university accommodation wanting fees up front

[zooeysalinger]

my daughter has just been accepted to Uni and will obtain a loan of £1100 each term which starts on the 24th September. She has just heard today what halls she will be in and they want £ 300 deposit within the next few days. When the first 1100 comes in, she then has to pay £2061 for the accommodation ( it was the cheapest). That means as her parents we have to find the £300 deposit, £828 shortfall for her accommodation and all other costs for that term. She can only deduct £150 of the £300 deposit against her next terms fees. This will mean a shortfall of £732 on term two on her accommodation, but again she will not have any living costs from her loan. Finally on term three she will and a credit of £ 334. As parents just earning over the threshold for grants, all this seems very unfair and quite frankly a great financial worry. She has started applying for jobs but cannot say what time she is available to the supermarkets until she gets her timetable from the Uni. I can really see a time when Uni will simply not be accessible to the middle income. It would be easier if each Uni wrote to the loans company stating their cheapest accommodation costs and the loan covered that at the very least. Does anyone else have the same problem?

[CharminglyOdd]

All the universities I know of have monthly payment plans. Has your daughter mis-interpreted the information? I cannot imagine they are allowed to do anything other than offer an instalment plan. It would be worth ringing the accommodation office to check.

[zooeysalinger]

Hi thank you for that, I have just rung the Uni and they have confirmed what we thought. They said it is very unlikely that a monthly plan will be accepted, but for my daughter to e-mail them tomorrow. Thank you.

[goinggetstough]

I have read previously that students are meant to dip into their student overdraft to cover the deposit.
Even with instalments my DC would not be able to cover their rent and theirs in by no means the most expensive. Instalments in my limited experience of two universities are not monthly but in three or four payments e.g. Deposit, Sept, Oct, Jan and April
The minimum maintenance loan is £3575. So she should have an extra £285.
I agree though that the maintenance loan should cover at least the accommodation.

[zooeysalinger]

Unfortunately the University is asking for an extra £800 in 2 out of the 3 instalments, which means that in the third instalment, she has £334 left over (as the third maintenance instalment covers it), but this doesn't cover the extra payed out earlier in the year.
My son is at private accommodation at the same Uni, and he is allowed to pay monthly, i don't see why it should be any different for first years.

[creamteas]

Zooey if yit is going to cause a big problem financially, tell your daughter to contact the student welfare office at the uni, they can help negotiate for her.

The rules for private accommodation also vary depending on the landlord. One of my DC pays termly for his room, just like some halls.

[BeckAndCall]

It's not unusual to want the fees up front, I'm afraid - both of the unis where my DCs were in halls in the first year needed a deposit and then a term at a time. Howver,in both cases, they didn't need the terms fees until the loan had come in (not enough to cover, but still)

[LeeCoakley]

I could have written your post two years ago. And completely agree about how the loans should at least cover the cheapest available accommodation. Although everywhere would probably put their rates up
Dd1 couldn't get a job the first year and so we were subbing her £100 per week to cover her costs. This second year has been ok because she had a job which covered her food and entertainment. It's bloody hard - sympathies.

[Theas18]

Www were lucky enough to be able to"pump prime"for dd1 last year but yes, what you are saying happened for her.

We payed the 1 St, payment.she locked the 2 ND away for the 2ndterm fees etc.she did have the money left at the end of the 1 St year too, but we've let her use it for her house deposit etc.I'm hoping it'll get back to me when she leaves uni, but I'm thinking, ass long as she keeps bring sensible I shall surprise her and give it her back at the end.

I know not everyone is lucky enough to do this though.

[amothersplaceisinthewrong]

Not unusual, we had to pay termly for DD and a deposit to secure the accomodation.

What I think is not made clear enough to students when applying for University is that the maximum loan they can take out for living costs will NOT by any stretch cover their living costs and they will still need a top up from somewhere (ie a job or generous parents if they can afford it). We paid the accomodation costs for our DC and they get the loan for the rest.

[outtolunchagain]

We have just had ds offer for accommodation, the opposite to what he applied for and we have to pay a deposit , plus say how we want to pay the balance, probably monthly I think

[mumeeee]

We payed termly for DD1 and in two installments for DD2. Both halls wantes deposits almost straight away. That is usual with most unis and they get the deposit back when they leave halls as long as they leave them clean and undamaged. One girl who went to uni with DD1 found it difficults to find the deposit ans first installment so she spoke to the person in charge of the halls and they sorted something out until she could pay the whole amount, I think they gave her a bit more time.