About
"Dear Mum and Dad," a young student wrote, "I haven't heard from you for a long time. Please send a cheque so that I will know that you're all right." – Unknown
Our aim is to improve the financial management habits of students in order to tackle the growing debt crisis. We have brought together crucial information in one place in the form of an e-book, whilst additionally providing the tools and resources to actively manage student finances.
Why? Because there is little being done to make a major impact on the problem and more and more students are getting into financial trouble. "Fear of debt deters boys from going to university" reported the Evening Standard on the 19 May 2004. We believe it does not have to be like this. We believe it takes a combination of a change of mindset, and being armed with the sort of knowledge which always comes too late for many students: hard, solid practical advice on every element of student finance.
We are not campaigners against current levels of tuition fees – others fill that gap admirably and we support them from the sidelines. We believe only that the current education system does not prepare our youth for the challenges of real life: how to manage your financial affairs.
There is only one more problem. Any information on finance tends to be the most dull, unreadable material invented since The Highway Code. We would not want to write that kind of stuff, and you would not want to read it, so we've thrown away any attempt at pretentiousness and written a book we hope you find readable as well as helpful.
Who We Are
Tom Weaver, Ash Kumar and Paul Hawkins are recent graduates from the last four years. We watched as our friends graduated from university in serious debt, and realised students lacked both the knowledge and desire to deal with their debt problems.
Tom began to advise his close friends on restructuring their debts and in doing so started to formulate key points for managing personal finance that would have been extremely beneficial for both himself and his friends through university. The three researched the topic heavily to gain professional input and then have consolidated this learning into The Student Finance Vigilante to help today's students gain the same understanding.
As former executives of the global student-run charity AIESEC, they utilised their network of student and graduate contacts to gain an insight into current student spending and graduate debt. Tom provided the Association of Graduate Recruiters and their members with input into student opinion during his year as National President of AIESEC UK, and is currently an educational consultant for Bryanston Square and Director of Adaption Finance, his own business established with Ash and Paul. Ash is a consultant at a leading consultancy firm and provides a finance background to the team. Paul is a project manager and a specialist at student communications.
Contacting Us
Alternatively...
You can contact us directly by email at info at studentfinancevigilante dot co dot uk.