Cheap Fun

Student Survival Guide To...

by Heba Keshk on 27th of February 2008

Living foot loose and fancy free

So finally it's come to an end. The final student loan of the year is around the corner, but we all know that's going to be gone at the blink of an eye.

Going on holiday at your own expense might be considered impossible. However with much hunting online you can truly have a brilliant time even if you're broke.

Come Fly With Me

Budget:£150
No. Of People: 4
Nights: 4

Website: RyanAir.com
Destination: Venice, Italy
If you're after a short holiday with your mates as a well deserved rest, then flight tickets could be bought for as little as 1p to places like Venice and Tours Loire Valley, thanks to Ryanair.com.

Obviously you have to pay for the taxes etc, which still leaves you paying as little as £20 for a return ticket to some of the nicest cities in Europe.


The average hotel cost of four sharing would be £50 per night, which includes breakfast.

In total expect to pay an average of £73.46 person.

The Maths:
Flight: £20 for four nights
Hotel: £53.46 per night
Having a budget of £150, means you are left with £76.54 to spend on any additional transport from and to the hotel and dinner.

International Seas

Budget: £250
No. Of People: 4
Nights: 4

Website: Cheapticket.co.uk
Destination: Los Angeles, USA

If you have a little bit more than £150 saved up and want to travel outside of Europe, then cheapticket.co.uk is your best bet.

It is very simple. You chose the location and the date of travel and they compare all airlines for you, finding you the cheapest tickets.

Through Cheapticket.co.uk I found seven nights in Los Angeles for £85 on Northwest Airlines and KLM, which meant it would leave me with extra money for hotel.

If you don't have the patience to shop around then hotelclub.net is the best option to help narrow down your choices of cheap hotels in your holiday destination.

I managed to find very cheap hotel prices for a four star hotel located in Pico Rivera, £132 for four nights.

However, if you don't mind traveling to and from your hotel, the go for Goodnight Inn. It is most conveniently located in San Fernando Valley.

You will be saving a total of £30 on top of the additional £33 out of your budget, which leaves you more money to get gifts for friends and family… or a few drinks.!!

The Maths:
Flight: £85 for four nights
Hotel: £33 per night
Having a budget of £250, means you are left with £63 to spend on any additional transport from and to the hotel and dinner.

Around my Hometown

Budget: £100
No. Of People: 4
Nights:3

Destination: United Kingdom
So you don't have as much money as expected but still want to make the most of the money you do have. But lets face it, with a budget of £90 the likelihood is that you're not getting further than Scotland. But who said local is a bad thing?

Many of us don't really get to see parts of Britain, so this can be a brilliant place to start.

For transport nationalexpress.com is by FAR the best option. Locations like Perth, Edinburgh, Manchester and another 47 destinations are as little as £1 for a one way, so yes a return will be £2.

FunFare is a scheme that allows students to travel cheap. So if you don't mind a few extra hours on a bus with your iPod or a friend who has verbal diarrhoea, then it is definitely an offer to grab with both hands.

As for accommodation, the UK is known for its over-priced everything, so expect to pay around £90 for the full three nights.

However, it's work keeping up to date with the latest cost via cheaperthanhotels.co.uk. If you have a bit of dosh left over then do what most people do when visiting another city. Walk around with a map and a ticket for the tour guide bus.

The Maths:
Bus: £2 returns
Hotel: £44 per night (double room)
Having a budget of £100.

You are left with a potential £15, which means going to a fancy restaurant might be out the question, but we all know in any corner of the world a very welcoming McDonald can be found.

Student Renting

Renting. Know your rights

by Heba Keshk on 21st of February 2008

Photograph by Rudolf Cech

Moving out your parents' home and setting up your student pad may sound like fun.

But it isn't all plain sailing.

The property market is a jungle, with lots of snakes and predators waiting around every corner.

Tenancy agreements, deposits and loads of small print is the reality of this new student life, so don't let the excitement of having a new place distract you from knowing your rights.

Looking around

The best part of moving in with new flatmates is the house/flat hunting, as you get to see properties.

Some of them will be out of your league as some landlords will forget to tell you how much the rent is until after you and your mates got your hearts set on it.

Sometimes you will come across a repulsive looking house and question who in the world would live in such a state.

Signing your life away

Crunch time has arrived and you have to decide on a property.

It is greatly advised to read your tenancy agreement, i.e. your contract, thoroughly.

So even though you have the deposit in an envelope and so anxiously waiting on the keys to your place, know what you are getting yourself into. Read the small print ... PROPERLY!

Now you're in

Once you have moved in, immediately ask for an inventory and carefully look at each item in the house/flat and even take snapshots of all the rooms and walls.

