ZivaHome for students: when do I run out of money this year?
A student's money does not arrive monthly. The maintenance loan comes three times a year, a part-time wage comes monthly, rent is due on the 1st. The question that matters is not «what did I spend» but when do I run out, and by how much. This guide answers it with your own numbers and no bank connection.
Two free levels: check which one you have
With a campus code from your school you get everything in ZivaHome plus the planning tool: the 12-month forecast with its low point, the annual budget grid, Timing, «Can I afford it?», loans, goals and your own categories, free until the code's end date. Connecting a bank (£7.50 a month in the UK, from day one, stop any time) and Ziva AI stay paid.
Without a code, plain ZivaHome is free with no time limit: shopping list, calendar, agreements, loans, goals, receipts, money you are waiting for, split bill, and the Budget page with its annual grid and Timing tab. The forecast and «Can I afford it?» need a code or a bank. If you have no code, steps 1 to 3 and 6 still apply; steps 4 and 5 need the planning tool.
Before you start: five numbers
Ten minutes of collecting saves an hour of guessing. Have these at hand, from the documents rather than from memory:
- Student finance letter: each instalment amount and its payment date (typically three a year).
- Rent: the monthly amount and the day it leaves.
- Wage: a normal month's take-home and the pay day; a summer month's amount if it differs.
- Fixed monthly costs: phone, travel card, gym, subscriptions, insurance.
- What you have today on the account you live from.
Everything else (food, going out, clothes) is an estimate, and an estimate is fine. The forecast is about timing, and timing is what the letters tell you exactly. Why a budget alone cannot answer the timing question is explained in what a personal cash-flow forecast is.
Step 1: Register with the school's link and pick a start
Open your school's registration link (for Global Banking School: zivafinance.app/register?campus=GBS2026). A card above the form confirms the partner and the end date. Enter name, e-mail and password, then confirm the e-mail. If you registered without the link, add the code under Settings, Campus or partner code. A wrong code is refused at once.
On first login Ziva asks how you want to start. Try an example student loads Amara, a second-year student in London: room £925 on the 1st, wage £606 on the 28th (£1,106 in June to August), maintenance loan £14,135 in three instalments, a Plan 5 loan with nothing to pay yet. Her data sits behind a demo strip and is removed with one tap. Start my own plan gives an empty account. Connect a bank instead is optional and paid, and not needed for anything here.
Step 2: Put the year in the annual grid
A budget for a student is a plan per month, not a number per year. Open Budget, Annual View. Every category is a row, every month a column; tap an amount to change that one month only. Fill the income rows first, then the fixed costs, then one line for everything else:
- Student finance (loans and grants): each instalment in its own month, from the letter. Amara: 4,712 in January, 4,711 in April, 4,712 in September.
- Salary: a normal month in every month, summer months higher.
- Rent, travel, phone, gym, subscriptions: one row each.
- Groceries: a monthly estimate.
- Everything else: one row, generous.
Two rules: edit the next month, never the current one, so a November workshop starts with January. And the grid is the authority on how much: whatever you type here is what the forecast uses. If a category is missing, open Categories and add it with your own name (Society fees, Home visits).
Step 3: Say when money comes and goes
The same yearly total can be comfortable or catastrophic depending on which day it lands. Open Budget, Timing. Each row shows when Ziva expects it: Rent, the 1st, Salary, the 28th, Student finance, the 12th. Tap a row and pick a fixed day, weekly (with a fixed weekly amount if you like), split over dates, or spread across the month.
The instalment dates matter most. Put them on the exact day from your letter. The gap between the last pound of one instalment and the first pound of the next is the whole lesson of this tool.
Step 4: Read the low point
Home now shows what you have today, the lowest balance in the next 90 days and its date, and the curve between them. For Amara: student account now £3,550, lowest £305 on 11 January, the day before the spring instalment. Tap the curve for the next 12 months and a day-by-day walk; the Why? panel shows the arithmetic item by item.
