budgeting app like this keeps me from overspending; plus, I always know where I spent that random $20 that I’m missing.

Frankie from Tumblr

I seperate my income into halves, making sure there’s at least 10 percent put into savings where the savings is halfed by investment and retirement. The 90 percent is then fitted and divided into food, house bills (electricity, water, internet), transportation (commute, having a car isn’t an investment), entertainment (movie tickets for me), medication, and miscellaneous (emergency money and clothing)

Also, when it comes to food, meal plans are your friend. It’s difficult, but to make things a bit easier, I suggest collecting recipes, separating them into categories like chicken, beef, and pork. Vegetables must be either incorporated or side dishes, and must make up 60 percent of the dish (aside from being cheaper than meat, vegetables are an investment for your body). Once, that’s done, rotate the three meat for a month and estimate the costs of all ingredients – – better if you’re using an online grocery delivery because you can see the actual prices of the store while coming up with your dishes and it’s time saving, perfect for single parents and overworked peeps. Also, List. Lists are important.

Look Me in the Stars from Tumblr

I auto deposit into a “bills/house” checking account my monthly expenses + another for savings; the rest is gravy for additional savings and day to day expenses. rent is always set aside first, then savings, recurring bills, minimum payments on cc debt and then I can assess what room I have to add to paying down debt. leaving extra for weekly pocket money/gas/groceries.

So there you have it! Now it’s your turn to plan out your life. Trust me, it gets exciting.

Are you a student looking for your first credit card? You’ve come to the right place! You will learn everything you need to know before you swipe. In this video, you will learn how to select the right student card for you, strategically use your card, and remain out of debt traps. If you are looking to build credit for a future loan or rental application or to simply increase your chances of landing your dream job, it all starts right now with a student credit card. Starting in the right financial direction will make the difference between long-term financial hardship or success.

Are you a student looking for your first credit card? You’ve come to the right place! You will learn everything you need to know before you swipe. In this video, you will learn how to select the right student card for you, strategically use your card, and remain out of debt traps. If you are looking to build credit for a future loan or rental application or to simply increase your chances of landing your dream job, it all starts right now with a student credit card. Starting in the right financial direction will make the difference between long-term financial hardship or success. We will discuss the different types of student cards available, as well as strategies on how to pay for your card and common mistakes made, as well as some real success stories.

Are you a college student who wants to improve your financial literacy and avoid common money mistakes? If so, this blog post is for you. In this post, we will discuss some of the most frequent financial blunders that college students make, such as: Not budgeting Not saving for retirement Taking on too much debt Misusing credit cards Choosing an overly expensive college We will also provide…

IT’S TIME TO SET A FINANCIAL PLAN

Freshman year is a year for mistakes. But sophomore year is about learning from the ones you made the year before. Money is one of the dominant subjects discussed on a college campus. Being careful about your spending and keeping track of expenses is absolutely necessary if you’re going to make it last the duration of the year.

There are countless resources like this article, Financial Planning For College Students from The Balance that can talk you through getting started on a real plan. This article includes things like how to create a budget, suggesting resources like downloading a budgeting app. It also advises against avoiding accumulating debt.

Debt is very common in college students. Everyone has heard of the famous student loans, which depending on your situation, might be inevitable for you. But the only way to minimize the damage of that situation is to not spend too much outside money, besides tuition costs.

Everything costs money, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there is always a cheaper way. Coupons, sales, free things, these are things that will benefit you a ton if you’re on the lookout for them.

Blowing money might be the easiest past time in the world. Everything from splurging on a snack when you’re hungry or buying a new dress for an event is fun easy to do carelessly. This is where the costs start to add up right before your eyes. All the conscious decisions of eating leftovers or borrowing a dress from a friend is the only way to prevent a financial crisis by the end of the year.

ou step out of the front doors of your university. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, you can feel the wind slightly caressing your cheeks. You’ve just graduated from college with honours and feel like you’ve completed a big step in your life. You feel satisfied.

