Is studying in London possible on basic loans?

[GoldfinchesInTheTree]

My daughter is really keen to apply to a London uni - probably KCL.

We don't have a great income and have had a patchwork of disability and jobs so no savings at all. There is an access scheme for lower incomes but it's at 42k which combined we are just over 😬.

We will struggle to top her loan up but we think we can do that.

Is it possible to survive in London on London loan??? She's autistic so working isn't a given although she's keen. She is very bright and capable but really needs down time so I'm wary of relying on her managing a job and study 😬.

Should we encourage her not to do this.

Is it even more expensive after the first year (presumably you find your own accommodation then). She would struggle I think with commuting a long way in and out each day.

She is so taken with London and with a graduate scheme she wants to do after but I'm worried we don't have the financial backing.

It’s very tough and not really doable on loan alone. Most people are either topped up be their parents or work.

halls are not cheap. Renting is even less cheap.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/accommodation/residences

my DS got away with working in holidays only with some topping up but he lived on batch cooked egg fried rice for weeks on end.

Accomodation - both halls and private is really expensive. One of DDs friends is going to study at a London uni but taking a year out first to work to save for it.

Thankyou. She's found the cheapest halls but didn't know how much extra life would cost.

Her other option is Southampton at the moment where the halls don't seem much cheaper.

I'm so overwhelmed with it all and she's just sad I think as shes in a Grammar school where most of her friends are well off and uni is a given. She really will work hard I'm just so sad we can't provide more for her or reassure her it will be okay.

That could be an idea. I don't know as she's looking at sciency/maths courses whether that would be encouraged but we could look into it.

I'm so frustrated.

It’s not doable and would set her and you up for a lot of stress. Private rentals in Southampton past her first year will be significantly cheaper than london. Or she could take a gap year to work and save up money?

You can probably do a rough budget estimate of how much "life" will cost......tube/bus pass prices will be online, mobile phone contract, she won't have to worry about utilties if she's in halls in 1st year but if she rents elsewhere in other years then she'd need to factor that in, food and toiletries wouldn't be too hard to price if you did an online supermarket shop without actually placing the order, socialising would need to come from anything she had left, any travel back home......
Could she take a year out to work and save some funds? You also need to consider if it's really worth starting out a career being tens of thousands of £ in debt when there's apprenticeship schemes out there which could have her earning and learning at the same time.

She's looked into degree apprenticeships but round here it's the lower level healthcare roles or accountancy!/IT which she doesn't want to do.

She knows we can't afford to put her through med school but she is still trying to aim fairly high as a clinical scientist (paid to train at and 6 then band 7 at qualification) currently or similar roles so the degree apprenticeship isn't appropriate as she needs the right science degree first.

Its worrying her a lot and I wish I could ease her worries. We haven't done well in life given our education and I'm aware shes keen to get off to a good start and yet our income may hinder her 😭

Ah cross posts. She would be fine with an apprenticeship scheme if they existed in the areas she was interested in. She's been looking! But it's things like theatre technician or radiographer.

Is it going to be manageable outside of London... I'm aware the loan is lower outside of London.

It is possible to keep extras down.

my DS originally bought a bike to get around but parts of it were stolen on a regular basis so he walked. It’s free.

he also didn’t drink. He ate porridge for breakfast (cheap) and stayed on campus and reheated either bean chilli or egg fried rice for lunch and had the same for dinner.

he didn’t eat out much if at all.

most of his socialising was through music societies so rehearsals and concerts etc.

it’s not easy living that frugally but it can be done. We were topping him up as well, as by that point he was in a private rental with a mate Above a pub (that he could not afford to drink in).

(I think it's about 13k for the year London and 10k for the year outside of London)

She's not likely to really drink and would love to join an orchestra (part of NYO inspire currently). She's also keen on the cheaper theatre tickets on the day.

But she's also autistic and needs safe accommodation, food.... Etc.

The London living loan if you get all of it is 13k.

the cheapest halls at kcl are great Dover street which are first years only.

you have to pay for 40 weeks at a minimum of 169 per week. That’s 6780 out of the 13k.

for that you get a room which is an en-suite but you’ll need to contort yourself to get into it!

so you’ll have 6k left to live on for the year. Call it 40 weeks of term time that’s 150 a week.

that’ll need to cover textbooks, food, everything.

that’s assuming you cover all costs in the holidays.

Honestly I’d say it’s really not doable at all on the basic loan, not without either a job bringing in a good amount of money OR parents providing it. My sister did 2 years of studying in London and her maintenance loan didn’t even cover her accommodation, so absolutely everything else she needed to buy was on top of that so either she earned it or you’d need to provide it.

