Advice from a third year student

Starting university most often means receiving your first student loan. This can be both exciting and daunting if you don’t know what to expect.

In this blog we will be discussing what the loan often covers, what to do to receive your loan, tips of what to do when you receive your loan and how to make it last.

Your student loan often pays for your course which is a tuition loan and then if you choose you get a maintenance loan on top of this, this contributes towards your living expenses. To apply for a student loan, you can go onto the Student Finance England website where you can see if you are eligible. Student finance is a loan where you borrow money and then pay it back slowly once you earn over a certain threshold.

For the tuition loan, to pay for your course fees, once this is approved by student finance, this is then done automatically and paid to the university. This means you don’t have to worry about paying your first loan to the university as this is an automatic process which pays your fees. Your maintenance loan is separate from this. After you apply for your maintenance loan it will then go to your parents, guardians or whoever you live with to fill out their income. This will then determine the amount of loan which you will receive. So, check with them that they have done this. Following this you will then receive a confirmation letter by post. You can also log into your account on the website to view the progress of your application.

It is important once your application is approved that you then log into the student finance website to fill in some extra details. This could stop you getting paid on time so if you do not receive your money this may be why. You will need to fill in your bank details, national insurance number and your identity proof. The university will then need to ensure that you have enrolled on your course and inform student finance of this. Once all of this is done you will receive a text a few days before letting you know your student finance is due to arrive. Student finance usually comes in on the week your course starts which for many courses at Coventry is September 16th. If there is a delay or you do not receive a text message be sure to log into your account and also contact them if you should have any issues.

Once this is all done you are now ready to receive your first loan!

Receiving your first loan can be daunting. It can be difficult to know what to do with it all or you may want to spend it all at once. It is important to remember that it is to last the whole semester, so you want to budget so it lasts.

Here are our top tips on how to do this.

First of all, focus on the essentials. Rent is important, pay this first if you can for the whole semester which you can do in FutureLets accommodations. If you can’t do this and pay monthly, then try and put the rent money aside into a separate account so you know that that is what the money is for and so you don’t spend it. Next, if you have any other bills to pay put this money aside too.

After you have done this look at the money you have left and then split this over the 4 months you need to keep it for. If you have a job or any other income, factor this in too and try and budget all your money.

If you need tips for budgeting and saving your money. Firstly, try and buy your food in first, a weekly or fortnightly shop with meal plans can really help you split the loan and make it last longer. As well as freezing your meals so they last longer. A big food shop instead of takeaways is a really good way to save money.

Being a student can often involve lots of social events. Remember to have fun but also there is lots of things you and your friends can do for free or cheap such as walks, picnics, movie nights and lots more. Also, most of our Reslife events are free and are a great way to spend time with friends whilst keeping to a budget. We have lots of events all across the semester to get involved in.

The important message is to not get too overwhelmed by your student loan, it is manageable and something you will get very used to with time as more arrive. Remember everyone else is in the same boat so chat to friends too about this as they may have some more strategies of ways they budget their loans.

We hope you enjoyed this blog and learnt something about how to handle receiving your first student loan. Remember to check out our Reslife events which are most often free and a great way to meet new people!

This blog was written by Residential Assistant Leila.