A free bus between campus and the station, for a year
The University of Manchester and Transport for Greater Manchester have relaunched the free 41 bus between Manchester Victoria and campus for a year, aimed squarely at travel costs for students who commute. Manchester only, but it is the kind of deal worth asking your own students’ union about: transport is the second largest cost after rent for anyone living out. Commuter students covers making that work.
A parent who downsized the family home to fund two degrees
Sarah Able, 60, moved from a four-bedroom house in Nottingham to a two-bedroom terrace to put £30,000 towards her sons’ university costs. It is one family, but it illustrates the part of the system that is rarely stated out loud: the maintenance loan is calculated on household income and assumes a parental contribution that no one is obliged to make. Student finance explained sets out how that assessment works.
Five things to know before starting at Birmingham
A short guide for incoming Birmingham students on the things that catch people out in the first month — where the cheap food is, which buses run late, and how quickly the beige-food diet arrives if nobody plans meals. City-specific, but the pattern holds everywhere. Eating well on a student budget is the general version.
The freebie is not the reason to pick a student account
The Guardian’s guidance to freshers on student bank accounts: the sign-up perks are designed to hook a customer for life, and the number that actually matters is the interest-free overdraft — how much is available in first year, how it grows, and how long it stays interest-free after you graduate. Switching later is easy; being overdrawn on commercial terms is not. How to choose a student bank account covers the comparison.