Student Budget Calculator

How To Work Out Your Budget

When you see your student loan in your bank account, it can seem like a lot of money. You’ll think that paying your rent, bills, and other essential costs for the rest of the year will be no problem.

However, your student loan often doesn’t give you as much financial freedom as you’d expect and essential outgoings are usually more expensive than first estimated. It might sound boring, but keeping on top of your spending will make your life easier in the long run and stop you stressing when the rent needs to be paid.

To help you figure out how much money you’ve got for the fun stuff without running the risk of not being able to afford the essentials, we’ve put together a basic student budget calculator. 

Work out what you’ve got coming in

The first step to good money management is to work out exactly how much money you’ve got to start off with. You do this by adding up your income, which includes:

• Your student loan
• Any grants, bursaries, or scholarships you will receive
• Any earnings from a part time job
• Any savings you may have that are going to be used to fund your education 

Work out what you’ll have going out

Once you know what you’ve got to spend you need to work out what you’re going to have to spend it on. List all of your essential outgoings, including:

• Your tuition fees
• Course materials – books, equipment, notebooks etc.
• Your rent
• All household bills – water, gas, electricity, internet etc.
• Household/contents insurance
• Travel costs – public transport or your car
• Any debts you already have – for example credit card repayments
• Phone bill
• Food
• Household supplies – toilet roll, washing up liquid etc.

Work out your non-essential costs

Any money left over after the essentials are paid for is free to spend on non-essentials. Looking out for student discount offers can help stretch this money further for purchases such as:

• Beauty products and non-essential toiletries
• Clothes, shoes etc.
• Socialising
• Takeaways
• Anything that isn’t on your essentials list!