The cost of uni

Totally agree with the last 2 posts.

We had that conversation with our dc at the point of them looking round Universities and choosing where to apply.

I think that’s excellent advice - work out the budget and how much money they will be given by parents and loans BEFORE selecting accommodation. Then they take on some responsibility about thinking about where they want to spend the money - woukd they prefer more expensive accommodation and less for other things, or the other way round? It also helps them think about if they want to or need to do paid work - can give better focus in finding a summer job for end of yr13, if it’s to fund an en-suite or whatever.

I think what doesn’t work so well if there’s essentially an open-cheque. Ie choose what you’d most like, regardless of cost, and then we will pay for that and also top you up to whatever you’d like for spends too - via loans and parents contribution.

Thinking about what things cost and how to allocate the money you will have - all really important stuff. Of course, as parents we need to have a handle on this stuff too. I want to be aware of housing costs and uni of choice and make sure what my DC has is sufficient. But I don’t want to give a blank cheque. I’m not sure that helps them grow up and become more indeoendnet, which is a key feature of why going to uni is so valuable.

Lots of good points on this thread. Thought I'd add that getting the finance clear before they apply for accommodation can really help them understand it all. With DD we told her she'd get the full grant amount, but that was it. That meant when choosing accommodation she knew how much she'd have a week/ month to live on, so quickly worked out the impact of the much desired en suite. She ditched that idea pronto and has been v. happy in a basic single room!

DH and I made sacrifices financially to support three through university in seven years, with an overlap for three of those years. Minimum loan, so they lived off that and we paid their accommodation. If any additional money was needed, they took on part-time jobs whilst at uni, or in the holidays. Choosing a northern city was very helpful and the best fun.

The main issue here is that a lot of parents are not aware of how much it may cost to support a young person at university until too late, and that their spending may have to be reined in quite a few years before they start uni. As a parent, I was prepared to make those sacrifices. Now that all three have finished uni, I've never had so much money!

@JuneSoon So what’s the issue then? Why the rant? She’s going to smash it so why not be happy about all the experiences she’s having? Money paid doesn’t just go towards tuition does it? We all know that and there’s the issue of subsidizing others on stem courses.

University blind doesn’t mean DC are going to get the job though. Lots of tests and hoops to go through. Paying a bit more for accommodation can be a drop in the ocean in the end if the pay is a lot higher. It depends where you want to work snd what career you want. Some unis very much support the regional economy. Some unis have a lot of London snd SE students who will work in London so they are ok paying a bit more.

Thinking very very carefully about which university to pick is crucial. More and more employees now recruit blind so have no idea whether an applicant went to a top 20 university for example. Even within the group of top ranking universities the reality is that if you choose London or Bristol or Durham or Bath or St Andrews it’s going to cost you/your child a whole lot more than if they choose a location where it’s cheaper to live like Lancaster, Loughborough, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester.

or pick somewhere where they can commute after the first year. Best of both worlds

We earn similar to you op. You can look at an online maintenance calculator to see what you get. My dds always got roughly enough to cover their accommodation. It's also worth looking at prices while choosing unis as it can vary in different areas. I then sent £150 per month which is £30 a week, enough to get some food in. Dd then worked part time to fund everything else usually earning £100+ pw.

Maybe your DC doesn’t understand about doing work outside contact hours?

I was going to say don't be so bloody patronising then saw it was @TizerorFizz

I didn't say she only got 5 hours contact time but it is low for £9,250 pa. She's a hard worker and I have no doubt she'll do well - and would do so with the uni experience.

Check bursaries, ds is going yo Sheffield next year, he will get £4500 as he is a carer & £3700ish as he is from Sheffield & only member of his generation of family to go to university & Disabled Students allowance which will pay for a laptop, software, printer etc.

DS has a loan which is about £500 per term short of his accommodation costs. He doesn't have a job, but lives very cheaply. Doesn't go out much, doesn't drink much, not interested in clothes etc. His gran is able to give him £100 pm , and we top it up, and pay the extra needed for accommodation. We're in a better financial position now than we were when his older siblings went to uni, but they got a bigger maintenance loan because the calculations took into account the fact that we had other dependents.
I imagine he could get a job if he was really bothered about being permanently skint.
I'm shocked when I see how much halls cost in some cities- that being said, we paid £116 pw for his first year when a cousin in the same city was paying £160+...
It's worth checking out the cost of accommodation when choosing which uni to go to, and there's a big difference between the cost of an en-suite room in catered halls and shared facilities in self catered halls.

Thank you - I understand that Wales is different (as I said) and also know how SFW works as I have a Welsh DC at university and another about to go. We were discussing whether the extra money available for studying in London would help. In Wales a maintenance loan/grant of £15k+ does make London possible, but it's not enough to make a difference to the OP who is in England.

