The App That Saved Me When Uni Fees Were Due (And I Was Broke)

Let me be upfront about something.

I’m not going to tell you to eat cheaper, skip your coffee, or stop buying things you enjoy. That advice is exhausting and it doesn’t work long-term. You’re already stressed enough. Treat yourself once in a while — you deserve it.

What I am going to tell you about is an app that quietly saved me hundreds of dollars without me having to think about it. When fees were due, the money was just… there.

The problem every international student knows

When I was studying in Australia, I was earning around $600–$700 a week. That sounds okay on paper. But fees come in big lumps — and the weeks leading up to due dates were genuinely stressful. I’d be watching my account, doing mental math, hoping it would stretch.

Sound familiar?

The app: Raiz

Raiz is a micro-investing and savings app available in Australia. Most international students I know have never heard of it. That’s a shame, because it’s one of the most practical tools I’ve found for exactly this situation.

Here’s what I did:

Weekly auto-deposit. I set up a $40 automatic deposit on the day I got paid. You pick the day — it debits automatically and you barely notice it’s gone. When you’re earning $650, $40 disappears quietly.

Round-ups. Every time I spent money, Raiz rounded up the transaction and invested the spare change. Buy a coffee for $4.50, it rounds to $5 and invests $0.50. I was accumulating an extra $15–25 per week without doing anything.

Combined, I was saving $55–65 a week without manually moving money or exercising any willpower.

What happened at fee time

When the next tuition instalment came around, I had a buffer sitting in Raiz that I hadn’t been watching obsessively. I’d also earned dividends and rewards on top. It wasn’t a fortune — but it was exactly the kind of cushion that stops a stressful week from becoming a crisis.

Here’s my actual account — $1,570 invested, $137 in market returns, $182 in total rewards, $28 in dividends. Built entirely from $40 weekly deposits and spare change round-ups.

I’m not kidding when I say this will save you when you need those extra dollars at fee time.

Is it safe? What actually happens to the money?

Raiz invests your money into diversified ETF portfolios — you choose your risk level (conservative through to aggressive). The value can go up and down slightly, so it’s not a traditional savings account. But for a medium-term buffer of a few months, it’s worked well for me.

You can withdraw anytime — it usually takes 2–5 business days to land in your bank account.

How to get started

1. Download Raiz from the App Store or Google Play
2. Sign up and verify your identity (takes about 10 minutes)
3. Set up a weekly recurring investment — even $20 adds up
4. Turn on round-ups
5. Don’t touch it until you need it

Get started with Raiz →

Disclosure: This is an affiliate link — if you sign up, Arrivly may earn a small commission at no cost to you. I genuinely used this app as a student and recommend it honestly.

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The honest truth: there’s no magic trick to managing money on a student income. But automating small amounts consistently is the closest thing to one. Raiz does that quietly in the background while you focus on everything else.

If you’re earning anything right now, set it up this week.