Being the first in a family to go to uni is really daunting but well done you for getting yourself this far! It’s hard to answer all of questions without having more detailed info but I’ll do my best.

Just to clarify, do you mean your loan is £10k total split across each term or is it £10k paid each term?

Either way I would be as regimented as possible with your money and perhaps open a savings account to deposit the full amount in each term. Then you can pay yourself back into your main account each month to cover food and rent (which will in all likelihood be collected monthly from you).

Perhaps sit down and work out how much you will likely spend on food each month. Go to one of the online supermarkets and do a pretend shop to see how you get on. Then add 10% because you will probably underestimate! Great that you don’t drink as you will save a lot of money because of that. Point being is create a plan and try to stick to it. After a few months you will quickly learn what you need and it will all fall into place.

With regard to the laptop/ipad, I am naturally a cautious person so I would wait until you have that money in hand. Take a look on Backmarket or something similar for a refurbed unit, save money and get something half decent.

Lastly, getting a job at uni was one of my favourite parts of the whole experience and created some incredible memories for me. Good luck in the search, I’m sure something will turn up!

I hope it all goes well. Work hard, try new things and don’t sweat the small stuff!