Then, out of nowhere, a sharp ringing sound disturbs the surrounding peace. It’s your phone. ‘Must be Mum, coming round to help me pick my stuff up’ you think. You pick up the phone. ‘Hi, this is Max Insurance on the phone. We’ve currently got an amazing discount on our most recent Trade Credit Insurance for under thirties and think you are a great fit to get started on it now! At Max Insurance we promise to…’

You hang up the phone. ‘What the F@%K is Trade Credit Insurance??????’ Welcome to adult life.

That’s how I imagine my dramatic entry into adulthood, anyway.

When in college we all imagine adulthood as something scary, full of huge responsibilities, strange words and a lot of numbers. Our universities will teach us to be amazing at maths, English literature and Physics, but they won’t prepare us for what’s out there when college is over, that’s why we’re scared. Honestly, I think it’s disgraceful, but society has come to accept it.

The biggest thing that college students are unprepared for is managing money. Unless your parents involved you in their finances, you pretty much have no clue what are credit cards, savings accounts, and why the government takes a chunk of your money. It’s also disgraceful, which is why I started this blog to make sure you, the college student, do not graduate completely financially ignorant.

In fact, being financially literate has huge benefits, especially in college where you have more time, less responsibilities and are willing to experiment. Here are my favourite few:

Power

Being knowledgeable about money and finances gives you UGE (you know who that is) power. You know exactly when you can spend, save and splurge. You know exactly how much. You are confident you won’t go broke, and you are confident you can get more money if you need to. You have the power to DECIDE where your money goes and who to give it to. No Max Insurance, bank or company can take your money if you don’t let them, remember that (unless you go bankrupt, but that’s a story for another time).

Once you realise the power you gain by understanding and knowing about money, that’s it: you’ve cracked the ‘being financially stable’ part of life. The rest is applying those concepts and always being open to learning as much as you can. It’s amazing. And the sooner you start the better!!! i.e. in college.

Always have money

Think about it, once you know and learn about money, you will always have some. If you understand index funds, you’ll know it’s good idea to invest in them. If you understand 401ksand pension plans you know you’ll retire rich. If you understand how people work with money, you will always have a job. If you understand the necessity of having an emergency fund, you will never finish on the streets.

You won’t ever have to worry about going broke (although you will lose money, of course), because you trust your knowledge to make the right decisions. You’ll know what skills can earn you quick money if ever in an emergency, and from there your money management skills will get you out of any sticky situation.

Although I’m still in the process of learning about finance, I know that I will always be able to earn some income as a language translator or freelance writer. It’s definitely not my ideal job, but in an emergency anything helps.

Out the Rat Race

The rat race is the endless cycle between earning money to pay off debt but then acquiring more debt to satisfy awful spending habits. People have the misconception that earning more money will solve the problem, so they get a second job and start spending even more, digging the hole a little deeper each time.

The solution to getting out of the rat race is a change of mentality and financial education. Getting out of the rat race at the age of 30+ can be a long and tiring process of paying off all debt while living extremely frugally.

Although living financially free is a thousand times better than being in the rat race, what if you could skip the long process and not enter the rat race in the first place? What if you could reach financial freedom before even leaving college? Just think of the endless possibilities…

Tax

Tax is an interesting subject, and one that I am still trying to get my head round. As a democracy, we give a share of our money to the government. That’s understandable.

However, as explained in Rich Dad Poor Dad, when the government decides to increase tax it’s the middle-income people who are affected the most, not the rich. Why? Because the ‘middle-class’ don’t know about money and so will simply pay and not argue. They are ‘scared’ of money and so won’t discuss it with anyone and won’t try to understand it.  The rich will always find ways to pay less tax (hopefully legally) because they want to understand their wealth.

As a college student, it’s important to understand tax. It’s a fundamental part of our society and it’s a great tool when used by our governments correctly. However, know what you are paying. Don’t overpay, don’t underpay. Know when you can use tax advantages, know when you are allowed tax cuts and know what your money is being used for.

As you can see, being financially literate will completely change your entire life (and we’re just getting started). Imagine not having to worry about money? Not having to work a job you hate just for a steady income? It’s far from impossible, which is why I encourage college students to do what education hasn’t: financially educate themselves. Do some Money Experiments, take an online course, read some books. Once you go financially literate, you never go back (it doesn’t rhyme I know).