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Credit crunch: you worried?

What the Credit Crunch Means for Students …
The media loves negativity and the newspapers will be talking about the credit crunch for quite a while to come. It’s easy to be dragged down with the panic and concern but students shouldn’t be worried about the credit crunch, they should however, be concerned about other financial issues.

Cheap money
The credit crunch means there isn’t enough ‘cheap money’ to lend people for things like mortgages and credit cards. Mortgages and credit cards are not high on a students priority list. High street banks are still going to be giving out 0% student overdrafts and the Student Loans Company (SLC) are still going to be giving out money, students are in the same situation as they were pre-credit crunch.

The worry for students right now is the rising cost of oil, gas, electricity and food

Time to worry?
The worry for students right now is the rising cost of oil, gas, electricity and food. The rising cost of oil puts travel costs up which raises food costs. All this puts strain on a student’s restricted budget. Food costs are rising all the time, which means students, need to be careful what and where they buy their food. Asda is still by far the cheapest supermarket.

Use these tips to reduce your food bill:
-    Make a list before you go shopping to stop impulse buys
-    Check the ‘use by date’ before putting it in your trolley so you don’t have to buy new food when yours goes off
-    Try own brand food, in most cases it tastes the same as the brand name
-    Shop later in the day to see more reduced offers in store. Freeze this food to eat later in the week.

If anything, the rising cost of oil should help keep you slim!

What about bills?
The other issue at the moment is expensive gas and electricity bills. To keep costs down you need to get greener. Start switching things off as soon as you’ve used them and make sure you don’t leave TVs on standby. It’s time to switch your light bulbs over to the energy saving ones.

Savings
One way to make sure you are in good stead to fight the credit crunch after university is to make sure you are putting money into a savings account. You’ll find out how to put thousands in the bank whilst at uni in our book coming out at the end of August (it’ll be available free on our site).

So, the credit crunch won’t bite you as a student but be prepared for the crunch once you finish university. Use this time where we having rising fuel costs as a time to get slim and be environmentally friendly.

Other things you'd be interested in
yougo students write about money
Martin Lewis writes for yougo
National Helpline with all the debt advice you need
wealthystudent.co.uk (opens new window)

How has the credit cruch effected you? Perhaps it hasn't? Join the debate in the yougo forums

Steve Burford
wealthystudent.co.uk

Terry

I think perhaps the emphasis on being 'slim' is very silly, what if this article spurs on a student with an eating disorder? More to the point you haven't mentioned meal sharing as a group of students this can save a lot of money and allow everyone to get a better balanced diet. You also haven't suggested wearing a few jumpers when it gets cold instead of hiking up the heaters, or buying a cheap to run heater (£50 is a lot but it is a good investment on a ceramic heater that can save money and energy, and many parents would happily invest in this for a student).

added 04 / 06 / 08 01:31

burf16

Hi Terry,

Thanks for your comments about the article. The reason why I have mentioned that oil prices could cause people to lose some weight is mostly logical. With oil prices rising it means food costs more and therefore if you want to stick to the same budget you are going to have to buy less food. Also, the rising cost of travel will probably cause you to walk more or get a bicycle and therefore keep fit and be a bit slimmer. I'm not telling anyone to starve themselves or anything like that. It's just that less food and more exercise generally means losing a bit of weight.

I haven't mentioned the jumpers and heaters because it's summer at the moment and therefore not so relevant, they are both very good points though.

By all means, there are many ways to save money and through wealthystudent.co.uk over coming the weeks and the free information we give that you'll also find on this site we will be helping students to save students as much money as possible!

added 05 / 06 / 08 10:54