Money - how much need for weekly living?

[ForgiveMeFather]

Twin DD's leaving for Uni this September - one will be in London.

Their student loans will just above cover accommodation (basic level) and we won't be entitled to any other financial support.

We have budgeted £70 each per week to cover basic living costs (possibly a bit more for DD in London) - will this be enough?

We'll be helping out with transport to and from Uni each term, plus basic clothing, books, bits and bobs for their rooms etc but they will be self-catering so will need to cover food, evenings outs booze with that £70.

Is this a realistic amount?

Would anyone be willing to share how much they needed to contribute to their DC's just so we can see whether we are in the right ball-park?

Anything else we have forgotten?

Hi there - there are quite a few past threads on this that are worth searching for but I'll start us off.

I don't think you're far off, to be honest. I'm about to go through this with number 3 so have some experience - one big city, one northern town, but London will be different.

We've always paid their accommodation costs and then they've used their student loan for the rest - so taking a 11 week term, that would come out as paying them about £100 per week. But if you're also going to pay train fares and clothing and books, then I'd say you're in the ball park.

DD3 is in her first year at uni. We have paid for her accommodation but she has paid for everything else including her train fayre home and books for her course. She spends on average about £60 a week, So I think £70 a week is generous if you are paying for clothes and transport,

I pay for DD's accommodation and she lives off her loan (minimum). In the first 2 terms she's repaid £800 she borrowed when we went on holiday and she's hoping to save most of her summer term loan towards her year abroad. I'll pay for her accommodation and flights that year.

She can walk to lectures and comes home on a kids fare because she's tiny . I usually give her a bag of food to take back but other than that she's managed. She appreciates how lucky she is compared to some of her flatmates who don't get any help off their parents or are dripfed £40pw when their loan doesn't cover their rent.

She's not a drinker and was horrified at how much night's out with her flatmates cost the first few weeks but she's made friends with a group who don't drink and apart from a pub meal once a week they socialise in their flats. Her schoolfriends, who are drinkers, had all blown their loans within 6wks and have maxed out their overdrafts, one has dropped out because she needed a full-time job to pay her debts although her parents don't know yet

Aarghh, you are all paying for your DCs' accommodation? Though I can't see any way DD's loan will cover it so I guess we might have to as well... please someone tell me that she isn't the only one whose accommodation costs are significantly more than the loan (and that's self-catering so she'll need food as well!) She will only get the basic loan as DH and I are both working so I've been trying to figure out where she can squeeze some extra money from - she's on a gap year atm but is only getting minimum wage so won't have saved a massive amount by September. Any advice?

Well ds hasn't gone yet, but that's more than I was planning to give him.
I only intend to cover food - if he wants nights out, new clothes etc., they will come from his earnings

That sounds generous, in a good way.
DD was on £50 a week top up, but London is probably going to be more expensive and as a parent, I would not give one more than the other. £70 is very fair.
DD spent about £20 on food shopping.

Jobs that fit round lectures and deadlines are tricky ATM, the situation may be looking up for those with prior experience.

Am quite surprised on many MN threads how often people say it's tricky to get a job whilst at University. Unless you are doing medicine, there are hours and hours and hours every week when you are not committed to being anywhere - far easier to find a job in those hours than when at 6th form, and my experience is that most of ds's 6th form have some kind of PT jobs. My experience with nieces / God children / Friends children is that all students who want to spend have to find a way to earn first. Maybe I'm not mixing with rich enough families

My DC's took out £50 out per week, when it was spent that was it. Most weeks they have some left over which they either put away or added to the next weeks pot. They are in Surrey and Exeter so not London, that may be a little more pricey. They are also not real club goers so socialise in other peoples houses.

I'm a single Mum I manage on £50 a week for me and DD. It's do-able.

Sorry, should add I'm a student :D .

In theory I'd say £100 over the cost of accommodation should be fine.

In practice DS has managed to get through just under £10,000 in seven months . Mostly on cocktails and shopping in Fred Perry. It's sharing with gay lads that does it, he used to live a Primark hoody and 4 cans of cider lifestyle.

Flipping hell mumblechum

Thanks for all your replies so far and sorry for delay getting back on (password reset needed) but all really helpful advice.

In terms of clothes we will only be providing the basics - couple of decent pairs of shoes, winter coat and few tops, jeans etc.

Partly because that is all we can afford and partly because - well - they need to learn to fend for themselves.

Good to know its a ball-park figure though. Good luck to those of you whose DC's are starting this year x

I actually don't think you need to provide even basic clothes once your DC has started uni. All 3 of ours have had to buy all theit own clothed unless they had them for Christmas or Birthdays. However as we paid for accommodation I can understand parents who don't do this buying stuff for their DC. I don't think they need an allowance and things bought for them.

DS1 only spends about £20 per week incl food.He is non catered!!

It's really hard to generalise and plenty of students cope on very little. I paid their fees and rent direct and then paid each student child £100 a week by standing order in holidays and term time. They also had jobs in some summer holidays. It meant they never ran out of money as I paid it every week. The down side of that is they are not learning budgeting I suppose but it worked fine and I was lucky enough to be able to afford it on top of paying their rent. However lots of students have less and some have a lot more.

MariaJenny - why pay fees and rent? This is the worst financial advice. The government is now worried because so many students pay hardly any money back and they have a huge black hole in the finances because the terms are SO generous. Getting the student loan is the best financial deal you can ever get.

In London, however, lots of students spend more because there is more to spend the money on! We give ours £550 a month for travel and food, entertainment and everything else. She is a high maintenance girl though! Her university's cheapest accommodation was £7600 per annum hers is more!) so if anyone gets accommodation for just the maximum loan (circa £5000) in London you are VERY lucky!

It is NOT just medics who are busy. My DD works like stink for her degree!

Milly MariaJenny said she had paid their rent and fees etc and that it had turned out well so I suspect that this was before the massive fees increase so it was slightly different?

We pay DC's rent but don't give them anything else, DD had a fees bursary (nursing) and both have the maximum loans that they can get.

(It's a very personal decision of not wanting them to have any loans and because I can afford it - similar to amounts of school fees already being paid etc. The older two children in their 20s are already paying 42% tax/NI so it is probable the younger 2 (boys) would be high earners too so very likely to be paying back the loans. However I accept that it may be regarded as stupid not to take the loans. There is also the psychological advantage of not having that quasi debt or risk of the tax - also read the current "erudio" thread on mumsnet to see the worry they can cause later. It is just I am lucky enough to be able to pay the fees of them and I graduated debt free so I want the children to do so.)

I can afford it too, but it is still the best deal ever to borrow it unless you have millions spare! Uni fees and expenses are less than the boarding fees we paid for 7 years but we still borrowed. They may never pay it back and if they do we will pay and reduce their inheritance tax liability when we pop off.

I agree it is a good deal to borrow the maximum you can as the repayment rates are relatively favourable, what bothers me is that DD can't even borrow enough to cover her accommodation, let alone living expenses. Clearly she should have applied to a cheaper city, but it's a bit late for that now I thought the whole point of this loan thing was that you didn't need to pay any money up front?

sarah it is now increasingly common for the maintance loan not to even cover accommodation costs.

Even at the maximum (which not everyone can get as it's means testted), it won't cover some places.

Then you need to factor in food (even catered won't include all meals and snacks), travel, clothes, books etc

There's a good breakdown on one of the uni websites...Bristol, maybe?

In truth many parents have to top up their DC quite significantly. Which makes a mockery of the idea that the loans system meansd anyone can go to university.