Cafe Uni

When you apply for university, they may offer you a conditional offer to be a student there.

As previously mentioned on this blog, this means that they are offering you a place to be a student at their university, on the course you applied for, provided that you fulfil certain conditions.

These will be related to your grades so, for example, they might ask that you get three B grades at A level. It is then up to you to accept this conditional offer.

But what happens if you accept it, and then your grades aren’t as good as were expected and you don’t meet the conditions of the offer? Can you still do your chosen course at the university?

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One really good way to save money when you are a student, or a recent graduate, is to get places by bicycle.

Cycling really is an amazing way to save money. Not many students can afford to run a car while at university; most of them simply find it too expensive. I had a car for one term when I was at university, and they really cost a lot to keep on the road.

Pertrol prices have risen to their highest yet, plus you will also have to buy insurance, tax, a parking permit, not to mention of anything goes wrong with your car and you have to pay to get it repaired.

The beauty of having a bike is that, one you have paid for it, there isn’t much more money that you need to spend out on it.

Having a bicycle while at university

If you choose to cycle instead of drive a car or use public transport, then you will save money at university, as well as getting fit.

It’s a healthy way to get around, as you are exercising without really realising it, even if you are just going across campus. It can even be quicker than driving sometimes, as you can go on bike paths and not have to queue in the traffic.

You will need to get a lock and soome bike lights, as well as perhaps some high-vis clothing, but you can get all of this for under about £30 if you look online. Sites such as Wiggle sell a lot of biking attire at cheap prices, and usually with free delivery too.

For students that are at university, money is a very important factor to their life, whether it is their social life, their working life, or their general university life.

How much students spend and the different amount that items cost them will have an effect on what they can do with their time and how they can spend their money.

On 4 January, the general VAT (Value Added Tax) increased from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent. In sensible terms, this means you will pay 2.5p more on each £1. But what does this means for students? Will you notice that items have increased or will you just put it on your credit card and worry about the debt and how much money you owe later?

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This is the time of year that making New Year’s Resolutions is on the minds of many university students.

It is a great time to think about what you would really like to improve on, or what could make your quality of life better, or how you could help someone else.

The first thing to decide is the type of resolution you want to make. Do you want to help others, or improve your own life? Either is fine, as long as you have it clear in your mind what you want to do.

As a student, there are many ways that you could help yourself. This could focus on health, for example, and you could vow to walk around campus, instead of getting the bus, or you could aim to eat more healthily.

If it’s not long until you graduate, you could up the ante with looking for jobs or your could get in touch with alumni and ask for some advice or guidance.

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Now that you are on Christmas holidays, you have a bit of a break before going back to university.

However, when you get back, you might have exams to do for your university course. This could be something you are really worried about, but it is important to get a good work-life balance so that you do not get too stressed out.

It can be easy to get all worked up about your exams and you may find yourself in a panic. Maybe you feel that, because you are away from the campus and are at home, that you can not focus or concentrate on studying.

But try not to worry about your location, and instead try and concentrate on making the most of your time.

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When you graduate from university, it is likely that you will have debt from being a student.

This is because you will have had at least three years of paying fees, rent, bills and social costs, while earning either very little from a part-time job, or nothing at all if you haven’t been able to work alongside your studies.

Try not to worry about being in debt because, unfortunately, it is a situation that most students find themselves in. The trick is to make sure you manage your debt well and do not fall any further in to debt.

This will obviously be easier if you get a job straight from university but, even if you don’t, you will still be able to manage your money.

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This week, students have been in the news again as they have been protesting about plans for 2011.

New plans have been revealed to scrap the EMA (education maintenance allowance), which will really affect lots of students.

At the moment, students whose families earn less than £21,000 get up to £30 a week to help them with living costs. The idea behind it is that, with EMA, a lot of students would have to get a job straight from school, and would not be able to afford to go on to college.

Students have been protesting against this proposal because it would mean that they might not be able to go to university and get a degree, which would affect their long-term career plans when it comes to what type of jobs they will be qualified to do.

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Keeping in touch with other alumni from your university can really help you as a student.

It can be a really valuable way of learning a lot from other people who have already gone through the same experiences as you are going through. They will have done it before, had a lot of the same problems and triumphs, and have come through the other side of it!

You will often find that alumni are really happy to talk to you and help you, as they would also have benefited from a similar person helping them when they were at university. And if they didn’t have someone like that, then I’m sure they would have appreciated it, so it will make them only too willing to help.

Alumni that work in the same field as you are hoping to go in to can help by giving your advice about your course, about jobs and about your chosen career or industry.

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When you’re a university student, getting ready for the Christmas holidays can be an exciting and daunting time.

If you’re in your first year at university, then you will be nearing the end of your first term. You may be going home for the first time since coming to university, and seeing your family again for the first time in a month or two.

Although you may be looking forward to it, it is a good idea to prepare for that fact that you may find it difficult. You will have been living without ‘parental supervision’ and may now have to go back to living under your parents’ rules.

Also, you will probably have become used to spending a lot of time with a few particular people – your new friends – and will now be going for up to a month without seeing them, as well as having to plan for exams.

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Going away to university isn’t something that everyone wants to do. But this doesn’t mean you can’t be a student, just because you don’t want to go to university.

There is also the option of doing an online degree. In the UK, this would be through the Open University, but there are these kind of options in most countries.

There are usually all the degree programmes that attending universities offer, as well as some other courses that you might be interested in. You don’t have to do a full degree, as there are also options such as A levels, NVQs and other courses.

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