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

We thought that but it depends on the city. Dd worked full time for 3 years before going to uni. She had bar, stewarding & coffee shop experience.

there are often 200 applicants per job advertised. Plus they always seemed to want availability during times she was in lectures.

Perhaps have a chat with and say you need to help her prepare. If she’s already busy and stressed with exams, explain you want to make it an easier transition for you both. Work together to plan what she might need now, then gather bits up over the next year, eg pots and kitchen essentials. Perhaps buy her a slow cooker and you could both use it over winter for some lovely casseroles. She can learn some homely recipes and be self sufficient with cooking. Early next year, you could give her a weekly budget to live off?

At the end of the day, you can’t spend what you don’t have. So she’ll soon learn once there. It’ll be tough but she won’t be the only one. It’s all part of the student experience.

I think £60/wk is doable. Not fun or luxury but doable

Not sure what she is studying, but my biggest uni regret is actually buying the course material we were told to buy. Thankfully I learned in the first semester that it was a waste of money. So don't buy anything unless you have checked if it is actually needed.

Clothes and more expensive cosmetics are great gifts. She won't need tons of new clothes. I remember after graduation I went on a shopping spree for new bras and other that I hadn't bought in years.

The fun will be struggle but universities have free exercise classes. Some clubs cost a bit so depends on her interests. If she wants to party then one 1l bottle of vodka lasts suprisingly long and entrance fees will be what it is.

When she visits or you visit, give her a big bag of long lasting food items.

Then a part-time job and/or summer job. I never had a term-time job but I had a summer job that would top up the following year.

University holidays are very long, so you really want her to be getting a job during them. It is hard to get jobs at the moment, but things that go in her favour are likely to be having experience and getting in first. With Christmas jobs coming up it could be a good chance to get her foot in the door. Does she really feel that she can't manage a part time job at the moment or is it more a preference? If she wants to wait until the summer I'd be encouraging her to start applying as soon as she's finished A levels rather than taking some time to relax first. If she's struggling to find anything it is worth signing up for temp agencies. There will be some that supply catering staff. So she could end up working at a festival or posh event or she could spend eight hours on a production line or washing up, but it's all money in the bank. Of course ideally she would get a job in one of the chains, so that she can transfer between home and university locations. It can also be worth going round smaller pubs, cafes and restaurants with a CV, but try to go when it's quiet.

I was a student not that long ago and had about £40 a week left over. My parents very thankfully continued paying my phone bill.

It was tight but I learnt how to budget really fast. I also got a job about 6 weeks after I started because I burnt through quite a lot of my first student loan instalment in freshers. This was my first valuable lesson. At first I got a zero hour bar job in an arena so I could get into the swing of lecturers. In the new year I got a proper student style job in a retail store. I was on a 12 hour contract and would up my hours when I could and work full time in the holidays.

My Mum also helped by sending occasional food deliveries. I would have a £50 food budget and she would let me log into her Tesco account and add everything I want. She would then go through it and add some of her own very helpful stuff. Also occasionally removing things if I was being cheeky with it.

I think £60 a week is doeable especially with a £2k buffer. Uni is more than just lectures, it really is learning life skills and how to survive. Most people at uni are skint so she won’t be the odd one out.

Tesco do transfers too

If it’s anything like when I went a lot of the socialising was done in the first few weeks and then it slowed down as the weeks went by as everyone gradually got poorer. A lot of others will be in the same boat, which helps. I probably couldn’t do it now as I’m too used to certain brands / luxury. I definitely think it’s doable especially if you send her with the basic pasta / rice etc.

It is lovely that she wants to be independent but I mean this kindly she hasn't demonstrated any sign of working towards independence. No part time job whilst doing A levels to save for uni. That is a basic tbh and I think she may be a bit delusional if she thinks £60 a week will cover food and even the most cheapest of a social life. Unless grandparents can step up and give her £200 a month?

As parents we have to guide them and here you should say she needs to stay at home as there is little to finance it. Also, as she hasn't had any part time work she won't be top of the list for employers whilst at uni. They expect students to have used their initiative and at least have had a few hours a week in a shop.

