With many projects and organisations offering tailor-made gap years, it comes as no surprise more than a third of students decide to take a year out before university to hone soft skills. What is now becoming increasingly more common is for graduates to look towards taking a career gap between university and graduate schemes, in order to boost their CV. Reasons for taking some time out vary: an urge to travel, work on voluntary projects, get a taste of working life...Yet, despite this increase, with tuition fees set to rise up to £9,000 per annum, many A-Level students are thinking twice about delaying their degree. Critics (including David Mitchell) have shunned the gap year as a waste of time, even going so far as to say: “the less they know of the unreal world across the glittering sea, the less cheated they'll feel.”

Managing your funds, over your year abroad, can seem quite tricky. Some of you will have taken out a loan, others will have been given a grant, and others still will have chosen to go the whole hog independently...What to do with your funding? How should you go about saving/storing your money?