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

Hey OP,

It's natural to worry & good to plan.

I personally think she'll do fine IF she saves a bit of a buffer next Summer before she goes. If she can get decent hours after exams until September she'll save a good bit.

After that she should concentrate on a p/time job. DS works 10 hours a week- bar/ cafe- & has lived on £100 a week all through uni (final year now). He saves tips & this pays for weekends away (with societies or cheap camping with flatmates). It can be done. He was away all Summer so had to give up previous job. 2 weeks before term started he printed 30 CVs & did the old fashioned walk in/ handshake/ big smile/ here's my CV. He got 2 calls & secured a job within those 2 weeks. It's not easy but there's work out there.

Good luck

Job seekers aren’t going into uni everyday tho so have more time to batch cook and don’t have the social life of uni student to fund

@OhDear111 Sorry yes, having thought about it, the halls were more expensive than I thought but not like the fees you've mentioned.

DS1 was £125 per week (en suite)
DS2 is £175 per week (en suite)

We really didn't need to to add much to the rent for DS1 (it was a different matter in his 2nd and 3rd year flats though...) but we are having to top up more for DS2 although we're not looking at hall fees of anywhere near £10,000 thankfully 😯

Not being negative here OP but Year 1 is a doddle compared to the next years.

She will find landlords can be very demanding and rentals can be very high. You will need to be her guarantor .
Depending on the lease, she may have to contribute to all the utility bills and not default on those or the rent.

Can you say which town or city she's considering?

As I've said, some students have to cross some off their lists simply because of the cost of accommodation or lack of p/t work.

I managed to get through University without buying a single book. She needs to get very savvy about making the most of the library resources and borrowing relevant books as soon as the homework is issued.

Thing is, if she decides she's not going to get a job, then she'll just have to cut her cloth.

I had a friend in uni who, for various reasons, was living on very little. He ate mostly porridge oats and eggs and whatever fruit/veg he could get cheap. He didn't get to socialise much unfortunately. Toiletries were the cheapest he could get (easier for a male I guess).

He got through a year of that fine and the next year he was in a better financial position. I'm not saying it was fun, but he did survive.

Up to age 24
Job seekers allowance is £72 in UK per week
Therefore a person would need to pay food, bills, transport, laundry, social

I think £60 per week is fine for a student

If they want more, they need to work

They should look at the food waste reduction apps like

Olio
Too Good To Go

When I was a student, I lived very frugally.
I ate the same things (no meat)
Easy to cook
Walked everywhere

I used to use my grant back in the day, then get a job in all holidays to pay off sny debts but that was a long time ago. Jobs are harder to get now and there are no grants any more. But I did manage to just sbout end up with no.long term debt. Working where you can definitely helps..so long as it doesn't interfere with study.

If she is adamant she wants to move away then I’d leave her with it. Staying at home and living out for the first year is a perfectly reasonable suggestion. She’ll be an adult soon. Let her do the leg work of organising a budget.

I’d urge her to look for a job now. We live in a uni town and have hired many, many students and still do.
we also had college A level kids just doing washing up who then progress, they were babysitting on the side as well.

But if there’s nothing on her cv it will be incredibly hard to get a PT uni job.
it’s also much, much harder to find a graduate job these days so this is experience she will need to keep her going for potentially quite a few years to come.

I'm assuming you've been to or are going to the Open Days for her top 3 choices? The accommodation talks are really useful; don't be the parent who wants to talk accommodation in the subject talk. You'll hear the sighs frm everyone who has planned their day properly.

It really would be useful if you would say where and what your DD is looking to study.

My weekly shopping bill for a family of 3 used to be £38 so she’ll be fine.

oh by the way - this was in 2006 🙄

You've had some excellent advice here. I think that DD will be fine with the cooking skills mentioned, and potentially getting some work in before she goes to uni maybe even over half terms or when A levels are finished- I think that's March/April time.

This is unhelpful nonsense from someone in the sector. Ignore this OP, you are doing the right thing to plan.

I was out at least 3 times a week at uni so it’s not even going to cover that. Food is a different ball game these days. I’d say 10 years ago I used to spend £25-£30 on a food shop but again not including my
alcohol take aways etc. I got a part time job and learnt £900 per month to live off

Looking at this another way- some halls in some unis are very expensive.
Unless she gets a job now and banks some money, she may need to re-think her choice of uni if the living costs are too high there. Ditto private accommodation frm Year 2 onwards.

What's her first choice?

