Student living costs - help please

[MyNameIsRachelAndIWantAPresent]

What do you think is a reasonable weekly spending budget for a student living in non-catered halls?

I would say £30-50 for food/entertainment but still be prepared to do clothes/shoes/books type shopping with them in the holidays, too. This is what I’m budgeting for mine for next year, anyway. I might put it up in year 2 once she’s proved she can budget. She’s not coming on the family holiday this year so i’m Leaving her £35 to see if she can live on it!

Bumping - hoping for more replies!

We have always paid dcs' rent and they've had their minimum loan to live off - I guess that's about £100 pw. That has always seemed about right and what, from other threads a lot of parents seem to do.

It's not just food and entertainment, it has to cover -
Clothes
Toiletries
Travel
Club membership and activities
Laundry
Books/stationery etc etc

Much depends on the person. A 6.5 ft rugby playing or rowing dc would possibly eat £35 worth of food in 2 days ....

I also think university is a fabulous experience and I didn't want my dcs to miss out on social events because they couldn't afford to join in. But I do realise they were fortunate in that we could afford to do that for them.

We pay halls and give DC £100 a week
I always give DC big shop away with them and lots of toiletries and buy clothes and treats

We are giving her £30 for food, she will probably have take staples, toiletries and has had new jeans etc already, we pay for her phone, insurance, bus pass and transport home. Beer money she earns or is from her own savings account (her maintenance loan just covers accommodation to within £25)

I would say between 70-100 depending on where they are living, if they need transport and things.

30-50 is nothing! 30 would barely cover food and toiletries! They will need resources for uni, paper pens, books etc.

Also you aren't teaching them to budget if you are giving them the bare minimum and then buying everything else they need in the holidays

That's the exact opposite of teaching them to budget.

Laundry in halls can be £5 a wash, if they do sport they could easily need to do 2 washes a week.

My parents gave me no help but I had about 100 a week from summer job + loan.

I was comfortable on that but I really couldn't have done it on 30 a week. I wouldn't want to make a student reliant on a job in their first term.

I got £150 per month from my Mum (this was over ten years ago!). She was by no means well off. My halls were catered and included breakfast and dinner. I walked to lectures so no transport costs.

I think the people saying £30 a week are waaay off especially if that has to cover all food costs, socialising, books, transport etc.

My dd has £70 per week to live on and this covers everything including her utility bills and gym membership. I buy her first food shop at the start of each term and stock her with toiletries. She buys her own clothes but I bought her an outfit for a family wedding.

We give my DD £75 a week term time only. We thought she was managing but she had maxed out her overdraft and was struggling. We have paid off the debt and might have to increase the amount we give her this year.

We pay rent, railcards and 'phones.
They have to live off their loans and money saved from working in the holidays.

There's no way it can be done for £30. Food alone would cost minimum of £20 pw leaving only a tenner for toiletries, laundrette, gym/sport, clubs, uni supplies, occasional treats, nights out, travel home etc. Not possible at all. I'd say £100 pw or a bit less if they intend to get a job.

There's a group on Facebook with loads of questions like this if you have it.

It's www.facebook.com/groups/488235648182391/?ref=share

What I wish I knew about university

This has been discussed before and there's lots of tips on getting costs down for students.

These might help work out costs and budget- it rather depends whether it's London or the South, it is cheaper in the North.
university.which.co.uk/advice/student-finance/whats-the-average-cost-of-living-at-university

university.which.co.uk/student-budget-calculator

I'm planning on paying my son's accommodation, then he can use the maintenance loan (£4250 I think) to live on. If he wants more he can do a few hours work a week.

We are in a different situation in that we are now supporting a friend of our DC as her family have cut her off. We have paid for her accommodation over summer, but need to know what her living expenses are likely to be. We have to get her through to mid-September when her grants will start.

I must admit I’m assuming “catered halls” would be on campus or within walking distance and wasn’t including transport. (Parent dropping off at start and end of term.) A single person can definitely eat and do a load of laundry on £30 per week if they are living simply.

We gave ds £500 per month in term time, but it was a key meter for electricity and I wanted him to be about to cover gas bills etc.

Son just finished uni in London - paid his rent for the last two years which was around £750 (including bills) plus £250 a month for food and other stuff plus he's had his loan. Paid halls fees for first year plus allowance. Whilst he hasn't been living it up, he hasn't exactly been living off student fare of beans on toast for days on end. He's been very lucky (as I've pointed out on numerous occasions!) that I've been able to do this for him. He's now doing three part time jobs until he can get on a Graduate Training Scheme course in September before going for a full time post somewhere.

Youngest now starting second year uni (not London) and has same allowance each month for food and stuff, plus we pay her accommodation costs. Like the other one, not really a struggling student but in a field where transport is essential (has a small car) as are specific items of clothing so it all has to be funded from this allowance. Has now got a part time job as well as I have to cut back on the allowance next term.

You could say that mine have been rather spoiled but I didn't want them to rack up loads of overdraft and student loans just to eat properly when I was in a position to help them out, just by forgoing holidays, haircuts and lots of new clothes for me!! £30 SHOULD be doable but it depends on whether the student cooks for themselves or eat out/takeaways, goes out a lot, needs to fund books, clothes and other essentials from the money etc

Dd1 gets about £100 a month from us spread out we pay for her summer rent every year and a few top ups. She is going Into 3rd year this year with dd2 going into 1st. I have bought her clothes when needed and my dad gave cash as birthday and Christmas with specific instructions to buy stuff she wanted not needed.

@MyNameIsRachelAndIWantAPresent is the student going to claim her student loan as an estranged (from parents) student? If so, she should get the full loan amount but she will need hard evidence that she is no longer part of their household. Her school should be supporting her to make the loan application with a letter outlining the estrangement and circumstances.

Full loan should mean she is able to support herself esp if she goes into a shared room in student accommodation.

Yes - she should be able to claim, she has a supporting letter from her social worker and can get more from her school, a friend who works in this field etc. So hopefully she will be fine. But I want to transfer some money to her every week until that kicks in, but not sure how much she needs.