Student budgeting in 2025: How to get started
A solid budget can help students take control of their finances, reduce stress, and ensure that they are secure through the school year. Learn important tips and tricks to get started.
Updated 
10 min. read
Embarking on your student journey can often feel like steering a ship through uncharted waters, especially when it comes to managing finances. Crafting a budget that works for you is crucial, yet many students grapple with where to begin.
Ready to get started? Here are the building blocks you’ll need to know, plus some budgeting tips and tricks that’ll help set you up for success this school year and beyond.
What is a student budget?
A student budget is a financial plan that helps students manage their income and expenses while attending school. It typically incudes tuition, rent, food, transportation, and personal expenses. A well-planned budget ensures students can cover essential costs while minimizing debt.
Why student budgeting matters
As a student, this might be your first time making and sticking to a budget. And it's a particularly important time to start getting serious about budgeting.
That’s because students often have a fixed income (like student loans) and expenses (e.g. tuition and books). This can make balancing your finances as a student difficult — all the more reason to create and stick with a realistic budget.
Along with helping you manage your money in the short-term, there are also long-term benefits to budgeting as a student. Starting good financial habits now will help shape your approach to money and budgeting well into the future.
On the other hand, a lax approach to your budgeting can have a negative impact on your finances. For example, falling behind on your credit card payments because you didn’t budget enough money for the month will not only cost you interest, but can hurt your credit score in the long run.
How to build a realistic student budget
Now that you’re sold on the benefits of a budget, let’s talk about what makes a good one.
A solid student budget will help you cover essential expenses, reduce your spending in inessential areas, and make the most of any income you have coming in.
Here are a few simple steps to start building a basic budget that will help carry you through the academic year and beyond.
1. Determine your total income
This first step of building a realistic student budget is creating a detailed list of all your income throughout the school year.
Here are a few potential sources of income to consider:
- Any income or earnings from a job
- Scholarships, bursaries, and grants
- Government student loans
- Bank loans
- Money from your savings
- Money from parents or family members
- Money from a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP)
It’s important to keep in mind that the typical student budget consists of two types of income: repayable and non-repayable income.
- Repayable income: A source of income that you will eventually have to pay back. This includes student loans or student lines of credit.
- Non-repayable income: A source of income that you do not have to pay back. This might be earnings from a part-time job, personal savings, family loans, grants, bursaries, scholarships, etc.
2. Assess your expenses
Next up — identifying and classifying your total expenses for the school year.
As you think through the different ways you spend your money, try to categorize each item as either a “want” or a “need”. This will help you prioritize your spending as you build out your budget.
Common student expenses may include:
- Tuition fees
- Housing costs
- Books and school supplies
- Food costs (a meal plan or groceries)
- Utilities (cell phone, electric, etc.)
- Transportation costs
- Entertainment and social outings
- Other expenses
While you’re taking a good hard look at your expenses, it’s important to pay attention to whether each item is a fixed or variable expense.
- Fixed expenses: These are expenses that stay relatively consistent from month to month. This might include tuition cost, rent or housing cost, utilities, car insurance, etc.
- Variable expenses: These are expenses that fluctuate regularly, such as dining out, entertainment, groceries, travel costs, clothing and personal care, etc.
This is also a good time to reflect on any savings goals. Do you want to buy a car by your senior year? Or splurge on an international trip after graduation? Whatever you have in mind, baking your savings goals into your budget will help you turn those dreams into a reality.
Finally, it’s also important to consider starting an emergency savings fund.This can be built into your regular budget and can be an important safety net during your academic career and beyond.
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We can help you find bank accounts for university and college students.
3. Crunch the numbers
Now that you understand how much money is moving in and out of your account, it’s time to actually set up your budget.
- Add up all your monthly income sources
- Add up all your monthly expenses (both fixed and variable)
- Subtract your total monthly expenses from your total monthly income to get your cash flow
Once you have your cash flow amount, you’ll know how much money you’re working with each month.
It’s worth noting that a bi-weekly paycheque results in varying monthly incomes; typically, you’ll receive two paycheque per month, but occasionally, there’ll be three. This variation is important to consider when budgeting.
To budget for fluctuating expenses like utility bills, you calculate the average cost over a select period. For example, if your gas bill amounts over six months are: $46.52 in April, $36.48 in May, $34.50 in June, $46.22 in July, $89.00 in August, and $61.64 in September, add them all up (this comes to $314.36). Then, divide the total by six (for six months) to find the average (your average comes to $52.39). If you're new to a bill, contact the provider for an estimated average cost to aid in budgeting.
