Student bank accounts: Advice for parents

Sending your teenage son or daughter off to university can be difficult enough without having to worry about how they will cope financially on their own. A student bank account might be just the thing you need to help allay these fears, as this will provide them with a reliable facility with which to manage their money and pay for important expenses like rent, fees and books. Of course, there's no end of options available to you and these will vary depending on the individual package and provider you choose. One thing you will find, however, is many of these will be equipped with tempting freebies and special offers. Of those that might come in particularly handy is the NUS Extra. This is a special card that provides the holder with discounts and deals on the cost of books, travel, CDs and clothes. But in addition to all of this, one of the things you'll want to shop for are online bank account facilities. If your child has access to their finances over the internet when they flee the nest to experience life in higher education, you might find they are more likely to keep track of it. In fact, to some parents it may often seem as if kids are more comfortable accessing the web for products and services than they are in the real world. With this in mind, internet banking may offer more peace of mind for you if you are concerned that bills won't be paid on time or funds won't be managed properly. One of the other key features a student bank account is likely to offer is an overdraft, and when you are compare you might want online bank account to see which offers the limit that you think will best suit your child's requirements. This might not necessarily mean going for the one that has the highest limit, as this may just encourage the holder to be more careless with their cash. Instead, it might be an idea to look at which provides an overdraft that has an incremental limit designed to provide financial help over the course of their first few years at university. If, however, you have already reached your final year of graduate study, the time may have come to revise the banking facilities you have in place. As your circumstances change it can be helpful to have a bank account provider that grows with you. Luckily, graduate accounts are available that are designed to cater for people in this situation. You may also find that further overdraft, credit card and loan options are offered alongside this type of account.