Costing up Postgraduate life - advice from a student

Laura Anne is a postgraduate student at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education, where she is studying for a PgDip/MEd in Community Learning and Development. She works part-time as the manager of a local charity in Edinburgh and volunteers with Girlguiding UK. Laura Anne is a massive fan of gymnastics and Hearts FC. She loves to spend time with her friends at the beach, and hopes one day to live in a country with warmer waves to surf in.

One of my 10 year old Guides (one of my roles in life is a Girlguiding leader) was asking me why I was still at university. I had to explain that I’ve not been in university continuously since I was 17, and what a postgraduate qualification is.

“So do your Mum and Dad pay for it?” she asked me.

There was a lesson to be learned when I had to explain that when you’re a grown up your parents stop paying for everything. But it’s an interesting question as we sit sometimes on those stressful weeks and wonder if the sacrifice will be worth it. Will we all get jobs at the end of this? Most of us have had help in one form or another to get here. Some of us have had loans from family members. Some paid for tuition through money they had inherited. Some of us have moved back in with our parents to save money.

Do look into any possibilities of scholarships or bursaries and apply to them if there is any chance you are eligible for them. Unfortunately, there were none for my course that I found to apply for so I saved up for a few years and looked around to find a course option that was affordable – doing it in a neighbouring city even with the cost of commuting was cheaper than doing the same course in my hometown’s university. The timetable setup has also been deliberately designed to allow people to continue working. This was important for me as I have a job I love, plus I couldn’t afford to stop working and pay for university tuition as well.

Here are some of the ways that I’ve been trying to stick to a budget…

1. Make use of student discounts – I love that I now get discount at the cinema, and it’s always worth asking whenever.

2. Don’t get a credit card if at all possible – It will cost you more in the long run. I learned that one from my undergraduate degree and how long it took me to pay off credit cards and overdrafts. It’s too easy to spend what you don’t have.

3. Cook and freeze – it costs less to buy in bulk. Every few weeks I will cook a big pot of chilli or soup, and do baking and divide it into portions and freeze it so I can do number 4!

4. Take in your own lunch. They do give decent enough food on campus, and it reasonably enough priced, but it’s still much cheaper to bring your own. Buy a food flask, and you can even have a hot meal in wintertime. My food flask has paid for itself in dividends now.

5. If you do a lot of train travel, get your young persons railcard – student services will be able to fill in a form you can get from their website to prove you are a mature student if you’re over 25. I get the train to my classes – the travel cost is about £22 for a return fare, using my railcard it’s only £14.

6. Charity shops have some great quality stuff – bags, clothes…much cheaper than buying new. 

7. I have two bank accounts – any time I’ve got money leftover at the end of the month I will put it in my second bank account which I use as my ‘treat’ account. This pays for going out with friends, holidays and things like that.

8. Loyalty card schemes – the ones which don’t cost you to join. I got several Christmas presents for friends and family from supermarket loyalty card point schemes!
 

>Read more about cheap living as a postgraduate student

>Apply for one of our postgraduate bursaries