University is an expensive business. The average student is expected to leave university with £51,000 of debt, taking into account tuition fees, living costs, accommodation, studying materials and other costs.

The majority of this will be covered by the student loan system, although it is likely students will have to take on part time work or get help from parents to meet the cost.

The future may sound a long way off to someone who’s 18. But for those who do work while funding their studies and find they are managing to save some money, it’s never too early to start planning ahead. Saving wisely in your teens will give you a headstart in your twenties, whether you want to travel, get a housing deposit together or fund a Masters.

Will Smith, 23, worked 30 hours a week for a branding agency while studying politics at Nottingham University between 2013 and 2016.

He lived at home during his second and third year, and decided to save 70 per cent of his earnings. This meant he was able to put away £800 a month.

He had a cash Isa but the majority was put into Santander’s 123 account, which was paying 3 per cent interesting on balances of up to £20,000 while Will was at university. The interest rate has since been cut to 1.5 per cent.

Will, who is head of marketing at energy firm Fischer group, is now looking at putting his money into buy-to-let properties. He puts £200 a month into a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), on top of his workplace pension.

Craig, from Cardiff, managed to save £150 a month during his first and second year at university.

The Newcastle graduate, who is now 26, worked part time at a call centre and found his earnings, plus his maintenance loan, were more than enough to cover his living costs.

“I didn’t really have a determination to save. My parents are big savers – they’ve never bought anything on credit and I think I was influenced by that. I never had a student overdraft and it never really occurred to me not to save,” he says.

Craig was also given £20,000 after his grandmother died, six months before he started university. He put this money into an investment fund with Halifax, although he says this hasn’t done well and has only returned 1 per cent. The £150 a month was put into a cash Isa.

Craig is a cautious investor and he was happy to see the money grow from his own savings, rather than allowing the market to dictate how much he could end up with. However, he does wish he had shopped around for a better high street bank account.

He chose Halifax because that’s where he’d always banked. He has now switched providers to get a better rate.

“I certainly enjoyed myself at university and don’t regret saving as much as I did. But I think I could have been smarter with my savings,” he says.

Ben Marsh, who is 23 and also a Newcastle University graduate, benefited from investment guidance given to him by his parents, who both work in banking.

He opened a stocks and shares Isa with Hargreaves Lansdown when he was 19, saving £45 a month. His parents advised him to invest in two tracker funds – Fidelity’s Global Dividend Class W, and Vanguard’s FTSE Developed World ex-UK Equity Index. Since he opened the account more than four years ago, the Fidelity tracker has risen by 14 per cent and in the Vanguard tracker has gained 40 per cent.

“I worked as a cricket coach while at university and knew from the start that I wanted to allocate a set amount to put away each month. I’m doing a masters degree now and I still try and save each month,” he says.

Read more: A guide to first-time investing and student finances – what the experts say.