When your income is higher than your expenses, it means your cash flow is in surplus and you have more coming into your account than going out. This empowers you to use that to cover unexpected expenses, save for your goals, or even spend on something fun.
If your expenses are higher than your income, your cash flow is in deficit. If this is the case, you may not be able to cover all your expenses with your income. In this case, you’ll need to look for ways to increase your income (like getting a part-time job) or lower your expenses (cutting streaming services or other optional expenses).
As you’re building your budget, one strategy that many budgeters find useful is the 50-30-20 rule. This easy formula takes your budget and breaks it down into three broad categories:
- 50% of your income goes toward necessities (rent, tuition, etc.)
- 30% of your income goes toward wants (going out, travel, etc.)
- 20% of your income goes toward savings and goals (emergency fund, repaying student loans, etc.
4. Regularly review and adjust your budget
Once you have a budget, you don’t want to just set it and forget it. Make sure you are monitoring your spending to keep your finances on track. An online budgeting tracker or savings app can help make it easy to keep a close eye on your spending and progress toward your goals.
Your budget should live in a document or budgeting app that you revisit and update regularly. Set a date in your calendar, whether it’s once a month or once a semester, to sit down and go through your current budget. Did you overspend in any categories? Are your expense estimates realistic? Are your goals still up to date or have they changed?
Then, update your budget accordingly. Maybe you’ve found that your monthly savings goal was a bit ambitious or that you can put a bit more toward your “fun money” fund. Remember, the best budget is one you can actually stick to.
Need a hand? Our student budget calculator can help identify your cash flow and plan out your finances for the school year.
Example of a student budget
To illustrate how a student budget can look like. Please consider this illustrative example below.
*Please note this is a hypothetical example of what a monthly student budget can look like.
Based on these numbers, your total monthly cash flow would amount to $500.00 CAD.
| Income | Dollar Amount |
|---|---|
| Part time job | $2,200 |
| Side gig | $200 |
| Total Income | $2,400 CAD |
| Expenses | Dollar Amount |
|---|---|
| Rent and utilities | $600 |
| Groceries | $100 |
| School tuition cost | $1,000 per semester |
| Dining out expenses | $100 |
| School books and other expenses | $100 |
| Total Expenses | $1,900 CAD |
Tips for student budgeting success
Take advantage of these student-budgeting tips to help you lower your cost of living for your school year
- Look for student discounts: Always check to see if there’s a student discount, whether you’re at a restaurant or your favourite retailer. You might be surprised by how many places offer it, especially around campus.
- Reduce buying fast food frequently: Dining out is an expense that adds up quickly. While you don’t have to cut it out completely, try to scale back on restaurant meals and takeout to see what it does for your budget.
- Look into buying used or digital versions of your textbooks: These are often big-ticket items for students, so buying them second-hand can make a difference. Consider selling used textbooks when no longer needed.
- Consider getting a part-time job: if your academic schedule allows. Check for on-campus positions and paid internships, which are often more flexible and accommodating for students.
- Use a budget tracking app or spreadsheet: To keep an eye on your spending. For example, BMO Savings Goals can help you set up, track, and reach your goals.
- Try to take public transport: It’s an easy and cheap way to get around, and you can potentially cut down on things like car payments, car insurance, and parking spaces.
- Cut back on non-essential items: Go through the inessential items in your budget and see where you can cut back. Can you get by with one streaming service instead of two? What about other subscription services? Take a close look at any miscellaneous expenses — they can really add up.
The bottom line
Budgeting can be intimidating, particularly if you’re managing your finances on your own for the first time. But building a student budget doesn’t have to be complicated. Start by adding up your income and expenses, then calculate how much cash you have leftover. This will empower you to make the most of your funds and start making real progress toward your goals.
FAQs about student budgeting
While there’s no magic number, the 50/30/20 rule advocates for allocating 20% of your take-home income toward savings and financial goals.
If you’re not able to put that much away, don’t be discouraged — even a little bit of savings can go a long way. Save what you can now and ramp it up as you’re able.
Many students operate on a fixed income, whether that’s from student loans or any kind of financial support. It can also be difficult to balance your academic responsibilities with a job, making it difficult to start bringing in more income.
When you’re on a fixed income, a budget is more important than ever when it comes to managing your money. Your budget will help you analyze all your expenses so you can separate wants from needs and live within your means.
The thing about budgets is that they aren’t one-size-fits-all. Each student has a unique financial situation with different needs. To start creating your personalized student budget, check out our student budget calculator.
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