22 Jan 2020

The uni grind can be a daunting thing. After twelve years of being spoon-fed instructions and direction at school, you’re suddenly expected to have your whole life in order and act like a responsible, functioning adult outta nowhere.

An independent human being. You are now capable of fending for yourself and balancing things like study, work, a social life, finances and remembering to eat.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to make this transition a little bit easier. After all, if tens of thousands of students can make the switch from school to uni every year, it can’t be that hard, can it?

Sort out ya money situation

Alright, so you’re heading to uni. Sure, you can chuck the uni fees on HECS/HELP, but what about all the other things you need to pay for? Things like food, rent, activities, textbooks, transport and a social life?

Some of ya might be lucky enough to stay at home and live with the rents while you study. Others won’t have this privilege.

Before you start uni, make sure you have a plan for how you’re going to afford everything you’ll need to survive. What’s going to be your source of income? Are you eligible for Centrelink? Will your parents help you out? Will ya need to get a part-time job?

If you’re gonna need a job, it’s worth lining one up before uni starts – there’s always a bunch of other broke uni students looking for jobs around the time of O-week.

Nail your timetable

If your course at your uni does allow you some control over what your timetable looks like – make the most of this. Some people like spacing their classes out evenly across the week, while others prefer to smash all their classes out in one or two days. Figure out what works for you, and nail that timetable!

Get yourself a good phone plan

When you’re at uni, you need a flexible and reliable phone plan that isn’t going to stitch you up when you really don’t need to be stitched up. Telstra knows how a phone plan can really throw a financial spanner in the works, that’s why they offer a 10% student discount and provide everything you really need from a plan.

For starters, you need data. And lots of it. You’re gonna find yourself studying in all sorts of places – on public transport, at the park with classmates, at the beach in summer. Need to catch up on a lecture on the train to class? The last thing you need is to run out of data.

You also need a plan that’s flexible. As a student, your plans can change quite unexpectedly – who knows, you might suddenly decide you wanna go on exchange in three months’ time. If ya do, you’re going to want to make changes to your plan because all the extra unnecessary costs aren’t really what you need on your minimal (or non-existent) student income.

If you’re on the hunt for a phone plan to get ya through uni, we reckon Telstra is the way to go. They’ve got great coverage across Australia (meaning ya won’t get left stranded on any weekend road trips) and no lock-in contracts (travelling, woo!).

Ever been completely stitched up with an enormous excess data charge? Well we have and it sucks. Telstra gets this struggle and has ensured there are no excess data fees. Hell yeah. You can check out Telstra student plans here.

Learn your way around

Figure out where your classrooms are, suss out which on-campus café does the best nachos and find the uni bar. Find the offices of all your teachers/support staff and remember where they are. Work out how the public transport works around your uni, or where the best parking is if you plan to drive.

Find the best sunny spot to hang out in winter, and the comfiest shady spot for summer. Look up all the clubs and societies at your uni and join the ones that appeal to you. Become the person who can help someone else who is lost. 

Learn how to cook

At least three meals!

If you’re about to move out of home for uni, ask Mum or Dad to teach you a few of your favourite recipes before you go. As easy as it is to live off tuna and microwavable rice, trust us, you’ll get sick of it after a couple of months.

If you can make a spag bol that tastes just like Mum’s, it’ll make moving out of home a thousand times easier.

If you can nail all of the above, you’ll be a real-life, functioning adult who dominates uni in no time. Your friends will barely recognise you, and your parents will smother you with proudness. It’s gonna be great.