In the UK we have a few ways to avoid debt.

Best option is to be Scottish - No tuition fees.
Second best is to be Welsh - Welsh Government Grant reduces fees.

My hometown of Wrexham is great for attending uni very cheaply. Glyndwr has some of the cheapest tuition fees around. If saving money is your priority then look for somewhere which doesn't have the £9k a year fee. Of course this is severely limiting but it is what it is.

Secondly, if your parents live close enough to commute cheaply to one of these cheaper universities then stay living at home. I personally loved living away but its not the cheaper option.

Next, lifestyle. I've known students to get their loans and spend 95% of it on the day they get it and then they're deep into their overdraft and calling up mummy, daddy, whoever for help the next day saying they didn't get their loan through yet. Cigarettes, alcohol, daily use of weed, cocaine on occasion, all racks up expenses. And for the love of god, stop getting Dominoes four times a week!

Simple budgeting. Look at all the luxuries and necessities in your life.
Do you need to have a car?
Do you need to have that fancy phone that costs more than £25 a month?
Are you getting yourself in a relationship which is going to result in you spending more on sustaining it?

Not sure if this is another being Welsh perk, being poor or an individual university thing but BURSARIES. BLESS THE BURSARY.

By the end of your degree you can come out of it with the vast majority of your loan in tact and can give it back. I had so much free time that I should have got a job on top of studying too.