Big events
There are a few events during student life when you will feel the need to spend an obscene amount of money for something really unusual, special or just plain stupid.
University balls, for example. Most of them are basically just a big dinner and a disco – the difference being that you wear a posh frock and pay a posh price tag.
Usually, there’ll be more by way of entertainments than simply a couple of decks and a few flashing lights. Think ice sculptures and string quartets, cabaret acts and casinos, fun fairs and bouncy castles plus loads of bands – sometimes even has-beens you’ve heard of.
Some universities go for balls in a much bigger way than others. Some have them once or twice a year – modest affairs at about £30 a head. Other universities (Oxbridge especially) seem to have them almost every week and some of them are outrageously decadent bacchanalias more reminiscent of a Hollywood wedding than a student shindig, where tickets sell like hot cakes at over a hundred quid each.
On top of the ticket price, add the cost of far too much alcohol (some will probably be included in the ticket), obligatory dress or tux hire (or even purchase if you plan to go to several of these jamborees).
The whole thing can end up costing the same as several weeks’ rent. At that sort of price, these should be very special occasions. It’s worth checking out one while you have the chance, but there’s no need to go to every ball going. They’ll only become mundane.
Then there are job interviews.
Especially in your final year, you’ll want to have an outfit that says, ‘I scrub up alright and can look professional if I have to’.
Looking dapper is no good if no one gets to see it. Most big graduate employers should offer to pay your train fares (and if they don’t, it doesn’t hurt to ask), but getting to interviews for postgraduate courses or smaller, impoverished organisations can place a serious toll on your finances.
This is not the kind of worry a budding career-monster needs as they try to impress their way on to the first rung of the ladder. The good news is that you may be able to get some help. In the case of a job interview, your bank will often make allowances and allow you to extend your overdraft (but not by much, mind and don’t forget to ask first), so you can buy a suit.
For any other special events, you may just have to ask your parents or put in a few extra hours at your job if you have one – just one extra shift might earn you enough.
Remember that you may need to look smart at quite short notice. You may be able to predict family weddings or christenings a few months ahead of time, but if you have a funeral to attend, you’ll probably have other things on your mind than what to wear.
At the end of it all, you may want to look the part for graduation day. Maybe not – plenty of students have collected their scrolls wearing jeans and a T-shirt under their gowns. But even they had to pay to hire the gown and, if they wanted it, the gurning photo for gran’s bedside table.
Last updated on: 07 October 2008