How do average families in the North fund a child who wants to study in London ?

[Thekatzenjammerkid]

DS 2 in Y12 is hoping to study Maths at Uni. He’s doing really well academically and looking at various universities all over the country, none of them in London. Asked him why knowing that UCL and LSE are amongst the best, and his answer was that London is just too expensive and out of reach.
Just wondered how kids from ordinary backgrounds outside of London and the S/E get to study there ? Obviously there must be some, most will max out their student loan and/or work but courses at these institutions are understandably intense with a big work load and getting a job might not be an option if you want good grades…Is London out or is there something I’m missing ?

The trouble with maths courses is they tend not to encourage years off.

My DD is almost finished a degree in London.
She got all the available funding as we are on the bones of our arses so to speak. Her first year was lockdown, and we had to get her a passport and a bank account for the student finance to be paid into and it was almost impossible. Very long story, which thankfully eventually worked out, but she basically went to get first year in a tiny room with shared bathroom and kitchen (costing more a week than our house!)
She went alone, in the bus, with one suitcase, a backpack, and a bag for life, with £300 cash that we scraped together.
That lasted her until the finance finally arrived, in January. So she spent four months living on noodles.
She did it because she was determined.
She is though, the only student from "the north" on her course, and practically on campus, and was the only one who knew how to shop and live on a tight budget etc. Almost every other student she met was from a much better off background, with a lot more parental support than we could give.
If your son wants to do it, he will need to be absolutely determined and focused.
Realistically, it will depend on your circumstances too - there's poor and there's "Poor" and it makes a massive difference.

We're Northerners! My y13 really wants London. She has accepted KCL offer. She will work, she will get a bigger student loan than outside London, shes pooled savings (hers and ours) and gifts in a 2 year bond that pays a good interest rate which pays her an income. We are both full time public sector professionals on a just bit above average salary. She's set her heart on it and thinks it would be her only chance to live in London.

My DS studied at UCL. TBH, it is not as bad as it sounds financially. The student loan is much higher. There are lots of savings, such as being able to walk everywhere. Supermarkets charge the same whereever.

The biggest cost is accommodation, but there is such a range available. DS didn't spend very much (he was very tight).

We had to tell our son not to apply to art school in London. The Scottish maintenance loan is rather stingy and does not give London weighting ( at least I don't think it does, it's a while since I read the bumps). We genuinely couldn't afford it as we have ended up with three at uni at the same time and they don't give you extra for that anymore either!

We would have been able to save more from our public sector salaries for our DC uni years when they were younger if we’d lived in the North. We get the same salaries as our counterparts working in other parts of England. Our DC went to great unis in the North where their loans went further and they had a fantastic experience. We could not support them if they’d wanted to study in London.

Same with Imperial College London. Their halls were relatively affordable too. They also have lots of well paid jobs for the students.

I think you have to make it clear how much your monthly support budget will be and calculate what Student Finance will be. No guarantee they'll get a uni job immediately. Dd tried hard first year, luckily she got a lockdown job at home and stayed here all of year two, then easily got a job in final year in last year.

Cambridge was mentioned. We got talking to a student from there who told us accommodation was approx £400pm, whereas DD was at Edinburgh paying around £650pm - DH on average salary and I work part-time earning £600pm. We live in an expensive area to buy. Hope that helps. It didn't bother her being over 330 miles from home and just being able to return a couple of times a year - lots of international students stayed all year so someone was always around.

Oxbridge accommodation is definitely more manageable costs wise especially a college that allows you to live in all 3 years.
London is really expensive, no two ways about it. If you can work in the holidays and also economise as much as possible on other fronts eg cycle everywhere then it can be manageable but it ain't easy

@Thekatzenjammerkid
I haven't read all the replies, but have been having this discussion with DD today!

Choose wisely and it becomes possible.

