1. Budgeting at University When you are at university, your costs will increase by a considerable amount. You may choose to live on your own during your degree, which will mean paying for bills, food, and other things you might not have considered. Everyone needs to budget! By doing this, you can make sure that you are in control of your money, and not left without cash due to overspending.

2. At the end of this lesson, you should: Be able to understand why it is so important to budget. Learn some tips and tricks for stretching your cash at university. We’ll begin by looking at general costs....

3. Food is one of the most important things you will spend your money on at university, but it’s easy to spend money unnecessarily if you just pick things up while you shop. Task 1: Using the work sheets you’ve been provided with, write down what you may eat for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for five days. Also note down any snacks and drinks you may want during that time. Food & Drink

4. Task 2: Now, think about the other items you may add to your shopping list on a weekly basis such as cleaning products, toothpaste and toilet paper. Go on to the Asda website and add all the items to your shopping basket. Try and see if you can keep to a budget of £30 or if you find it hard to do with the list you’ve created. If you go over the budget, look at what you can do to get it below £30.

5. Some general budgeting tips... When your student loan arrives, it’s easy to celebrate and end up spending too much. Manage your money wisely at the beginning of the month. Set up a student bank account – there are plenty of extra rewards you can get from them like student railcards that give you discount on travel. Have two bank accounts – one of these you can use to pay rent or bills, whilst the other can be for recreational activities, clothes and socialising. Get a student discount card and search for places that do special student discount offers.