More, more, more!

Everybody thinks that when you become a student you resign yourself to the life of beans on toast and instant noodles when really this is far from the truth. Yes it is true that being a student brings with it all kinds of financial difficulties but in some cases I have found that many students are actually better off than someone with a full time job. The truth is that because of the way the loan system works (which can admittedly be said to be flawed) most students don't pay anything for their accommodation until they have a job: this means all they have to do is provide themselves with food and money for the essentials (aka drinking). Most students I know, despite being lumbered with the stereotype of being incredibly lazy and having it easy are clawing tooth and nail for jobs that a monkey could do, so you would think that considering we are at university and therefore considered to be in the higher intellectual bracket of this country that it would be easier to get a job. WRONG! Because of the way in which the university term works, it just so happens that most students are at home during the busiest times of the year, and what kind of nut job employer wants someone who is absent when they are most needed? On top of all that, when Uni student jobs are available they usually go to someone that the employer knows personally, it is true what they say: 'its not what you know, it's who you know.' Of course I know people who have gotten jobs at university but the majority of the time, especially if you are in your first year obtaining a job seems difficult if not impossible. So a job is out of the question or so it would seem at the moment, so what do you do next? Do you scrounge and save and not go out? Hahaha! Of course not! I have been at university nearly two whole terms now and rarely have I heard someone say 'I don't have the money to go out tonight' it's always 'I don't have the money to buy these textbooks.' Or 'I seem to have misplaced my funds for food this week'. It's hilarious but in a survey 80% of students said they would rather give up food than alcohol .It scares me to think that I'm surrounded by the future engineers and scientists that will fuel our great nation sometimes. A great trick for earning cash that I heard the other day was a young man volunteering himself for medical testing, like some kind of rat or something! It's absurd what people will do for a bit of cash when jobs are In short supply (apart from giving up clubbing of course, we could NEVER do that!)

All in all i think life as a student could be much worse from a financial standpoint, but in terms of getting a job, it really is dumb luck. I suppose this is a fantastic lesson in budgeting and all, but it doesn't help when you're craving a Maccy D's and cant find the extra cash!