To think £60 a week to live on will be a struggle for DD at uni?

@OhDear111I think perhaps you’re basing that calculation on the maximum maintenance allowance? DD will get the minimum amount so anything above the very cheapest halls, plus any food, will have to be paid for by us. I’m really hoping she can get a cheaper hall place so that we just have to pay for food!

Baked beans are not 4p a tin anymore !!!

Dc has been back a week. I left them with a full shop too. Apparently they’ve spent £4. I’m sure that frugality won’t last.

DS said earlier that he's spent £60 in the first 2 weeks which I think is very low. But he did have a full fridge, freezer and pantry when we left 😆

His train ticket at Christmas is going to be £50+ each way which is a big chunk. We'll pay that if needed.

@CornedBeef451 That’s perfectly reasonable. However some budgeting isn’t reasonable! Many unis have halls for circa £8000. This gives £2,500 for 3 terms or 2 semesters. So a bit in excess of £60 a week depending on time spent at university.

Obviously most don’t qualify for bursaries and no doubt there’s a sliding scale. However £10,500 plus £5,000 makes a student at Cambridge better off than people earning low wages. Quite a deal!

My nephew gets a 5k a year bursary from his college at Cambridge. Some colleges are quite affluent and help students, it's been a massive help for him.

DD certainly doesn’t think she has a right to go to uni and is very grateful for our planned help. We’re budgeting for up to £8K for halls which is mid range so just hoping she gets something that costs less than that.

The parents who are low earners do get the bursaries for dc. It pays to be a low earner. All these dc limiting expenditure don’t ever buy clothes, go out for a meal or have much of a social life. It’s impossible.

Yes I do know the cheapest halls are not always allocated but many dc don’t even look at them. This is why DC have no money left. There’s nearly always a mid point between £5000 (obviously not London or expensive cities!) snd £10,000.

However if everyone thinks there’s a right to go to university, who’s paying? It never was a right.

£2,000 bursaries are rare. My daughter's university gives £500 and my son's gives between £400-800.

My own dh's parents didn't give him what he should have had (back in the early 90's) and the only was he managed was to move in with me. This was despite the fact that his older sister (who was in her 30's & working full time) lived at home entirely rent free and his parents were earning a decent wage.

@Comefromaway Well I can see Sen dc are perhaps different but others really do have some big clues!

I am not sure how you can get blood out of a stone. Some parents have other dc costing them money and find it difficult to reduce expenditure - eg no holiday. DH’s parents just spent money on themselves. It was in the 70s. - new car, new caravan and a colour tv. All big ticket items back then. Didn’t make for good family relationships.

Many more students will live at home. Hopefully that won’t compromise university but for some it will. Students in one parent families with the parent earning next to nothing can get £2000 bursaries from some universities if their grades are high enough. It’s the JAM parents where the bigger issue lies.

I read the first couple dozen responses. I’m amused at those who think £60/week is unreasonably tight! It’s more than what my DD and her four housemates have budgeted! While she has access to more herself due to a bursary and her summer job, she is limiting herself to £50/week to cover all food, all societies, personal items, socialising expenses, plus two return train trips home. Her loan covers her rent and bills (I am a low earner). I do pay for her phone, but that’s it. She’s at Durham, not a cheap city, but she’s worked it out. She’s frugal but not ridiculously so (though she did have her calculator out when comparing ketchup prices)! Learning to live within your means is essential.

However they must have known dc was reasonably bright!

Not necessarily. I know a lot of young people, my own son included whose parents didn't think their children would go to university, In my son's case (he is autistic & his school years were difficult) he discovered a talent in his teens and the Btec course he did at college which at the time was purely to keep him in education for an extra 2 years whilst we figured out what he was going to do, led to university (or rather music conservatoire).

Several of his friends at college studying various subjects had struggled academically at school but one by one diagnoses of dyslexia, autism, adhd etc and support being put in place led them to realise they were capable after all.

Oddly enough it is my highly academic daughter who we always assumed would go to uni, then didn't but has now gone as a mature student.

I agree, but there should be something in place whereby the state can force these individuals to pay what they should be.

I think maintenance support should be higher. However, the amounts you’re describing are still higher than some people think students who don’t get the full loan should be expected to live on.

@ComefromawayIt’s a big issue with expanding the university sector. 50 years ago it was pretty obvious but even then parents were means tested for grants and awards. DH’s parents didn’t pay what they were supposed to. I think the issue is that the parental contribution is getting bigger and it’s catching people out who haven’t saved. However they must have known dc was reasonably bright! I think many parents put their heads in the sand and are then surprised that they do have to pay and they haven’t paid any attention to the finances. No idea who they think will pay!

There are quite generous maintenance loans available to the students you’re describing.

My daughter is on a full maintenance loan plus £500 per year bursary. It is adequate, not generous. She deliberately chose a very cheap university city. A student in basic accommodation in a cheapish city on full loan will have between £60-90 per week to live on. If dd had gone to Brighton she would have been OK in Year 1 but had nothing left over when she had to go into private house share in Years 2 & 3.

Things may alter in the future but many of ds's peers have parents who never even considered university as a possibility. Ds was unusual amongst his peers at college in having parents who went to university themselves. Some of these families struggle to pay essential bills.

How on earth are families like this supposed to save for uni costs?

There are quite generous maintenance loans available to the students you’re describing.

I’m talking about the parents who have plenty of money for all inclusive in Turkey but not for their DC’s uni costs.

So Uni places should only be taken up by students who have parents with jobs paying enough for them to save money?
One in 10 people in the UK have no cash savings and another 21% have less than £1,000 in savings.
I thought education should be available for all?

That is not the DC’s problem though. Uni costs are eminently foreseeable when parents choose to have children and they have 18 years to save.

Some parents don’t have the money to give their DC’s a higher amount.

My point further up was that even if you choose the cheapest option you might not get it as there is a shortage of cheaper accommodation. We would probably all like the halls that cost £5k, and DD is happy to share a bathroom, but unfortunately that isn’t guaranteed.

@BeachLife2 I agree if parents refuse to pay up and have the money. If they genuinely don’t many young people will not look at London (for example) but would look at Nottingham, Sheffield or Birmingham. Totally depends on course though. The best courses are not all in expensive cities. Degree only counts for so much!

You will find Cambridge offers great value in the colleges! However for many that’s not the choice and who on earth compares Canterbury with Cambridge? If dc want a RG or RG plus University, there are differing price points for accommodation within every single university. Choosing en suite anywhere costs more. I’m suggesting going for the best option (or near best option) for study but not going for top price accommodation. Oxbridge is about the best value!

However it’s very clear many parents don’t look at cheaper accommodation, dc picks the higher priced room and then there’s anguish about food and living costs! Makes no sense.

No. No. No. DC’s ambitions should not be limited by tightwad parents.

I would be absolutely fuming with myself if my DC felt they had to go to Canterbury rather than Cambridge to save money.