Managing your money

How to budget

Top tips for making your money go further

Student life often means balancing your spending carefully. But with a few helpful hints and tips, you can work out a budget and make your money go further.

Budgeting is a very individual and personal activity, as people’s income and expenditure vary depending on their circumstances. For example, a student coming to university straight from school / college and moving into halls of residence will have a very different budget to a mature student who owns their own home and has dependents. The information provided here is a very basic guide to budgeting and examples of minimum costs.

Here is a basic example of how to calculate your expected income over the academic year. This is based on a 41-week academic year, including the Christmas and Easter vacations, for full-time in-person taught undergraduate honours courses starting in 2026/27.

Calculate your total income

Based on a non-final year UK home student living away from their parental home with a household income of £30,000 on a standard-length course:

Income Amount
Maintenance Support £10,058
8 hours of part-time work a week £87 per week (£3,567 across 41-weeks term time)
Academic year total ​£13,625
Budget for each week (41 weeks) £332
Budget per term (3 terms)* £4,541

*Be aware that some terms have more weeks than others, so if you are looking at a termly budget, check how many weeks are in that term and divide your maintenance loan payment for that term by the number of weeks, giving you a more accurate weekly income figure.

Calculate your essential spending

Try to be realistic and as accurate as possible when you think through your weekly spending figures. You can adjust your figures as the situation changes.

The following example of a basic student budget (based on figures* in June 2026) will help you to make an outline of things to include and what the minimum costs are:​

Essential spending Private renting weekly amount Self-catering Leeds Trinity Horsforth Campus halls weekly amount
Accommodation ​£132 or more (bills not included) ​£149 (en-suite, bills included)
Utility bills £22 ​£0
​TV License £4 £4
Contents insurance £3 £0 (unless cover for specific belongings required)
​Essential travel £31 £16
Food and household goods ​£60 £60
Essential clothes and laundry £15 £15
​Essential books and study-related costs ​£10 ​£10
Weekly total £277 £254
​Total week incoming £332 £332
Surplus from total weekly income minus total spending + £55 per week + £78 per week

WhatUni’s guide to Cost of Living in Leeds (June 2016) Cost of living in Leeds suggests a budget of around £1,300 a month for studying in Leeds. Our Leeds Trinity Students told us (in our ‘Cost of Being an LTU Student’ Money Survey March / April 2026 ) that on average, they spend £1,025 a month.

*figures based on information from:

Master your money and your financial wellbeing

Planning your budget and regularly reviewing it is the essential starting point for being in control of your money while you study. Leeds Trinity applicants can sign up to Blackbullion www.blackbullion.com  (a financial wellbeing platform for students) and use the budgeting tool, learn the basics of money and budgeting, as well as lots of other important money advice. BlackBullion also have a ‘Money Manager’ app. This links to your bank account and allows you to monitor spending and saving habits. 

The Money Saving Expert Student Budgeting Planner has useful spreadsheets and apps to help you budget, and the Save the Student website has lots of tips on managing, saving and making money.

For students with existing financial commitments such as mortgages and childcare costs, who may experience a significant change in amount, source and pattern of income, the Money and Pensions service Money Helper Budget Planner helps you consider all your costs and income.

Spending hints and tips

As a student you will have various things you have to spend your money on over the course of the month. Here's some further information on each one and how to keep them as cheap as possible.

Rent

Your rent will depend on your circumstances. Our Leeds Trinity Students told us (in our Money Survey 2025) that they spend on average £555 a month on private rent / purpose built student accommodation

The amount you pay on rent will vary depending on whether you live in halls of residence or private rented accommodation in shared housing.

You'll need to budget for paying the mortgage or rent payments within your student income if you live in your own home. Living with your parents may have a weekly or monthly charge known as board.

Utility bills

Household utility bills are for electricity, gas and water.

Leeds Trinity halls of residence (and other 'halls' types of accommodation) include these utilities in your total accommodation fee. 

If you live in a privately rented property or your own home, you will be sent bills from the utility suppliers. We would advise you to budget for at least £22 a week to pay all utility bills, including an internet connection.

Travel

Living in halls or near campus

If you live in halls of residence at our Main Campus or Clarence Dock at City Campus, you can walk to all your lectures, if you are able to do so.

If you live in Horsforth, you can use our free shuttle bus service. 

Placements

You are likely to undertake a professional work placement or school-based training depending on the course you choose to study. 

Depending on the location of your placement, you may have higher travel costs, so make sure to budget for these.

Travel cards and discounts

You can get a 19-25 or Student Photocard to travel around West Yorkshire by bus and/or train (from £31 per week or £114 per month), giving you unlimited travel on most routes.

You can also get a 16–25 railcard for £35 a year. As a student, you'll be able to apply even if you're over 25 years old. 

Books and other course costs

Remember that your tuition fees don't cover resources such as reading list books, USB sticks, paper, pens, printing credit, hiring equipment and trips.

Make sure you budget for course resources. This can be hard, particularly at the start of the academic year, as books can cost a significant amount.

However, the University has a well-stocked library full of books and electronic resources, so make full use of this when you can.

A good starting point is to budget for £10 a week even if you have to spend some of this upfront.

Food and household goods

Don't forget to bring your pots, pans and cutlery to university with you! This can save a lot of money. 

Everyone will have to purchase some food and household goods. If you've never lived away from home before, you will have to think about buying toothpaste, toilet paper, bin bags and cooking oil as well as food.

As a guide, students are advised to budget at least £60 a week for a single person to include food and household goods.

TV Licence

​​Students, like everyone else, are required to have a TV Licence. Parents, the University or friends in the house next door don't cover you. This applies even if you live in halls of residence.

Private rented properties will usually share one TV Licence between all the tenants. 

A TV Licence costs around £175 for the year. You can opt-in to pay quarterly, monthly or fortnightly.

Visit the University students and the TV License website for more information.

Contents insurance

Make sure you check the terms and conditions when purchasing contents insurance.

For just a few pounds a week, you can insure all your favourite items such as an iPhone, laptop, TV or games console.

It's worth doing in case they are stolen or accidentally damaged so you can easily replace them.

The Money Saving Expert website has some handy hints and tips.