Making savings as a student

With students facing growing debt as they emerge from university, it seems they will have a longer hangover than if they spent the weekend at the college bar. Yet, they won’t get to spend too much time at the bar if they can’t afford it or have to work all their spare time to afford their university years.

So is there any way they can enjoy themselves without letting debt get out of control? There are actually plenty of ways to save a little bit here and there by choosing your financial products carefully and making use of opportunities for students.

Banks don’t give much away these days, but there are some free gifts around. Barclays  is giving away a dozen cinema tickets; Lloyds TSB is giving away a year of free mobile insurance; Halifax offers discounts on travel insurance and AA breakdown cover; NatWest is offering a five-year Young Person’s Railcard (YPR).

Joining the National Union of Students (NUS) gives you access to a range of opportunities. The basic Democracy Card acts as your student ID and enables you to get cheap beer, food and get into cheap gigs. The average cost of a pint in the real world is £2.30, but in the student world it’s much lower at £1.94 – so stay on campus. You can get an NUS Extra card for £10 (it’s free with Lloyds TSB) – it’s a new discount card available to members of an NUS-affiliated students’ union. This can give you great savings, such as discounts of 5 to 30% at Domino’s Pizza, Ticketmaster, Amazon.co.uk, Superdrug, Topshop, McDonalds, lonelyplanet.com and STA Travel amongst others. That’s a great range of outlets where every student should find something to their taste.

A YPR is available to 16 to 25 year-olds, or mature students in full-time education. It costs £20, but will save you a third on most rail tickets, so you should make your money back pretty quickly. The NatWest deal offers you the YPR free for five years, so you would save an extra £100. The card can be used on most train journeys, but there are some restrictions to look out for – particularly before 10am on weekdays. In addition, possession of a YPR will get you more discounts at Rough Guides (20%), food outlets at stations (20%) and you can get 2-for-1 entry at a number of London attractions.

For coach travel, National Express has its NX2 discount card. This is not just available to students, but to everyone aged 16 to 26. It costs £10, lasts for a calendar year, and will save you up to 30% on each trip.

If you have an NUS card or an international student card, you can also get 10% off purchases at HMV, and an NUS Extra card also gives you 5% off at Amazon. Most cinema chains – including Odeon, Cineworld and Vue - offer discounts to students, and if you’re an Orange mobile or broadband customer, Orange Wednesday gives you two tickets for the price of one.

Lastminute.com also has deals for students, including cut-price theatre tickets, and discounts on meals, and restaurant-theatre combinations.

You should also be able to find discounts for students advertised locally, such as deals in cafes, pubs, bars, with student nights designed to lure you in and get you … well, happy.

If you keep your eyes peeled you could also spot cheap food available at places like Greggs and Benjys, which sometimes offer food left over on a Saturday evening for a bargain price. It’s not a gourmet meal – but you’re a student, remember!

• These savings can come to quite a lot.
  If you buy two CDs a month at HMV, with discounts you would save £2.39 a month, or £28.68 a year.
• Shopping online at CD Wow with your NUS card you can get free delivery to save £9 a month, or £108 a year.
• One visit a month to a Vue cinema would save you £2.90 a month, or £34.80 a year.
• Banking with Barclays would save you £108 a month at the cinema, or a customer with Orange would save £4.50 a month or £54 a year.
• Train journeys can represent big savings. A Birmingham to Manchester return would save you £9.50. A supersaver Swansea to London return would save you £20.05, and a Liverpool to Edinburgh ticket could save you £19.95.

Of course, you have to be wary of false economies. Don’t go buying all that stuff just for the sake of it! If you were going to buy something, then try and get a deal at an outlet with the best offering. In addition, you’re unlikely to be able to make use of all the savings – you can’t have a bank account everywhere! Your main problem will be what to do with all that spare cash!

Invest it wisely.