But - we are in Wales so numbers are probably different. Here, everyone can borrow up to the maximum maintenance loan

Yes, my dc comments about how her Welsh friends "are rolling in it"

But - we are in Wales so numbers are probably different

Yes, its certainly a very different approach to maintenance in Wales.

Away from home and not in London the 2024/25 max maintenance that any student from Wales can get is £12150. And of course in Wales the only impact that household income has is the split between loan and grant elements within that overall total.

In contrast a student from England will have their loan amount determined by household income; with the max loan for household income under £25,000 (a threshold unchanged since around 2008) for 2024/25 being £10,227, again living away from home and outside London. If household income exceeds £62,347 then its the minimum figure of £4,767; or £7,383 less than a student from Wales with the same household income could get.

We were not in a position to save
DD gets the minimum maintenance loan of around £4K per year
Her rent is 7.5K per year (Manchester) - so we pay the shortfall of 3.5K per year
Her fees are all via her student loan - so £9.5K per year loan
On top of paying her rent shortfall, we give her £500 living expenses. p/m
She has a part time job which gives her another £500 p/m
She has a Santander student account which gives her a free overdraft of
-£1500

So assuming she is at Uni around 8 months of the year, in total, we spend £4K on living expenses + £3.5K on rent. = £7.5K per year.

She is still going to come away with a nearly 40K debt though. Oh to be Scottish....

@Countrylife2002 The grants did not pay the full cost of maintenance. Parents made up the difference as they do now. The only difference is the grants don’t exist, they are now loans. In the early 1970s around 8% of dc went to university, now it’s 38%. It has to be paid for somehow.

Of course other options at 18 are available.

@Labraradabrador I think many UK families struggle to balance the books each month when they are on maternity leave, then when they are paying childcare costs. I know we didn't start having 'spare money' to save (or choose not to save) for a long, long time after they were born.

where I am from (US) the norm is to start a fund for university when they are born - you don’t expect to cover it all, but you add what you an each month and let it grow over time. It is completely normal for grandparents to give money on birthdays instead of gifts. If you start planning/ saving early on, it is far less daunting, but I think UK parents are a bit too much ‘it will work out’ about university. With some degrees it is common feasible to work alongside study, but for other degrees it is impractical.

Ours are still little but we've already started thinking about this because if our household income stays the same they will receive minimum maintenance loan (currently about £4k a year). Thankfully we have time to save for this but we also live a commutable distance to several universities including a good RG university so I will probably encourage them to stay local and live at home.

@Countrylife2002 I agree there are big savings when they go - I didn't realise how expensive it is to feed DS until he went to uni 😂
When DD goes I will be saving on music lessons and train pass, that's probably £1.5k pa 🥳
(Not to mention her smoothie habit and insistence that the dog needs a raw egg every day)

Grand, loan and job for our son. And not choose an expensive university/expensive city.

I expect our children to work.
So did we years ago all holidays, evening shifts and every second weekend. We didn't have a choice.

We pay accomondation for our son because we moved and 'left' our son at university. We also pay some of the tuition fee.

As the moment I set aside about £400 a month for dd, due to tutoring, music lessons. And she is gluten free which is mega expensive; so she really costs me a lot atm. At uni I would definitely still subside her a bit extra for food as she won’t manage on the usual student food rations - but at the same time it’s tricky for her to eat out and she’s an excellent cook, so I guess overall maybe it’s cheaper !

but I think I worked out with the loan of £8k she would get it wouldn’t cost quite as much to support her at uni. We shall see…

@Hughs dd has her heart set on Edinburgh! I hope I’m right about it actually being cheaper for me when she’s at uni. I’m a (completely) single parent and I figure I’ve made it work this long, I’ll work it out somehow if not ! And yes , she can always work as well!

A gap year to raise some funds

unfortunately the most expensive part (or equal to fees) is the accommodation if staying in halls for first yr, hopefully go down in shared house in later years

we give him 500£ A month which covers everything including travel home/haircuts/clothes/subs

Ah fair enough - I was doing a comparison of Birmingham, Warwick and UCL recently, looking at halls and private rentals. While London was a bit more expensive there wasn't that much difference with the extra maintenance. I worked out DD's disposable income after accommodation was £110/£100pw in halls and £100/£75pw private rental. She feels £75pw is manageable even without paid work, which she wants to do anyway.

But - we are in Wales so numbers are probably different. Here, everyone can borrow up to the maximum maintenance loan, which is £15k+ for London. Bristol / Bath / Edinburgh etc would be much more problematic for us.

We started saving, via S&S ISAs, pretty much from birth.

Two of our kids spent a gap year earning.