Students - here's how you could save money this summer

Reporter: Martha Southall
Date published: 30 July 2018


As University College Oldham prepares to take in its next cohort, we feel now is the ideal time to look at the best student money-saving solutions for 2018.

Don't miss the red carpet of discounts and freebies that businesses are rolling out for financially savvy students, and learn how to best manage anything you have left over!

Firstly, you may already have a bank account, but that shouldn't stop you from shopping around.

Banks are lining up to provide students with bank accounts, and they're willing to provide all manner of incentives to prove it.

Our favourite is the HSBC student bank account, which allows an overdraft of up to £3,000 in your third year.

To sweeten the deal, the bank account comes with an £80 Amazon gift card and twelve months of Prime student, access to 3% regular savings account and exclusive discounts for everything from Blackpool Pleasure Beach to Deliveroo.

For those willing to accept a lower overdraft of £1,500, the Santander 123 student current account offers a free 16-25 railcard (taking a third off rail travel for four years).

The same discount with National Express coaches can be found with RBS and Natwest student current accounts.

Once you have organised where you'll be storing your money, you'll want to avoid any nasty shocks. Personal finance apps are an easy way to manage finances from the palm of your hand.

Students can secure exclusive discounts for everything from Blackpool Pleasure Beach to Deliveroo

The free Mint app, for example, brings together bank accounts, credit cards and monthly bills in one place.

From there you can create a budget and track your spending.

If you find your spending habits leave you with a little left over, then the free Chip app is perfect.

An automatic savings bot, it monitors your spending patterns and automatically puts whatever you can afford into a savings account where it can earn interest until you (inevitably) need it.

Now you have managed your finances, it's time to find somewhere to spend.

Particularly for those in city centres, everyday items can seem very expensive, but they are often cheaper for students if you know where to look.

UNiDAYS is a free website and app offering huge savings - all you'll need to sign up is a student email address. Unmissable deals such as 20% of Missguided, 50% off Spotify premium and 20% off Puregym make it easy to treat yourself and keep active on a budget.

Savethestudent.org and studentmoneysaver.co.uk also are also good sources of money-saving opportunities.

At some point, it'll probably be time to start thinking about studying.

Once you're set up with a laptop - reduced, of course, with 20% off Microsoft surface and up to 50% off Dell with UNiDAYS - it'll need software. Luckily, the entire Microsoft Office suite is totally free for students from the Microsoft website.

Furthermore, sites such as Abebooks are always worth checking before you splash out on that course textbook. Most university libraries will stock the books you need, but returning home can hit the pocket if you've forgotten to bring them with you.

Before worrying, though, check whether your institution is signed up to the SCONUL Access scheme.

This allows students from participating universities to borrow books from each other's libraries once they have applied for access.

The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University are both members and could be lifesavers in an essay crisis.

Finally, for those looking to travel, a International Student Identity Card offers discounts from Brighton to Berlin and can double as an I.D. when you need it!


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