After the excitement of last week’s A’Level results day passes, the reality for many students will set in. Balancing their time and money at university will be a challenge.
According to recent research, over a quarter of students expect to rely on part-time work for money and 26% say that shortage of money is a real concern.
UNIAID has teamed up with the National Union of Students (NUS) and the financial advice team from the University of Teesside to help by launching a new online tool.
The ‘UNIAID Student Calculator’ aims to diffuse the confusion around student finance and give practical budgeting help to prospective and existing students. It is now available online for free.
The ‘UNIAID Student Calculator’ enables students to build a lifestyle budget, looking at their time as well as money, so they can learn how to keep their finances, social lives, employment and studies in balance.
Data from the NUS/Unipol Accommodation Costs Survey 2007 has been provided so that students can get an accurate budget, based on their location. They can also read expert advice from the NUS as they journey through the tool.
By using the ‘UNIAID Student Calculator’, students can:
1) Calculate their statutory support and learn about different sources of income
2) Build a lifestyle budget by week, month and year
3) Understand the demands the course will have on their time as well as their money
4) Save their budget so they can use it before and during their course of study
5) View budgets of case studies and read top tips from students