What people forget entirely

A short list that catches almost everybody: travel home and back, more than once. Course trips and field requirements. Printing and binding a dissertation. Professional body membership where a course requires it. A graduation gown and the tickets. And the gaps between terms, where rent continues and the loan does not arrive.

None of these is huge on its own and together they are a real number. Write them into the plan at the start, because discovering them one at a time across three years is how a budget that looked fine turns into borrowing.