If the low point is negative, you have found the month to fix. Go back to the grid and test: a few more shifts in March, a cheaper phone plan, a smaller everything-else row. Watch the low point move. Without the instalments, Amara's low would be about minus £9,000. That picture is what the loan is for.
Step 5: Test a purchase before you make it
On Home, tap Can I afford it?, enter the amount and the date, and read the balance on the low day with and without the purchase, and when it would fit if it does not fit now. The answer shows what it rests on, and a caution box if the budget for the coming months is missing: a precise number built on an incomplete plan is a warning, not a result.
Testing changes nothing: no transaction is created and the budget is untouched. Use the same screen for bigger scenarios. What if the summer job falls through? Set the summer wage rows back to normal. What if rent rises to £975 in September? Change September to December in the rent row.
Step 6: The student loan, now and after graduation
Open Loans and add your student loan as type Income-contingent. Presets fill the published rules: Plan 5 (9 % of income above £25,000, written off after 40 years), Plan 2 (£29,385, 30 years), Postgraduate (6 % above £21,000, 30 years). Enter the balance and rate from your statement. While you study, the card reads Nothing to pay: planned income is under the threshold.
After graduation the same account keeps working: type your first salary into the grid's income row, and the loan card changes by itself to 9 % of income over £25,000, about £52 a month on £32,000. The forecast shows the repayment until the write-off date and nothing after it. The plan you built for instalments and rent becomes the plan for the first salary and the first flat, in the same place. Building a buffer alongside it is covered in how to build an emergency fund.
Household things that help in a shared flat
Free for everyone, code or not: Split bill for the weekend away and the shared Netflix; a shopping list for the flat; agreements so phone, gym and broadband renewals do not arrive as a surprise in the thin month; goals for a £250 buffer at £5 a week; and money you are waiting for, such as the flatmate's half of the energy bill. Sharing works through Settings: pick a person, pick what they see, they accept.
A 45-minute workshop plan
The goal is that every student leaves with their own low point and its date, found without the facilitator touching their phone.
- 0 to 5 min: register with the campus link, confirm e-mail. «No bank. Your own numbers only.»
- 5 to 15 min: load Amara, find her low point and the day, open Why. «Why the 11th of January and not December?»
- 15 to 20 min: remove Amara, start own plan. «Get your student finance letter out.»
- 20 to 35 min: own grid with instalments, rent, wage, three fixed costs, one everything-else row; Timing for the instalments and rent. Walk the room. Do not type for anyone.
- 35 to 40 min: read own low point, test one purchase. «What is your date? What would move it?»
- 40 to 45 min: add the student loan as income-contingent, type a £30,000 first salary into next year's grid. «That is what repayment will look like. Same account, same plan.»
What to measure afterwards, per student: did they reach a low point with a date; did they change one number and re-read it; did they open the app again a week later.
Known limits
The forecast is only as good as the grid: a missing instalment or a wrong date makes it too optimistic. Campus access ends on the code's date; the account stays with everything in ZivaHome, and the planning tool then needs a bank or a new code. Ziva AI is not included. The income-contingent presets are the published rules as of October 2026; thresholds change each April, so check the loan card against your statement once a year.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to connect my bank?
No. Everything in this guide uses numbers you type in from your own letters. A bank connection is optional and paid, £7.50 a month in the UK from day one, and adds automatic updates.
What does the campus code give me?
The planning tool without a bank: the 12-month forecast with its low point, the annual grid, Timing and «Can I afford it?», free until the code's end date. Without a code you still have the Budget page, loans, goals and all household cards for free.
Does testing a purchase change my budget?
No. «Can I afford it?» creates no transaction and changes no budget line. If you decide to buy, add it in the grid for that month.
How is the student loan handled?
As an income-contingent loan with the Plan 5, Plan 2 or Postgraduate rules. While your planned income is under the threshold the card shows nothing to pay; type a salary into the grid and the repayment appears in the forecast until the write-off date.
What happens when the campus code expires?
Your account and everything you entered stay. Home becomes ZivaHome again, and the forecast needs a bank connection or a new code.