How to budget at university and how to keep finances on track

Budgeting at university can be difficult as you’ll need to split your money a few different ways as you buy food, pay for accommodation and/or bills, going out with friends and more.

There are plenty of ways students can budget their money and to help you out, Save The Student! have rounded up some tips on how to do it.

The website suggests ways you can keep on top of your finances during university.

Working out your income and how much you plan to spend on essentials is a good place to start when it comes to budgeting (Image: Canva)

How to budget at university

Setting a budget is important so you don’t get yourself into financial trouble and add stress to your studies.

First though, you’ll need to calculate your budget and this can be done in four steps.

Work out your income – what money do you have coming in? A student’s maintenance loan will be dished out in three instalments throughout the year or if you’re from Scotland, you’ll receive it monthly.

Your income can refer to your maintenance loan, any bursaries you might have received, money that your parents may have given you, earnings from a part-time job you might have or your savings.

Once you know how much money you have to play with, you’ll need to work out your outgoings – all the things you’ll be spending money on.

This can range from rent to alcohol on a night out at Freshers – remember to consider both essential and non-essential outgoings.

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A rough guess at outgoings can work but if you need help, Save The Student! has a guide on the average student living costs here.

How to work out a student budget

When you know what expenses you’ll have, breaking it down into a weekly budget will show you how much you can spend per week as a maximum and any leftover will be a bonus.

To work out your weekly budget, work out your total income for a term at university then minus your essential expenses for that same time frame.

Divide the number that gives you by the number of weeks you have in that term.

Here’s an example: If you have £3,000 to spend in the first term and your essential expenses total £1,500, you would have a budget of £125 per week if you had a 12 week term.

Goal setting can also help keep you on track with your finances.

These goals can be simple as cutting down the amount of money you spend on takeaways each month or try some cheaper ways to exercise if you find your gym membership is taking a lot of your student loan.

Is it cheaper to keep the heating on low all day?

Student budgeting tools

Some students might find it easier to keep track of their spending habits by using visual tools.

Save The Student! recommends using a spreadsheet, budgeting apps or student budget calculators.

You could also try the standing order trick which involves splitting your student loan or any other income you get in your bank account to another account, maybe into a separate current account or a savings account.

You can then set up a payment that repeats on the days you set it to, either as a Direct Debit or standing order. Internet banking makes this easy and you’ll be able to gradually add money to your current account instead of spending large chunks of it as soon as you’re paid.

If you find that you need more cash during one week you can manually add more money into your current account but you might stop to think whether you really need to use that money before you do.

You can find out more about student budgeting and how to make your money go further as a student via the Save The Student! website.