E.g. we looked at maths at both UCL and Imperial.
Then looked at bursaries.
Imperial - almost £4k per year on my salary.
UCL - £1k
Same entry requirements, imperial makes it financially viable by £100 a week (term time).

The criteria for means tested bursaries varies wildly.
Imperial is up to a family income of £70k.
To receive them, you simply tick the box on the student finance form that allows the uni to be able to see your income.

I've also being putting a small amount away in to a 'uni' account each month to get used to not having that money, and to have a cushion from which to provide top ups, deposits etc.
It's never too late to start doing that.

Oxbridge colleges aren’t all rich so you would need to do your home work on that as well as needing a fairly clean sweep of A stars. You can’t work in term time and it’s very hard picking up casual work in vacations these days as zero hours contracts mean people do them year round.

London has a lot of choices for student housing - not just the uni halls but you can have flat shares or be a lodger or even share a room if you’re best mates or coupled up. You don’t need to live centrally because the public transport is so good. Plus there’s no shortage of people needing domestic cleaning and babysitting which pays £15ph.

Friend teaches at a London uni. Many l of students from the UK are living at home and commuting, plus working. It's a hard way to student.

DD's friends are planning to go as a (big) group and share (probably share rooms) in order to make it work. They will all need jobs too. None are well off, and all are planning on doing different courses.

I think he's being very wise and I agree with others who said that him or you really should think about the travel home (duration of journey and cost) when he visits and comes home for the holidays. I'm pretty sure bursaries are assessed year-by-year, so no guarantees he'll get the extra for the three year duration. He can still have the full student experience being an hour or so from home.

Other uni's good for maths in relatively cheap places:

Durham
Keele
Aberystwyth

This may be helpful:

https://www.timeout.com/uk/news/revealed-the-most-and-least-affordable-uk-university-towns-082223

There was a piece on the radio a couple of years ago that if you get into Harvard and the family income is less than 40k (not sure if $ or£) the fees are waived. Of cousrse you still have to pay for accommodation and fares but even so....

Our kids were eligible for the tuition fees loan and the maintenance loan which at the time worked out to £100pw during term time only. This formed their weekly budget for food, travel, going out, clothes, books, whatever they needed during term time.

We paid their rent and they worked hospitality jobs during the academic holidays to pay for whatever trips and treats they wanted to plan for - some travelling, festivals etc.

Birthday and Christmas presents were (and continue to be - they're late twenties/ early thirties now) big ticket items like a new coat, pair of boots, handbag etc.

We explained to them, in good time, that there was no way that we could afford rent in London so applying there was off the cards. They both had a fantastic experience in northern, campus universities and moved to London the summer they graduated to start good jobs. They're still there now.

I know that many people have a wonderful experience as a student in London but my own feeling is that it can be a difficult place to have very little money.

We're from the SE - I did not advise my kids to go to London, the experience is not always the most fulfilling for various reasons including the cost.
Better to go to a Uni town where they can experience a bit of student life.

Oxford is a good place for supporting less wealthy students - just choose your college based partly on their accommodation offer. My old college now offers all undergrads the ability to live in for example so cutting down accommodation costs.

my middle one is in London - really had to be for his course. Accommodation is a killer - not so bad he is now in a shared house - although still pricey - but private halls last year were a stupid price. His course is hands on, all day 5 days a week, but he does still manage to pick up bits and pieces of work, pretty much when he wants it. If he was in a more usual course with less contact time he would be able to work a decent number of hours quite easily - so that is one advantage of London I guess.

I went to a London Uni college in the nineties, from the North of England. My parents gave me what they thought was a generous housing budget. I had to persuade them to increase it because there just wasn’t anything available at that price, and they kept making jokes about me living like the Queen of Sheba - until they came to visit and saw the hovel of a house share I was in. They then convinced themselves I was being scammed and it took a lot to get them to understand that this was the reality of the situation, even in those days.

Fortunately my own dc don’t want to go to London, although yesterday dd mentioned she quite fancied a Swedish university 😣