University

[Abbie]

Ok some of that makes sense to me, Im not good with numbers and banks, thats why im trying to read up on the stuff now, so I will finally understand it when the time comes

[Katy]

I manage to live off my loan and i have been self catered, i find it easier as sometimes we share food and cook together.

Last year there were 12 of us to a kitchen, it was interesting to say the least, this year in the house it is a bit less hectic!

[Abigail]

Shop around with your student account. Don't go for the freebies, they are usually rubbish deals. And stay away from the Halifax. They messed me around like nobody's business charging me for unauthorised overdrafts when it was their fault.

[di marco]

in my first year i was self catered with shared facilities with 5 of us in a house. i definitely think self catered is best as you can cook what you want and as others have said its very socialable, and also i went to eat a few times with friends who were in catered and the food was disgusting! also, it might differ slightly from uni to uni, but at my uni if youre in catered you only got breakfast and half a main meal paid for or no breakfast and a full main meal paid for during the week and only breakfast at weekends which isnt good when the size of the catered kitchens here were the same size as the cupboard in my house and only had a microwave, sink and small fridge for 8 of them!

i think it depends whether shared or ensuite is best, the house ive been in the past 2yrs is ensuite and i absolutely love it as i can get up as late as i want for my lectures and not have to worry about someone else being in the bathroom and spend as long as i like in there and not worry about other people needing to use it. although i had shared facilities in my first year, there was 5 of us sharing a shower and 2 toilets, which worked out quite well seeing as mostly we didnt all have early lectures at the same time. if you are thinking about having shared facilities id definitely recommend looking at what they are like first as some unis i looked at the bathrooms were disgusting and shared with lots of people and the halls at my uni have horrible bathrooms as well but luckily the ones in the houses were nice and we had a cleaner once a week so you didnt have to clean the bathroom after everyone else had used it. id say definitely dont rule out shared facilities straight away before youve had a look at the accomodation, as although i wanted ensuite to start with, it was a lot more expensive (it was over £1000 more expensive at my uni) and as long as the bathroom is nice and theres not too many of you sharing then its not as bad as you might first think, especially as i managed to cope being the only girl sharing with 4 boys for the whole year! id definitely recommend going self catered though unless the catering at the uni you want to go to is excellent!

[di marco]

Abbie, don't worry about getting a job. I know a few people who have jobs but they are locals and it makes sense for them to keep their jobs. The majority of students here don't have jobs. It will depend on how much you get for your loan and the cost of living at your uni as to if you need a job.

i agree about the jobs. most people i know dont have jobs and we havent starved yet! the few people i know who have jobs, although they have more money, are always so stressed cos they dont have time to do everything. ive found as well that its easy to earn extra cash by helping the pyschology students with their experiments (can get between £2 - £5 for a 20min experiment, some even pay £20 for 1hr!) and you can get paid £5 an hour for doing campus tours when needed or even just staying in your room all day while campus tours are happening so people can look at what your rooms like, so you might have something like that at the uni you go to if you ever need to earn a bit of extra money

Don't stress about it, my mum was the same until I gave her all the info on grants, loans and bursaries. BTW, every university has to give a bursary to students who are paying the full £3k+ tuition fees. It's means tested but you will get something. You should get your full entitlement through around July and your accommodation allocation when you confirm in August so you can budget then.[/QUOTE]

when did that come about, the university bursary thing? do you have to apply to the uni directly or should you just automatically get it? as i dont think ive had it, unless ive just not noticed!

[di marco]

Set up a student account at a bank that offers 0% interest on a decent sized overdraft and will convert to a graduate account after you graduate (no interest on grad accts). I'm with HSBC and I've got a £1k 0% overdraft, which goes up every September by about £1k to a max of £7k in the fifth year.

Shop around with your student account. Don't go for the freebies, they are usually rubbish deals. And stay away from the Halifax. They messed me around like nobody's business charging me for unauthorised overdrafts when it was their fault.

i agree with that. my overdraft is either £1.5k or £2k and interest free, and is definitely very useful having it! although some banks dont just give the overdraft to you, you have to ask for it when you set up the account, as my housemate has had problems trying to get hers changed as she didnt originally ask for the full overdraft and so only got given £100, dont know what bank that was though. also, although most of the free deals are rubbish or not that useful in the long run, its worth looking at them as some might be benefitical to you, i get a free railcard with mine every year and for the next 2 years after i graduate which gives me a third off of all train journeys which is good for me as i use the train a lot, although obviously worthless to people who dont!

[Abigail]

Don't stress about it, my mum was the same until I gave her all the info on grants, loans and bursaries. BTW, every university has to give a bursary to students who are paying the full £3k+ tuition fees. It's means tested but you will get something. You should get your full entitlement through around July and your accommodation allocation when you confirm in August so you can budget then.

when did that come about, the university bursary thing? do you have to apply to the uni directly or should you just automatically get it? as i dont think ive had it, unless ive just not noticed!

It's on the last page of the loan application form about bursaries. Don't tick the box, then the SLC will send details of your loan and parent's income to the university, who will then assess how much bursary you receive.

I don't know if it's just for 2008 students onwards. Ask your student services about it. Ours are paid in two instalments at the end of Feb and end of March.

[Abi]

Bursaries differ between each university, actually. We get payments in December and April, for a start. Also, you apply to the university directly when you get here, whether you ticked that box or not. You give your name in, they look up your details, and send you a letter telling you how much they will pay you - Its very easy.

[Trinity]

We give student bursaries to a variety of students and some are not means tested.

They are generally for £1000 a year and are paid in monthly installments direct into bank accounts.

students have to apply at the time of accepting a place directly to the University.

I work at a University in Edinburgh, so the system will be different to most English universities.

[di marco]

thanks everyone i might ask my housemates and see if they knew about it/got any money and then go and see the people who sort out the bursaries and stuff on campus and ask them