How much do you give your child for Uni per month?

[ValUK]

My son is going to Uni and will be getting a loan for the tuition fees and the Maintenance Loan. However the latter will only just cover his accommodation costs so he will need more per month to live.

I have asked a few friends how much they give their children for this and answered varied between zero and several hundred pounds per month. I was wondering what an average amount might be?

[harryandsally]

We worked out that we could afford £100 per month. This should enable your child to be very careful how he spends it and not be profligate. He will end up getting an interest free overdraft anyway.

[IShallWearMidnight]

watching as we're about to start this discussion with DD1. Her loan should cover accomodation, but not anything else.

[jgbmum]

We have been discussing this too, and after much debate, we are intending to pay for DS accommodation then he has the loan to live on.
As he's doing an engineering degree he won't have much free time during the term so it would be difficult to fit in part time work, but I hope he might get something during the holidays.

[thekidsmom]

That's exactly what we do, jgbmum. DS is heading back for his 3rd year and DD is about to start and for both of them we'll be paying accommodation and they'll live off their loans. It works out about £400 per month each for the 9 months of the academic year.

[JennaTailor]

Loans cover his accommodation. I give him £200 a month for food, travel, going out, toiletries and clothes. He is managing fairly well.

He also asks for money for Birthday & Xmas.

[webwiz]

We are doing the same as JennaTailor. We gave DD1 about £200 a month for the year she was in halls (that's out of this window this year as she is at an american university and everything is very expensive). We will be giving DD2 a similar amount when we've checked what her actual accomodation costs will be compared to her loan.

DH has a wonderful spreadsheet somewhere of expected living costs and he'll be referring back to that no doubt.

[EduStudent]

I get £80 a month, which, tbh, I don't need. My loan covers my rent and I'm lucky enough to get a decent grant, but I do like to think I'm sensible with m money

[bilblio]

It's quite a few years since I was at uni but the first year when I was in catered halls my parents gave me £100 a month. My grant covered the rent. Parents bought me books and clothes during the holidays and I used to bring as much tinned dried food from home as I could when I went back home in the holidays. The following years when I fed myself I was on £140 a month.

But the reason I'm posting is because my parents drilled into me that if I got a loan or overdraft then they would stop the £100 a month. This was the best thing they could have done. I finished uni without any debts, and learnt how to manage money and to live frugally.

Obviously it's different now because I don't think you can get through uni without a loan for fees... but if you could afford to tell them the same about an overdraft it might teach them some valuable life skills.

I actually lived by barter. My friends couldn't cook, so I fed them and they bought me beer. :) The friends who did get loans and overdrafts are still paying them off years later, always struggle with money, and are always in debt. I earn a fraction of what they do, but except for the mortgage we have no debts.

[kritur]

It is a long time since I was at uni but my parents didn't give me anything (they couldn't afford to). My mum would sometimes turn up with a couple of bags of shopping and slip me £20 when she could afford it.
A friend of mines mum had a reasonable compromise. She bought her £80 of Asda vouchers and £20 of boots vouchers a month so she would have money for essentials. SO that was £100 a month (it was the late 90s)

[sayithowitis]

I give DC1 around £100 a month. As with jgbmum, Dc1 is doing a degree which really doesn't give time for paid work during term time, but thankfully, DC1 has been fortunate enough to find summer jobs both last year and this year.

Riven, though DC1 gets a grant ( slightly less than the amount you quoted), the SFC only actually pay half that. The other half is 'knocked off' their maintenance loan. So although DC1 is assessed as being entitled to £1500 grant, is only actually £750 better off as the other £750 is taken away from the loan element. You might want to check.

[Valiant1]

I was worried at 100 a month but seems to be the norm she has her loan and grants so will end up with about £45 a week after rent so the 100 is just a top up reallyxx

[housewife19]

DD1 off to uni this Oct and was reading through this thread. Accomm expensive so think we will pay rent & let her live off loan, seems to be what a lot of people do.
Just wondering if anyone got any advice on what to take apart from everything. Gone through all the "What to take to uni" sites pretty much brought it all, but wondered if anyone had experience of what to get that they hadnt thought of

[lostmymind]

I will do the same - pay DS accomodation (which is £500 pm catered), so he'll be 'living' off his maintenance loan. I have a DD already at Uni, and am doing the same for her....so between the two of them I hand over a thousand a month to cover their living costs.

'Queezed' middle doesn't quite describe it for me - more like choked, strangled and crushed

[lostmymind]

*accommodation obv

[LadyLapsang]

We pay accommodation, (was £126 pw self catered last year, less this year), fares (flights & train), contribution towards books (although a kind second year gave him a complete course worth of books last year), clothes, holiday (as went away on cheap holiday with uni friends instead of family holiday with us which would have been about 5 times as much!) etc. He lives on his loan and his summer holiday earnings - he has had 2 full-time & 1 part-time job this summer. I know he could live more cheaply (and he would) but I consider we are a family and we should all enjoy the same standard of living. He was offered a part-time job in Freshers Week but I didn't want him to take it so he would have time for studying and taking advantage of all the sports etc.- once he's graduated he will be working mad hours like everyone else I'm sure. I think he should enjoy the whole university experience and I would be pleased to support him through a Masters if he was working hard, getting good grades and that was what he wanted to do.