I was lucky enough to get holiday jobs, including short ones filling in at Bank Holidays. In my case it was a posh hotel. I earned the trust of the HoD so I knew the ropes and kept going back. Working with different people and being treated as an adult was a great development.

Students often work waitressing and in bars, but pay and conditions can be poor.

One of my colleagues used to say "while you're here, you're earning, and you're not out spending,"

I think holiday jobs are less disruptive to student life than evening jobs like bar work.

I've read some but not all of these but there's some really useful advice on here. The biggest thing I've learnt since DC1 being it at uni is just how horrific it is that the loans don't even touch the side of accomodation alone in a lot of places.

That was the big hitter - the 'decent' ones - either decent by location or quality involved an additional payment equivalent to c. £1000 per term. That also meant finding the bulk payment of £1000 per term before anything else is taken in to consideration. Not so bad if you can pay that weekly but it's still an insane amount. The one DC is in now is much cheaper and only £400 per term to find which is more manageable. BUT - it's much further out and even trams / buses can be really expensive so there's been an accomodation saving but an increase in travel costs.

• Travel is much more than I anticipated and a massive cost.
• The upfront payments are something you need to watch for, along with a need to potential guarantor from 2nd yr onwards.
• Less about course costs and more stuff like washing costs. I can't remember how much DC said it was, but it's a LOT. And if they are active like mine is, one wash pw just doesn't cut it.
• Socialising is less of a cost issue than you would expect. A lot will nurse drinks for a lot of the evening etc but it will still eat in to funds. As will societies etc.

My DC is actually about a 40min train from home. They have currently kept on their part time job in their home town and come back for shifts at a weekend. Their uni contact timetable is Mon - Wed. This wouldn't suit everyone but it's been a great help for us and that sustains them absolutely fine from 2/3 shifts. They may get a transfer to uni town though.

What I've learnt for 2nd child going up in 2027;

• They are saving from now. Just got a p/t job. This job was found by 'knocking on doors' and asking around. Don't underestimate the power of doing this and you may find something that suits your DD flexibly. I'm encouraging my DC to be saving from now. That would at least provide a cushion until they can find a uni job if it's a bit tricky.
• Look carefully at not just the uni, but price of the city in detail and accomodation.
• Concentrate not just on the cost of accomodation but transport as well. Where are they in comparison to their course, the city, social stuff. How much would the buses be? How much is washing? How near is it to a supermarket and what kind of price supermarket? Try and create a really realistic budget around their lifestyle. (I sat with DC1 with Lidl receipts to work out a regularity of what they ate and likely weekly costs)
• Being realistic about savings for upfront costs so they aren't on the back foot.
• Working more during school holidays to create a buffer. Generally EITHER a good uni holiday job OR a uni job should be available. Holidays may be easier for her and stock pile some funds. Jobs definitely aren't as easy to come by though and will take some research.

I just wish the basic student loan covered accomodation plus a very basic food shop or something like it used to - but the reality is, there's often a gaping hole before they start!

does she have generous grand parents?
or start saving now, all of you
although i agree that she should be the main saver, i know my dd had very little money, i did pay for her phone, i also had very little money, and she missed out on clubs.
their social life seems to be a large expense

OP- are you a single parent?
Your posts say 'we' as if she has a dad round.

Between you both,, if he's around, how much will you be paying her weekly?

I may have missed this, but why is she struggling with juggling a job and A-level work? Is she doing a course that takes a huge amount of time doing homework, or is she prioritising going out with friends evenings and weekends? If the latter she needs to be told very firmly to pull her finger out. Even working a few hours a week would give her enough to make life more comfortable at uni.

If money is so tight, don't waste it buying new stuff. Set of sheets and a towel from home, basic crockery from charity shop. She can buy the rest as and when, you don't want to end up buying things she doesn't need.

I went to uni back in the early 2000s (much cheaper tuition back then!) but my parents just had no idea and I had very little money other than my leftover loan and money I’d earn over the holidays. It felt rubbish as a lot of my new friends had financial help from their parents and I didn’t want to miss out going down to the student union or going out to the pub. I clocked up credit card debt and an overdraft, I felt such shame for it but now in my 40s I realise I just wanted prepared and educated about money. my parents (as lovey as they are), didn’t give me any budgeting advice or make it known that others may have more money than me when I got there etc. the lack of money during that time but wanting to do stuff with my friends still sits with me now even though me and my DH are very financially comfortable.

if you can find a way to give her a weekly handout on top, even if that’s a gift card for a supermarket that would help massively.