Attending university can be a life-changing and highly valuable experience. In addition to earning a qualification to set you up on your desired career path, attending university can help you to develop a range of key life skills, allow you to live somewhere new, make new friends and much more. Higher education certainly has its perks and there is a reason why so many students go to university, but it is also important to be aware of the financial implications as it will be expensive and a major life cost to consider. Read on to discover the main financial implications of going to university.

Tuition Fees

Obviously, tuition fees are the major cost that you will need to think about. Loans are available from the government to cover these costs, but you must always think carefully about whether or not this is right for you because you will end up with a large amount of debt over your head which can take a long time to pay off, so it will impact your financial situation for a long time after graduating.

Accommodation

Accommodation is another large cost that needs to be factored in and again there is a maintenance loan available from the government that can be used to cover accommodation (and other costs). Of course, where you are studying and the type of accommodation that you have will heavily impact this cost. Typically, students will stay in university accommodation in the first year and then private for the following years (this means that you can significantly reduce the cost by sharing with a few other people).

Bills

Along with accommodation, there will be bills to cover –although university students are exempt from paying council tax. Despite this, costs still can be high but again sharing accommodation will always make these costs more affordable.

Food

Some universities will offer catered accommodation, but in most cases it will be down to the students to cook for themselves. This is another area where you can make savings if you buy from cheap supermarkets and cook your own meals from scratch, so it is a good idea to learn to cook before attending uni and the BBC has some good recipes for students.

Travel

While it is not so much of an issue when staying in uni accommodation, you will also need to think about transport. Some students take a car to uni but this can be expensive, so you should look into the public transport system as a way to get around.

Lifestyle

You will want to lead an enjoyable lifestyle while at university and this is all part of the experience. However, it is essential that you create and stick to a budget for this and it will depend on where you are going to uni, but these costs might include nights out, cinema tickets, gym memberships, shopping and other costs. If the maintenance loan will not cover this, you could always look into a short term loan from specialists like CashLady to tide you over until the next term.

University can be an incredible experience, but it is important that you are aware of these financial considerations beforehand so that you can be prepared.