The financial support from the university is amazing. So I received the university bursary, which is great, and because I do sports as well I receive additional funding from my college. They also offer even more funding if you do well in your exams. So I've been fortunate to receive those three streams of funding during my time here.

When it comes to managing money, the university itself has helped a lot. There's something called the Crankstart scholarship which is for students who have certain household eligibility requirements, and if you can meet those then you get a certain amount of non-refundable money in the sense that you don't have to pay it back, and you can use that for expenses whether that's living expenses, rent, food, going out, and it's, I would say, a significant amount and it's really helpful if you are struggling financially.

There are lots of pots of money available. We have things like book grants. There are vacation study grants which allow you to stay in college over the holidays if you need to do an assessment or, in my case, revision for final exams. As well as that, we have the general student support fund. So if you are struggling financially for any reason then they'll review your finances and they'll try and give you some additional money to help you along throughout the academic year.

It's just a matter of speaking to college or the university if you need it, and it is there. In my first year, I didn't have a laptop, but I emailed my college and they actually helped me pay for a laptop for myself. So that wasn't an expense that I then had to also think of when I was coming to uni. So there are different things to help you out.

What makes it easier here in Oxford is the fact that your bills, your battels, which you get at the first week of term, kind of come a few days after your student finance loan comes through. So that makes it quite easy in a sense that your biggest payments you pay off first and foremost, and then after that it's just a case of budgeting and looking to the rest of term — what I've got coming up, whether it's ACS events that I need to pay for, or new shoes that I want, or a formal hall that I'm going to need a new dress for.

So I think having the 8-week terms makes it quite handy to plan, because once you've paid for your battels in first week, it's just a case of trying to figure out where your major expenses are going to come from, and what's important to you essentially when it comes to what you want to spend your money on.

For things like food and stuff like that, going to hall — some halls are pretty cheap, so you can get a full meal for a good price, and there are food trucks around Oxford as well. When it comes to textbooks, I don't have to buy any textbooks, so I just get that from the libraries and things like that. So that's not an expense I have to think about myself. Pens and notebooks and stuff can also be asked for if you need them.

You know, if you are struggling in any way, you can reach out.