These are they main things you will be penalised for once you move out, and if you know you didn't do it then don't pay for it. Use the images as evidence.

Sarah Mwangi, 21, journalist student explains: "There was a month left in a tenancy agreement. My landlord would not tell us that he arranged a viewing.

"One day I was listening to my music in my room and I opened my door to find three people in the front room taking pictures of the property."

Did you know?

Students who are renting privately could secure their six weeks' deposit by holding it in a Tenancy Protection Scheme.

Photograph by Rudolf Cech

This allows you to get your deposit back in full.

The rules state: "If the tenants have kept the property in good condition and paid the rent, and made sure that any other charges due under the tenancy are up to date, they will be able to get their deposit back".

The main reason the Tenancy Protection Scheme was introduced was due to many problems between tenants and landlords as students are more vulnerable in not getting their deposit back due to lack of knowledge of property renting.

The schemes offer a free service to assist in resolving disputes without taking it to court.

Now that you've signed on the dotted line, it's time to know what rights you have and what restrictions your landlord has.

Your landlord cannot turn up unexpectedly and especially uninvited. You are allowed to refuse his entry, as he has not given you a required notice of his visit.

Even if your rent is not paid on time your landlord cannot cut you off your utility supplies such as your gas, electricity and water, as they are essentials.

As much as the landlord doesn't want much complaint of noise in his property, he can never refuse or prevent you from having any friends or family visiting your rented property.

Landlords are not allowed to bully you out of the property you are renting by harassing you or changing the lock.

If you have signed a 12-month contract with a 6-month break, you can move out on the sixth month, providing you give three weeks notice.

So now that you have an idea of what to expect don't settle for less. Know your rights and stick to them.

Student Survival Guide To... Lectures

Student Survival Guide To...

by Heba Keshk on 18th of February 2008

Lectures

Most of us, especially in our first and second year of our course will attend at least two lectures a week, if not more.

And as much as Nando's seems more appealing then a one hour lecture, if you think about it, in the long run maybe lasting through a lecture is somewhat more beneficial.

The Facebook group, I pay 3,000/yr to listen to lecturers to read Powerpoint, now has accumulated 7000 members.

But how can the average hung over student survive this horrific ordeal.

Tips

Always arrive to lectures a little bit early, to give you a few minutes to catch up with your mates and time to get your final text messages out the way…otherwise you'll miss the intro due to lack of multi tasking skills.

Photographer Samantha Bruce

If you only have one lecture in a day with no other lessons, don't see it as a waste of time. It does not very proffesional, to sit blankly through a seminar.

Firstly you will get marked down and at the end of the year, you'll kicking yourself saying, "I should of just turned up to that lecture."

If your feeling zoned out or extremely bored out your brains, the least you can do is record the lecture so you can hear it back before the seminar and you can also refer back to it in the future.

If your loosing concentration and cannot keep up with the note taking and end up doodling, try and at least write the most vital information down even if its in bullet points! And don't forget the handouts.

Copying off your mate might seem like the easy option at the time. Then D-day arrives and you must start writing the 2,000 word essay.

But the notes you copied make no sense to you as each individual has their own style of writing that may only work with them. Do not risk it.

UKESSAYS.com

Buy a Dissertation Online

by Heba Keshk on 18th of February 2008

It has been revealed that numerous parents are willingly to pay hundreds and some even thousands of pounds to buy university essays for their children according to UKessays.

The essay company, UKEssays.com are stating that their student clientele, who buy their essays online, are using their parents' card details to pay for it.

Help or Control

"With the soaring cost and commercialisation of education, parents are becoming increasingly involved with the process and are determined to see qualifications for the cost," says Barclay Littlewood, owner of UKEssays.com.

When questioned why parents would pay for their children's essay to be written by a another person he carries on:

"The reasons we're seeing so many parents use our service is simple- universities around the country are providing students with poor resources and little contact time.

"So parents feel that the bonus is on them to provide their children with adequate resources and we are that resource."

Sounding like a resource or helping hand seems like an understatement as UKEssays.com match the word count you need: "Our researchers write to specified word counts, this is more to do with quantity and detail than anything else though.

"It ensures that our writers complete the work to satisfactory standards.Which means from the introduction to the conclusion, everything is written for the student."

It's refreshing to see that parents want to play a dynamic role in their child's prospect.

Then again, investing in a few essays won't give the student any sense of achievement nor a gain of knowledge.

Is it Plagiarism?

"UKEssays.com are the leading provider of research tools for students from a variety of subjects and standards," says Littlewood.