She is setting herself uo for a huge miserable disappointment. Yes she could live on beans on toast many students do but the not going out won't be fun at all. What degree is she doing is it a worthwhile one?

I don’t agree. I went to university as a poor student and couldn’t earn extra in term time because of the nature of my course. It was okay, I managed but couldn’t do the things that other people were doing, which I was okay with but actually with hindsight was really tough. I think I was pitied by people realising I was doing it all alone when other people could fax their parents for more cash.

It's not that much. Depending on her course and how many hours she does maybe she can get a job. I don't think students have extra money for clothes.

Could you split the savings account, so she has an amount to learn the harsh lesson of how quickly it is possible to burn through several hundred pounds. Then the main amount safe as a buffer?

Makes sense anyway as she can have an account with a card and a separate account for savings.

My two are currently at uni

Ds has £75 per week to live on after his rent is paid. He finds that adequate for all his essentials. He managed the first half term without a job then started to get sporadic work during holiday periods.

I think Dd has more left over as her rent is cheaper plus her uni gives £500 bursary per year. She does however run a car as well. She was unable to find a job during her first year but worked all over the summer.

both mine fund all their own travel, mobile phone, insurances etc. their grandparents bung them the odd £20 every now & then.

There is a fantastic parent group on facebook called w.i.w.i.k.a.u. (what i wish I knew about University) that has so many helpful posts about budgeting, costs at different unis across the country and how parents and student is manage with budgetting etc.

USED TO, not I am.

Even if this was last year, price of food has increased dramatically abd what possible before isn’t now.

It’s really not enough, in my opinion. Are you able to give her a monthly sum on top?

The only students I knew who didn’t work at med school were people with wealthy parents. It was hard to work around extended term times and placements all over the place and full-time medical school but there’s no choice if you don’t have a trust fund and learning how to balance responsibilities and work hard is an essential life skill anyway.

A holiday job at the very least is essential.

How many decades ago? You can’t say anyone will survive on that and make it work in 2025!

For the trial run she doesnt actually need to go to the laundrette - she just needs to find out how much it is and you remove that much from her budget (put it in her saving fund).

She needs a job at Christmas and in the summer if she wants to socialise much at uni. Some jobs pay more than others - coaching younger students can be lucrative but she would probably need to do some free to get parental references or at least at low cost. Royal Mail was a traditional Christmas job https://careers.royalmailgroup.com/gb/en/temporary-jobs The NHS has bank jobs sometimes https://www.nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk/joining-nhsp and the personal care ones can be lucrative, especially at Christmas. However it takes so long to get through the admin she probably applies now for next summer! (an exaggeration but it would possibly be 6 months). There are jobs working at events (like summer festivals that can give some social life) but also business conferences. Girls who waitress sometimes get good tips. At Uni some students help with admissions. If she gets really broke she checks the psychology department as they may pay small sums for participating in experiments.

Lots of students either have a pt job and/or work in the long summer break before and during the course. Check rentals for beyond first year, they can be more expensive than halls once you factor in bills and travel. She could also take a gap year to work and increase savings.

My 18yo DS gets £85 a week to cover food and petrol. He makes some money buying from China and selling on Vinted. He has his CTFund for bigger purchases although I think that's mostly spent

It is not enough op

She needs to work really and unless doing a lecture heavy course she will be able to fit it in. She definitely needs to work the summer before she goes to give her a buffer. All Ds friends worked throughout their course. Ds did too and it helped so much. We could pay for essentials and he topped up for fun stuff.

That’ll be a struggle but it’s a good life lesson to have.

What does socialising look like to her? That’s where there is huge potential for the budget to become undone!

If money is going to be really tight and you don’t have the resources to fund the extra like lots of parents don’t -‘ I won’t be able to) then defer a year and she works hard in that year.

I would encourage her to apply to uni closer to home and live out for the first year with the understanding she commutes in following years. What does she want to study ? Does she NEED a degree or are there other ways to get there.