The small print applicants will be shown about student loans
Following criticism of the three-year freeze in the repayment threshold in England, the government is updating the guidance applicants see — and it will spell out that governments can change the terms after you have borrowed, and that career choices affect what you repay. Nothing about existing loans changes. What changes is that the risk is now stated up front. Student finance explained covers how repayment works.
Living at home or moving out, with the sums attached
The Guardian looks at the rise in students commuting from home — driven by rent, enabled by timetables compressed into fewer days — and weighs what it costs against what it costs to move out, including the part that does not appear on a spreadsheet. If you are commuting, the timetable is worth checking before the tenancy or the term ticket. Commuter students covers making it work.
How to join a society without joining nine of them
The dos and don’ts of the societies fair: sign up to fewer than you want, go to the first session of each rather than paying membership first, and treat the niche ones as seriously as the big ones — the show choir is as likely to be the thing that sticks. Joining societies covers the commitment involved.
Where the money actually goes in the first term
A Leeds student’s account of arriving each semester feeling rich and ending it broke, with the leaks named specifically: saying yes to every social, the weekend takeaway that replaces a shop, and the taxi home that costs more than the night out. The fix proposed is unglamorous — decide the nights that matter before the week starts, and keep the money for them separate — and it works. Budgeting covers building one you will keep to.