"We help students to focus their attention on the sources that matter. Put in simple terms, we are to journals and resources what Google is to the Internet - we collate all the important sources and siphon off the pointless and time-consuming material."

This website is created to allow students to buy essays online, the student gets to choose the topic and even advises UKEssays.com on how to reference their work, so it is in the style of the student's university or school, e.g. Harvard Referencing.

UKEssay.com also states that what they have to offer is legal.

They say: "You are simply buying a piece of copyrighted material from the author. It's just like buying a book, except you decide what's written."

Claire Bessa, head of the sociology department at Willaim Morris Academy, Hammersmith:

"I find the very idea of such an essay writing service as anti-educational. The service offered by UKessays.com is counter-productive as it offers an easy way to complete essential essays or dissertations.

"In using these essays students will not actually academically progress. The website is careful to point out that students cannot use these essays as their own work.

It states that students should not hand any work received in as their own work, however by providing the exact essays that a student needs they are giving them the opportunity to cheat. "

"Part of me would want to do it, but then again what's going to happen when I get a real job and I'm not capable of fulfilling the criteria? It's like cheating," says Danya Nimir, a Media and Culture studies student.

UKEssays.com states that coughing up £5,000 isn't a purchase but an investment, as it guarantees that the student will get a better job.

The Cost

UKEssays.com is not just targeted at university students. It also considers GCSE and A-level students, so prices vary from £34 for a typical 500 word GCSE outline answer to a monstrous £40,000 for a PhD essay.

It also varies on the time period of the delivery, next day, 3 days, one week etc.

Who buys these Essays?

1. Nottingham University - 363, making up 52% of our East Midlands customer base
2. Royal Holloway - 202, making up 28% of our London customer base
3. Oxford University - 180, making up 21% of our South East customer base
4. Durham University - 179, making up 34% of our North East customer base
5. Manchester University - 178, making up 29% of our North West customer base

UKEssays.com's most popular areas are law and humanities. This represents the issues in education. A law student is taught to pass exams not practice law, and humanities students by majority receive the lowest amounts of contact time.

"We're providing academic research material. There is no difference between academic journals and us. Providing that the student has referenced our work there is no chance of the student being penalised," says Littlewood.

Student Survival Guide To...

by Heba Keshk on 21st of January 2008

ESSAYS AND DEADLINES

Okay, so we all have them and the majority of us at the beginning set out to get work done well in time for the deadline. However, realistically 90% of us who thought this, soon find themselves lost in day dreams.


We somehow delude ourselves that everything will fall into place but in the end you will be pulling an all-nighter to meet the deadline.

Yes, there is a sense of achievement but it is likely to affect the quality of your work.

Tips:

Some people don't know where to start. Plan out the essay and give yourself a rough word count for each topic/argument you are looking to cover.

Find a relevant key text. Don't spend hours on end reading a book you are struggling to get a quote out of. It's not the quantity but the quality.

DON'T forget to reference!!

Know your word limit and stick to it. Cutting out words may be a struggle, yet once you re-read your work you tend to see information that is repeated and therefore not needed.

Stick to the essentials. Don't spend too much time on descriptions and avoid repetition.


If you feel you have little time in your day to dedicate to your essay, use the public transport as a way to start.

When you're sitting on your train or bus the least you can do is jotting down a few sentences or even brainstorm about what you can potentially include in your work.

This is very useful, too, when you are actually starting your work. There is always information we forget under pressure.

Student Survival Guide To...

Everyone knows the exact date of the arrival of their student loan. Many weeks before that you yearn for it.

You dream about how many outfits it can buy, the laptop you've always wanted or the concerts you meant to go to.


However, a month down the line you start questioning - 'how did I get this broke?'

Here's some advice on how you can stretch it out:

As soon as the loan and/or grant arrives make sure you check your statement and see how much you're working with.

Don't spend without delegating money to rent, overdrafts, bills and books.

If you do abuse your loan, the least you can do is make sure you buy most of your books ASAP. This way when it comes to researching and writing essays, you don't feel too tight spending up to £200 on books.

Because let's not fool ourselves; that IS the main reason why we even have a loan.

If you're renting accommodation pay rent in advance. It will set you back for a bit but if you're working, at the end of the month you know you got some money to look forward to.

Avoid shopping online, as all it takes is a click and it's purchased. Four pounds here, seven pounds there; it soon adds up.

When you're going out with friends, set yourself a limit in cash and leave your card to your student loan at home.

This limits you to spending excessively without realising.

Finally, don't fear checking your balance/statement every week. It's much better than risking your card getting declined and saves you the embarrassment and extra stress.

Make sure you're on track with every £££ you spend.