Have you ever learned how to manage a student budget? If you thought that being a student was synonymous with independence and freedom, reality can quickly catch up with you and you risk suffering enormous disillusionment. Leaving home also means managing your student budget. If your bank account does not live up to your ambitions, Business Cool is here to help you better manage your student budget.
Create your student budget with state aid
The end of the month can sometimes be difficult for students. You can opt for the student job option, but, in some cases, it can be complicated to manage studies and a small job, especially if you are in prep or medicine. The pace of work is indeed much more intense. Your priority will above all be to succeed in your competitive exams and you will not necessarily have the time to manage a very demanding job.
Fortunately, there are many other options to limit your expenses and make ends meet. Here are the aids that will relieve your student budget:
- Housing assistance (APL). If you rent an apartment as part of your studies, you can benefit from housing assistance. to help you pay your rent. To find out if you are eligible for this allowance, you can use the simulator available on the site of the CAF.
- Crous student scholarship. Once you have completed your baccalaureate, you can benefit from a grant to help you finance your school curriculum. It is, however, subject to conditions and is divided into several levels (from 0 Bis to 7), with student aid representing between 1,032 euros to 5,679 euros per year. Its payment is made from September to June in the majority of cases.
- Merit scholarship. The annual amount of this scholarship is capped at 900 euros for students who are beneficiaries of the Crous scholarship. It is generally obtained after excellent results in the baccalaureate.
- Erasmus scholarship. If you want to study abroad, this scholarship is for you! This financial aid concerns 28 European countries, in addition to Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Macedonia and Liechtenstein. The student must be enrolled in a higher education institution. The amount of the Erasmus grant varies from 150 euros to 450 euros depending on the nature of your stay (studies or internship) and the standard of living in the country concerned.
Manage your student budget and monitor your expenses
The first step is to list your expenses and define your cash flow. To help you with this task, you can download the application Bankin’ or Yolt. Your expenses will be categorized automatically. You will thus have visibility on the amounts that you allocate each month to your shopping, transport, outings, etc. This will give you an overall view of your student budget.
If you prefer to follow the classic method, you can define your budget as follows:
- Fixed charges. They include your accommodation (rent, internet, electricity, gas, insurance), your public transport subscription, your subscriptions which relate more to leisure activities (like Netflix, Spotify, etc.), tuition fees and food.
- Variable charges. This mainly concerns leisure activities, outings, travel or hygiene-related expenses (pharmacy, laundry, shampoo, soap, dishwashing liquid, toilet paper). These latter expenses should not be neglected. You can buy these products at clearance stores or download the app Veepee. This will allow you to buy in large quantities at a low price and save a lot of money.
How to compose your meal budget? The student budget on this subject can vary depending on the month, but you should count on average 200 to 250 euros per month. To reduce it as much as possible, you can favor home-cooked meals and minimize online orders. If you don’t necessarily want to cook, you can turn to the Crous meals which do not exceed 3.30 euros and even 1 euro for scholarship holders, a good plan which will please your wallet as well. currency than your health.
We also advise you to consider savings as a monthly expense. Schedule a transfer every month based on your income. This will allow you to have your back in the event of a crisis, in order to keep sufficient margin to be able to move forward in the event of a problem during the next important stages of your life. This is an emergency budget.
Our recommendations for better managing your student budget
Food
We recommend cooking in large quantities over the weekend in order to have your meals ready for the rest of the week. This practice is called batch cooking. Several books give you recipe ideas. You can sometimes cook for your week in just 1 hour! Homemade food will save you a lot of money. Fast food is not only bad for your health, but is very heavy on your meal budget.
If, one evening, you don’t necessarily feel like cooking, you can download the application Toogoodtogo. You can collect unsold items from merchants near you (restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, etc.), at an unbeatable price. You not only reduce your expenses, but you also fight against waste!
Accommodation
If you are in prep school, you can move into a boarding school or university residence. Accommodation is one of the largest expenditure items in the student budget. The cost of the room varies between 150 and 350 euros per month. You can also opt for a Crous residence (Regional Center for University and School Works: this is the public service for student life).
Please note, with regard to these residences, priority is mainly given to scholarship students and the Crous offers them reduced rents, as you can see. There are also other types of student residences or student hostels where rents are much lower than those of traditional apartments.
Otherwise, you can always opt for shared accommodation. This system allows costs to be divided, whether for housing, but also for everyday products! This allows you to greatly relieve your student budget.
Transportation
If you live far from your school, you must plan a transport budget. You can opt for a transport card like the Pass Navigo, in Île-de-France. You can take the metro, the bus or even the train. It will be much cheaper if you take a ticket each time. If you are in Paris, you can opt for the annual Vélib subscription which costs 30 euros per year. The advantage of the Navigo Pass is that students benefit from very reduced prices and can see the entire region. For a student, it costs €350 per year, compared to €870 for regular users.
Other expenses that weigh on the student budget
For other expenses, such as Internet and telephone subscriptions, find out about the new, very competitive rates offered by certain mobile operators and the offers that will allow you to limit your expenses. Some sites are specialized to help you compare all the offers and benefits of the moment. Also opt for the blocked plan, if you are afraid of exceeding your monthly plan.
Exchange abroad: how to manage your student budget?
If you have not used our student budget simulator for an exchange abroad, the link above, here are some tips to help you manage your budget well!
1. Establish your student budget
Before leaving, you need to know precisely the expenditure items that will weigh on your student budget: accommodation, transport, food, tourism that you may be spending on site or return trips if you are located in a neighboring country. … These are all subjects that you need to keep in mind and that you need to write down on a sheet of paper to know how much your exchange will actually cost you.
2. Reduce costs
You should try as much as possible to reduce the costs of items that may weigh on your student budget but which are not essential. Don’t hesitate to look at more affordable housing, paying attention to the neighborhood in which you will live, but also to find out about the assistance you can benefit from during your exchange. Indeed, many cities offer, for example, discounts on public transport subscriptions for students.
3. Work alongside your studies
Managing your student budget well doesn’t just mean finding ways to avoid emptying your bank account. Indeed, you can also work alongside your studies to try to fill your wallet. This will also allow you to finance your leisure activities and tourist visits. In addition, this professional experience, in an international setting, is necessarily a plus for your CV!
4. Save money
Managing your student budget well also means knowing how to deal with unforeseen events. You might get sick in a country where the cost of care is much higher, like the United States. It is therefore more prudent to set aside a little money each month in order to be able to face life’s problems.
5. Become aware of your standard of living
This is a key step in managing your student budget. Indeed, you need to pay attention to your standard of living and know how much you want to spend on food and housing. It is important to find out about the local standard of living as well, in order to know whether rents are higher or not. Don’t hesitate to visit our articles detailing the average salaries and cost of living in many countries around the world!
