What’s it like being a student in London do you have to be mega rich?

[EachandEveryone]

Can just and ordinary student survive?. I mean there’s no spare money Except the odd £50 on pay day and of course I will do food shopping for her but realistically what is it like for uni? UAL she never thought she would get in but has so now it’s a dilemma. Camberwell.

Honestly OP, I think it’s one of those things that you’ll get through if you try. My mother was desperately worried about money when I went to Uni (though I only discovered this recently!) but I got through ok and had a small part time job in second and third year.

It’s natural to worry about her being shy, but she may very blossom at university, I certainly did. Coming from a very small, rural village meeting people from across the world was exciting and really broadened my horizons.

I actually live in South London now, and have done since I graduated. Yes, living in London is expensive, but your taste changes as your salary goes up. For example, when my friends and I had our first jobs drinks were in Weatherspoon's where they were still quite cheap, it was only once we got a few promotions that we moved to expensive cocktail bars where a G&T is £10! That’s a bit long winded but my point is she’ll likely find friends with similar means to her and she’ll adapt to what she can do. As a student a £2.99 bottle of wine and cheap lemonade can go a long way!

Camberwell is great, and there’s loads of cheap, quirky bars around with offers on a Sunday/Monday night!

I literally feel sick reading the other thread about how much parents contribute some give £150 a week and pay rent and they have three of them at uni.

There are always richer people op.
dont stress

So far, so good. The money cones through next week and most will go out. She will get a job eventually. The halls are amazing. The kitchen is huge and theres six of them instead of the eight. She seems really grown up already. Went out last night to meet a friend whos at UCL and did the bus and tube to Camden. She has my uber account if she gets stuck. The 10pm curfew has taken alot of the worry away tbh its like easing her into London life. Her halls are on the Art school site so she really doesnt have to go far. Shes up at 10am every morning and they go for bracing walks to the South Bank.

She cant get over the fact that all the students drink wine and wonders whether its a North South thing😂😂😂😂😂

Thank you for all your help.

I studied in London, and I'm definitely not super rich or even from a well off background. It was great! I worked part time and through the holidays. I must say the student union bar wasn't much cheaper, but we made the most of Happy hours and had a lot fun.

I do come from the South East though, so I was used to the cost of living here - it seemed normal to me.

I think London is expensive for students and it's not a good student experience. Accommodation in the centre is reserved for foreign students as they are paying such a huge whack in fees. Students can therefore be extremely spread out across the peripheries of the city and don't get the concentrated student experience you get on campus or smaller cities. I have two friends who are Deans at London universities and neither would privately recommend the student experience for under graduates.

Its like shes on campus though. In her accomodation there are two mancunians, one Swedish, one Chinese, herself from Yorkshire and the one shes closest to from Kent. Both her and the one from Kent get the full loan which i think is 11 grand. UAL give a bursary of £1000 that you dont apply for so she may get lucky.

Due to Covid I dont think its making much difference they have a massive common room, coffee shop and courtyard but only 10 people allowed. The uni bar is ten minutes on the bus but again, its not open yet. Shes walked like shes never walked. Food is cheap, transport is cheap. The accommodation is the dearest bit. However if things carry on like this next year her shared house will be half of what shes paying now.

My niece is Manchester us paying £620 a month for a shared house. Im not expecting the London one to pay anymore than that.

Shes also got two days a week in class so that is good. I suppose art needs to be in a studio not much they can do about that.

OP, congratulations to your daughter.

If she or her friends are struggling for paid work, I would recommend looking for cleaning or babysitting /after school childcare roles rather than the typical bar and retail student jobs of yore.

We’ve always had students helping us out at home in London and it’s been great for us and for them. There’s no shortage of busy young families in London and it’s well paid. Mine are older now so don’t know how accurate I am now but believe it’s £12ph plus meal and cab home for an ad hoc babysitting booking. People may not be going out, but if not they’re upstairs trying to work so will pay.

If she wants to be a medical illustrator tell her to get to know the Wellcome museum in Euston!

Its my niece. She has younger siblings but no official child care qualifications. Is it through an agency?

There are agencies, yes. The Next Door website has ads all the time. Most parents go on word of mouth though - if her lecturers are the right age they’re often a good introduction, so get her to let them know she’s available.

Parents of very young children will want an enhanced DBS (if she’s on an agency’s books she’ll get this automatically but it takes a few weeks to come through) but with older children she’ll be fine with some good old fashioned common sense especially if it’s “mother’s help” type work and mum is in the house.

Check if her loan will pay the accomodation costs as that's the real kicker. Drinks are very expensive but food etc is normal.

I live in some 2

Was lovely to read your update, OP. Hope for all of us worried about this kind of thing

I think your points would be very relevant for a student at Imperial or Kings or somewhere else very central bouledeneige, but Camberwell is sufficiently far out (and far away from the Tube) that it should be possible to find affordable house-shares within walking or short bus distance.

The loan will pay the accomodation cost but not much else. We will scrape together.

We're in a similar situation to you, not much disposable income and a dd just started at UAL.
What my girl gathered from her group chats with her flatmates prior to leaving home, is that there were lots of them in a similar situation, with no summer jobs, so minimal money saved up.
This gave dd some comfort, as they may all be in the same boat, and there may be less expectations of being well off.
One of the good things about the halls your dd's in is they are over the road from the campus, so less transport costs!
My dd is enjoying being in halls as she is meeting similar 'artsy' types and feels she is settling in well, despite thinking that her flatmates are not going to be her best mates
Have you seen this? We are going to apply for it at some point
www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/fees-and-funding/scholarships-search/university-hardship-fund

Its my niece and im not sure if my sister has seen that. Thanks. Also they seem to give £1000 cash to some students but you dont apply for it so I dont know how it works really. Which halls is your daughter in?

Dd is going to start at St Martins next week, its been quite nice that they've had a couple of weeks to settle into halls. She is living in Tottenham, so a 20 minute tube ride/45 minute walk from campus, but the only halls near there were mega-bucks!
A part of me thinks that they are creative young people, they will find a way through, the other half wishes I could throw money at the situation, but the blimming pandemic got in the way of those plans...
Where there is a will, there is a way is my motto in life.
Good luck to your neice, Camberwell is a great place to live, my neice also went there, and got a shared house 5 minutes walk from the art school for the second and third years, and had a fabulous time.

Shes looking forward to the course starting tomorrow. Shes been out everyday and hasnt had to spend much so far.