Here is your Student Union guide to Student Life -
The Student Union is full of plenty of social and professional opportunities for students to give an all-rounded experience of student life. At any point during your degree you can get involved in all opportunities that are listed below, and we have included some handy tips with budgeting and finding balance
Discounts and Budgeting
Totum Card
The new name of the former NUS card, Totum cards are linked to the Leicester Student’s Union allowing members of our Union to have the opportunity of hundreds of discounts. You can either get a year membership card for £12, or a three year membership for £32! On their website you can see they offer discounts to lots of fashion and high street clothing brands, beauty products, chain restaurants, cinema tickets, day trips and more! On top of this lots of local services, such as cafes, hairdressers, etc., will accept the Totum card and offer unique student discounts. Check it out and pick your Totum card up in the Union Reception – make your money go further!
Please use a copy of our Budget Tracker spreadsheet in order to work out your finances with your housemates and help budget your joint bills!
Deals for Students
Deals on Campus
Deals on Campus
Library Cafe
The best toasties on campus! With a range of cheap to deluxe toasties and paninis, these deals provide a heated option for your lunch away from the classic meal deal. It is also a big hub on campus for a sweet treat! With most on sale for under £2 there is always homemade slices of cake, pastries and muffins on offer for a great library break treat that you can work towards in your study time.
Delicious
Do you like Subway? Well then you’ll love Delicious! We a selection of breads at different prices and the option of having it toasted it’s a cheaper and healthier version from the well-known brand. Every week there are multiple filling options meat, vegetarian and vegan, and all sandwiches have the option of salad, condiments and sauces to add in free of charge. It is the cheapest way to have a glamorous cheese sandwich on campus! On top of this, it is the only location on campus with a salad bar, with three sizes of pots to meet all your needs, Delicious will give you new options throughout the week to cram as much salad ingredients in you can (including lots of vegan ingredients)!
Union St. Food Market
The £3.20 meal deal! Thanks to our plastic reduction initiative there is even more drink choices with this deal with soft drink cans, water or even a hot drink. If you want the best deal go look at the sandwiches in category D, seeing as they are nearly £3 anyway and often have cool complex ingredients (including a Vegan range) it means your crisps and drink are a great bargain combination. Also, who doesn’t love a packet of Walker’s crisps? (Go Baked for the healthier option)
Ixxy’s Bagel
With a selection of Bagels and free additional sauces and salads, this is a great affordable treat to have between lectures. From premium activities that will only cost you £3.50 or basic options as little as £1.50, whatever your budget, there is an option for you.
Starbucks
It is an expensive option for coffee, but an expensive option that’s loved by most! But a way to save money here is: BRING. YOUR. OWN. CUP. Start integrating your reusable home-wear into your morning routine. You love frappucinos or ice tea? Bring a large straw covered plastic tumbler. You love a latte or cappuccino in the morning? Bring your own travel coffee mug. A lot of people will get free travel mugs for coffee during freshers either by their department or in freshers fair, but Starbucks sells them too! Whatever you bring though it brings the price down on your drink – so great for the environment and your bank account!
Deals in the City
Deals in the City
Caddy Shackers
This quirky mini golf have their student nights on a Monday and Tuesday where students can walk in and pay half price admission
Loaded Dog
The Loaded Dog is a great pub for students with many food or drink deals throughout the week. A student popular is Wing Wednesday where wings are only 25p each every Wednesday.
Richard III Museum
The Richard the III Museum situated behind Leicester Cathedral is a great afternoon out, and they have admission tickets at a lower price for students. What's better is that once you purchase this admission once it will last for the rest of the academic year
Study-Work-Social Balance
It is important in the middle of meeting new people, gaining new skills, earning money and completing course activities that you find a balance in it all!
See some of our tips below for how this is possible:
1. Make a Schedule
If you are feeling overwhelmed balancing everything, usually a simple solution is to timetable the different elements of your life that you need to balance. If you time table an hour in for seminar reading, schedule when your lectures and work hours are, and then literally time table in your lunch and time with friends, you are more likely to do those things. If you have gaps in your time table have a look at what’s missing from this balance, this might be time for extra study in preparation for an assignment, or time to get on top of household chores like washing.
If you don’t have a part time job, or a course with lots of contact hours, you may have more gaps in your week schedule. Use this opportunity to think about whether you could do one of the professional opportunities we offer in the previous section to build skills for your CV or maybe take up a new hobby and join one of our numerous student groups.
On the flip side, if your schedule has resulted in every hour of the day being timetabled for, then take a step back and think what element of your life you may need a break from in order to keep a healthy lifestyle – no one is a superhero, and you can’t keep all those plates spinning!
Remember to make time to do nothing. Find a television series, or a book to unwind with, or simply take a nap!
2. Prioritise
Sometimes it isn’t as simple as taking a break from one aspect of your life, especially when you still need to make time to eat, do chores and have some form of social life for your sanity on top of everything else. In these situations, the best thing to do is prioritise!
Work out which modules have deadlines sooner, be honest with yourself if a voluntary job is becoming too much and maybe pass the position to someone else with the time, or have an open conversation with your employer about balancing your hours with everything else.
Be sensible as well, if you have a deadline, then maybe this Wednesday is not the time to go on your student group’s bar crawl, you don’t need that added pressure!
3. Get yourself a wall calendar
Most people nowadays just use a phone calendar which is still fine, but on top of that people tend to stay more organised if there is one up in your room visible at all times. You can also look at days in multiple months at once which is harder to do on most phone calendars.
Write in when your exams and deadlines are, this way you can start planning for them further in advance rather than leaving it all to the last week or two. It promotes a healthier lifestyle reducing all-nighters and stress levels, also it means that you can keep your life balance going even nearer to these deadlines.
4. Acceptance
Finally, the best way to approach this balance is to accept that sometimes it’s okay to say it’s too hard to achieve this week.
Give yourself happy mental health days and know yourself well enough to know when you’re not okay and it’s time to take a break. Sometimes it’s too difficult to keep a job or voluntary position going when it’s a heavy period for your course – and that’s okay.
Sometimes you may not have time to do the seminar reading for one module because you had to put all your energy into a presentation for another – and that’s okay.
Also, sometimes you may just want to curl up under a duvet with your favourite movie or quiz show and cancel the drink with friends that was doable before you had a stressful day of work and lectures – and that’s definitely okay!
Just know that your Union is here for you, and there are plenty of staff or officers here to always lend an ear and a helping hand where possible!