Especially after first year- the halls are not so bad because at least it’s a fixed cost, all inclusive, you know what you’re going to be paying. Once you’re out of halls though it’s not only rent to factor in it’s also utilities, wifi, TV, sharing costs of buying things the place needs with housemates etc.

And just speaking generally, it is more expensive to eat and drink in London. I studied at a few different uni’s while getting my Law degree which was brilliant but did make me see how different pricing could be, as in £10 in a corner shop went a lot further in Newcastle than it did in Manchester, a £5 lunch in Newcastle was a lot more substantial than a £5 lunch in Manchester.

You really need to all be realistic about what is & isn’t possible because it would be so stressful to end up in a position where she does move there but her ability to eat or get to campus is dependent on her earning money or you sending her money.

Yes and her earning money/our actual money may not happen without us using credit cards.

We live right on the south coast so a northern uni isn't going to be possible for her either as that would save money but she will need to be able to return home easily for a weekend if overwhelmed.

I still don't know how easy it would be in southampton/cardiff/bristol/Exeter either but presumably more than 3k cheaper over a year.

She's likely to do postgraduate training in London but at least that's funded.

To be totally honest I think unless there is a uni local enough that she can still live at home and commute in, uni might not be doable full stop if she can’t work to earn & you can’t afford to top up.

Even in Newcastle I don’t know of a single person who just purely got the loan and managed on that, everybody either had an evening/weekend job or they had parents sending money to support them, sometimes both.

My son did a gap year so he and I could put some money aside for his university. If my other children want to do university they will need to do this too. We cannot afford to top up the loan to the amount needed so it's a combination of money saved during gap year and money earned in the holidays. He is doing a very full on degree and hasn't yet managed to sort a job during term time. He works at holiday camps local to home when he is back.
Even on minimum wage my son was able to save a lot over his gap year, he was putting between 500 and 700 in the bank every month. (We didn't charge him rent and he ate our food etc!)

It's the only way we could ever have made it work. And he isn't in London but is down south so still expensive.

I can top up so she would get the full loan amount just about but not above it

I can't believe noone with parents on low income goes to uni.

We are in the process of applying for PIP for her but as anyone knows that is an uphill battle we may not win. She has dla currently but it's different criteria.

Looking at UniAcco they reckon in 2024 it cost the average student around £1500 per month to live on campus, or about £1650 off campus in Newcastle.

Those with low income are entitled to additional bursaries but you fall in the middle group because while you are low income, you are not “low enough” income to qualify for the extra help financially. Too low to not need the help but too high to be entitled to the help.

People with low income get jobs to fund uni, that’s what everybody I know did who didn’t get parent support.

You can search on Rightmove for student accommodation.

if you look around borough market which is quite close to great Dover street (the first year halls) you get stuff like this

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159289337

which looks about right for what my son way paying. So private rentals would be 1000 plus per month for a room in a shared house with friends.

that would be a 12 month contract so a total of 12k on rent before any bills or food or anything else.

if she didn’t manage to get in a group then studios or one bed flats run about 1200 a month upwards.

so second or third year on a total income of 13k - well, the rent would take nearly all of it.

Slightly different perspective but she can apply to 5 universities through UCAS. I wouldn't stop her applying but I would caution her that if she does get in she will likely struggle to afford it. Work out some more affordable options as well, and then she can look at it all together when she has her offers.

I say this because UCL is very competitive - Google is suggesting a 30% offer rate. I wouldn't stop her applying and then it always being a 'what if I'd applied' for her.

You will need to explore with her whether living at home during university might be a better option. But I'd also explore how much independence she thinks she can cope with. I'm assuming she's year 12 now, so you're looking at nearly a year and a half away. You know your daughter but if you're thinking she can cope with living independently in London, then I suspect it's possible she'll be able to cope with a longer journey if she needs to go home from a lower cost of living location. Don't forget coach options as well - often much cheaper than trains and the networks can be very good. Long journey times but that's not necessarily an issue (and a long journey on one or two coaches might be easier for her than multiple changes on a train).

She also has time before she needs to apply to work out a plan - eg a year out, finding a job she can do over holidays to save up etc.

My daughter has been managing in Liverpool on the maximum loan. She has now got some part time work which will help pay for extras (she runs a car) but she could have managed. She did, however discount Brighton as it's London prices but not London loan.

I know YP on max loans who manage in places like Sheffield.

I think up until a few years ago it was possible to manage in London on maximum loan but in the last few years rents have skyrocketed.