For a lot of people, going to university is the last step before adulthood.
The summer is often full of excitement for what the next stage brings, and it is also the best way for you to start preparing yourself for your degree and ultimately moving away from home.
If you just don’t feel prepared for what the future holds, then this guide will talk you through everything you need to know.
Setup a student bank account
If you are a student, then you need to make sure that you have a bank account. If you do not have a bank account yet, then this is something you need to get sorted out.
Getting a bank account will help you if something goes wrong and allows you to qualify for interest-free overdrafts or even rail cards.
If you do have a bank account right now then this is great, but at the same time, it does help to make sure that you open a student one as well. If you don’t then you may find that you end up struggling later on as you won’t be able to qualify for the same discounts.
Learn the basics
Do you know how to use the washing machine? How to cook dinner? How to pay a bill? If not, then now is the time for you to get familiar with those things.
You need to learn how to cook easy meals and you also need to avoid ready meals if possible. The main reason for this is that they are full of salt, and they are not good for you at all.
Sit with your parents and ask them to talk you through how things are done so you can prepare yourself for the future. If you can do this, you will soon see that everything ends up working in your favour.
Learn to budget
Everyone thinks that they are rich when their student loan comes in, but the truth is that it probably won’t go as far as you’d think.
When you pay your rent and for your food, you may find that you don’t have much left to take care of everything else. If you want to help yourself then make sure you undertake a crash course in budgeting.
Saving up some money before you go to college will help a lot here too, so be mindful of that if you can. If you struggle to save then one thing you can do is set up a bank account and then transfer a small amount of money every month to that account, so you can save up over time without having to devote much thought to putting away.
This is a great way for you to prepare yourself for any expenses you might not be quite ready for, or unexpected costs so keep that in mind.
Use social media
Social media is a fantastic resource, and you should certainly be trying to use it to your advantage. Make some friends and even learn a bit about the college itself. You can get in touch with your flatmates too.
Of course, now would be the time for you to make sure that you are learning everything there is to know about the college in question. Do they have a higher education enterprise system? Do they listen to the students? Do they offer extra-curricular activities?
You can usually find out all you need to know online, so make sure you give this some serious thought.
Decide what to take with you
You don’t need to take your whole bedroom with you when you go to university. Pack only what you need, because as always, you can take more things with you later on.
Make sure that you check your accommodation to see what is provided and look over your course so you can see if there are other items you may need.
It is recommended that you have a chat with your flatmates to see if you can organise what everyone might want to bring. If you can do this then you will soon find that it is easier than ever for you to limit what you have to buy, without worrying that you won’t have everything you need.
Of course, there are a lot of things you can do to try and prepare for life as a university student and if you follow this guide, you will soon find that it is easy for you to get the best result out of your educational journey.
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