Are you a student worrying about funding your lifestyle? You could probably make use of the money saving tips, outlined by James Knigh of Times online:
ENTERTAINING YOURSELF
Staying away from lectures no longer means having to put up with daytime television. Now, with broadband, you can catch missed episodes of your favourite shows. Best of all, as long as the show is not being broadcast live, you don't need a TV licence to do it. So you can download Peep Show from www.channel4.com/4od/index.html, CSI from download.five.tv, and Hyperdrive from www.bbc.co.uk/iplayerbeta whenever you like.
Access to the past seven days of BBC programmes via the iPlayer is free, Channel 4 has a selection of free and paid-for content, and Five charges per episode for flagship shows. For now, Mac users are left out in the cold, unless they are running a Windows platform on their machine.
But the web goes far beyond what traditional TV can offer with a growing stable of internet-only channels streaming top-notch content. The squidgy characters of Aardman Animations, videos from MTV, and international football can be found at www.joost.com, while last.fm, the online radio station, will recommend new tracks for you to listen to judged on what you tell it your tastes are. Finally, head to the Hype Machine (www.hypem.com) to listen to the hot acts of the moment.
STAYING IN TOUCH
Regular phone calls home can be an essential lifeline, though the cost is a problem. Instead, show concerned parents how to download Skype (www.skype.com ), the voice over internet protocol (Voip) telephony service, and you will be able to stay in touch for nothing. It's easy to set up, and now you can even make Voip calls on a conventional phone handset (see InGear's recent guide at tinyurl.com/35s9g9 for more details).
Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a social networking site designed for the idle remark, and thus perfectly suited to keeping in touch with friends during long autumn afternoons that should be spent working. "I'm thinking Snow Patrol are overrated", and "We've all decided to go frozen yoghurt now" are typical samples. You sign up and make a posting on the message board, then all your friends who have also signed up will receive a text message on their mobile telling them what you have written. Sending multiple text messages for free was never so easy.
MAKING ENDS MEET
Crippling student debt can outlast even the happiest university memories. Martin Lewis's insightful guide to student finance at tinyurl.com/2d3ox4 should be on any first-term reading list. His tips include researching obscure scholarships you may be eligible for.
Calculators to help you budget can be found at www.studentmoney.org, while www.direct.gov.uk has the electronic wheels to start putting your student loan application in motion.
Accommodation will be your single biggest expense, so it's worth getting it right. The well designed www.homesforstudents.co.uk is patchy in coverage, but there are bargains to be found, including rooms in Manchester with broadband and TV in each room for ?43 a week.
EMERGENCY HELP
At some point in the first term you'll realise you haven't left the bar for four days, and an essay crisis is looming. The allnighter is the only course of action, and the process has been refined with forensic skill at tinyurl.com/34v2l9.
Consulting Wikipedia for facts is the equivalent of asking your peers rather than a tutor. If the library is closed, www.encyclopedia.com is a worthy reference substitute that includes the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia and various Oxford dictionaries.
Come exam time, the ability to absorb large amounts of information quickly is essential, so check out the free speed-reading guide at tinyurl.com/2nyk4k. You can also test your speed at www.readingsoft.com
Have you got any tips to share with students or graduates? How do you maintain your lifestyle whilst making ends meet? Leave your hints and tips below.
