Saving Your Student’s Savings
We have just waved goodbye to our eldest daughter and, alongside reminding her to pack all charger cables and showing her how to make her favourite macaroni cheese, I wanted to share some basic practical tips that we gave her to make her income go a little bit further. It’s easy to feel rich at the start of your first year, but as the weeks go by, the freshers (or finalists) in your life might feel the benefit of a few easy financial hints and tips.
Look for every student discount possible, whether it’s lower price takeaway food on some days of the week, free entry to a club or a healthy discount from their favourite online clothing retailer every Monday. Ensure that standard store loyalty cards offered to all supermarket and chain coffee store customers are also uploaded on their phone, so that they get that 10th cup of oat caramel cappuccino fro free, or £5 of shopping vouchers in November.
If the meals in hall residence are included in the cost of accommodation, eat them. It’s so easy to feel like a takeaway pizza on mushroom stroganoff night, but the extra £12 spend will add up by the end of the term. If this is an important treat to make sure that the essay crisis is averted, make sure it’s in the budget and doesn’t leave a hole in finances later on when end of term party season kicks in.
Take advantage of the free contents insurance offered by Endsleigh in many student hostels. This saves upping the premiums on Mum and Dad’s policy, and ensures the iPad, laptop and expensive speakers are definitely covered should the shower upstairs flood.
Check that your student is paying for the right phone and data package. We are all guilty of leaving direct debits to EE, Vodafone or Virgin rolling month after month without asking what we are using in terms of data and who provides access to this at the best rate. It might not be possible to change provider immediately, but even if this is a job for 2025, encourage them to be proactive at the right time and not simply focus on their phone make and model of choice (actually, encourage them to look at the data AND the phone make and model of choice. Asking them to care more about data cost than whether it’s an iPhone 16 professional is too bit an ask!).
And when it comes time to head home for the holidays, shop around for train and coach fares. Taking transport at anti-social times might actually fit into the typical student day well and they are likely to be able to be more flexible on dates and times than other travellers. Differences of hundreds of pounds in pricing are possible on longer train fares simply by moving the day of the week and the time of day that travel takes place.
This article was prepared by Tracy Coghill, our Client Experience Manager. We always appreciate your feedback. If you have enjoyed this article or have any specific topics you would like to see addressed in future newsletters, please email us.