Student advice?

Hi, I am a student in my first year of university and i was wondering whether any of you insightful people could help with my concerns about money. I have a student loan that gets paid in every term, but it only works out that i live off of about sixty pounds a week. This has to pay for food, gas, electricity, rent and travel expenses to and from university every day. It does not allow me to purchase the books and equipment that I am required to get, and I am unable to get a job as my timetable does not allow this. I am unsure of whether you are able to claim dole money if you are a student struggling and I dont think I meet the criteria needed for getting a grant, as my parents both work( I cannot sponge off of them however). Any advice? Thanks

Student advice?
You can't claim the dole and the only way to get a grant is to get a company or foundation to give you one (which is difficult) or to be studying for a PHD or a MA/MSc. You can get a special "hardship loan" from the student loan company in addition to your student loan (it's about £200-£500) this should cover you books.


What I did was to work Sundays in a shop for 5 hours a week. That gave me £25 to pay for books and sometimes beer. Mmm... beer....


Basically you have to learn to live on pretty much nothing for most of the time. Some of my friends worked 30 hours a week while a student to cover bills and buy enough food. One of my friends, Clair, worked as the manageress of an off licence shop full time and still managed a 2:1 grade (she spent 3 years of her life constantly stressed and tired so I would not recomend this!).





Good luck! I am sure you will find some way to get by.
Reply:I would suggest speaking to one of your tutors or the Head of Department - you may be entitled to something you are unaware of. They will be able to advise you so good luck.
Reply:Hi, no you wont be able to get dole money, my son is at uni and finds it very hard sometimes, he lives in halls so he has his food, washing %26amp; rent to pay out of his, where he is lucky tho all his gas/elec are in with the price of the rent, we have helped out as much as we could, but he realised he couldn't rely on us all the time, the only thing he could do was go to his bank to talk things thru, they offered him an overdraft on his student account (thats where his loan goes into), by the end of each term he is usually just into it.It's not easy being a student nowadays, why not try talking to a senior member of the staff that deal with the financial side of things, you may be entitled to the grant, but good luck with whatever you decide to do
Reply:i was extremely hard up at uni and had no parental help. i had long lectures so got an evening job. If you need the money you will be able to find time to fit in a job to get some extra cash!! give the grant a go as well you might be able to get a little as there is often quite a lot of money to give for hardship funds. Ask a tutor or similar for advice and anything else to uni might be able to offer you financially. You will almost certainly be able to fin stuff u need for your course second hand, look at some auction or trading websites i cant remember the ones i used
Reply:I hate to say this, but you can't claim dole! Sorry!





I am having the same money struggles as you and I know exactly what you're going through. Depending on your course, if you do a sandwich year (work placment in industry) then you can earn some money for a year to help sort you out, this is normally the third year of the course.





I am currently in my final year at university and last year I done a placement, however I am struggling even more than before with money and I can't get a job due to uni!





All I can suggest is use money wisely, a difficult task I realise but this is what the rest of your time at uni will be like.





Good luck and I hope you sort your money troubles, the worst thing you can do is get yourself into debt, if you get by you'll be fine! But try to enjoy life as a student you won't get the chance once you're in the working world!
Reply:Why can't your parents help to support you while you continue your education? That is what parents do. It should not be considered "sponging". In the US full time students in college are still considered legal dependants of their parents. Although my daughter had a job and students loans while she went to college I did supplement her income some so that she would not struggle so much. I never felt as if she were "sponging" as she was my responsibility until she graduated.
Reply:Unfortunately you will have to look for work that fits around your timetable. I am currently studying part time and working full time it's the only way i could manage to do it.

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