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.

I went to Southampton and ended up settling here afterwards. Now been here over 20 years. The uni is well respected for medicine and science and there are two large hospitals locally. It’s a great place to study and has lots of music societies (I played in 3 of them). I can see the draw of London but imo Soton is a great alternative.

Im not sure how the halls allocation works these days but when I applied I had my heart set on the cheapest ones, did all my sums etc based on that and then ended up being allocated the most expensive ones! It might be worth finding out how likely it is you’ll get the cheapest ones. Presumably they’ll be very much in demand.

Thanks she does quite like Southampton and is aware of it's reputation. I've told her it's just a train ride to London!

She's keen to keep playing in an orchestra if she can too.

I'd also recommend going to some open days this summer to get her thinking sensibly. She might not get an offer for her preferred place so can't get hung up on one.
She's year 11 I think you said, so will have an easy summer. Open days tend to be Saturdays in June/July but also midweek.
She'll be applying to 5 unis.
Go and have a look at couple this week - and at lots of courses. For what she wants to do, there are so many STEM courses that link in.
What she thinks now may well change too.
For example DD wasn't even going to take chemistry a level, and was certain she'd do a maths degree, but now has offers for chem eng.
If next year she is flying high and predicted (at least some) A*s, look at Oxbridge. Apart from anything else, uni accomodation is provided for all years.

Yes she wants to look this summer. She's aware she might not get in but is trying to have a goal - she really likes to plan.

And yes I'm v aware oxbrodge works out cheaper but she may not be at quote that level!

I wasn"t clear re halls - like @jazzcat25 said, I meant that even in first year you may not get the cheaper halls.

Work wise, look where demand is highest in school holidays. Round here lifeguarding, a soft play place and a theme park off the top of my head all offer zero hours work. I've also seen ads from holiday play schemes and an outward bound centre. DD applied for 10 jobs before she got hers, and none of them included a regular weekly shift. Nurseries and care homes recruit for bank staff without needing qualifications. You need to be 18+ I think for care work. OP may I PM you?

Lots of great touring shows come to The Mayflower too, and tickets are cheaper than the West End.

Honestly, she really really needs to think beyond the cost of uni. Clinical science postgrad training is SO competitive, I'd argue it's more competitive than medicine. Realistically, the wages top out at a band 7/8, the qualifications are not easily transferable to abroad and the jobs are like hens teeth in the UK. Fair enough to want to do a STEM degree but putting all her eggs in the clinical science postgrad basket is risky. She needs to think about her earnings/pension contributions/job when she's 45, not when she graduates (which I appreciate is really difficult for young people). A more flexible STEM pathway at a cheaper uni, or medicine might actually be a better option for her even if it's a harder slog now - she needs to cost all the options and look at earning/employment potential in the longer term.

Working during term time is honestly, unless your parents are very wealthy, unavoidable. However, the university holidays are long and numerous, and hammering in a bunch of 60 hour weeks during the holidays will top up her budget considerably. You don't need to work during placements and the funding tends to be different for placement based degrees anyway. If she wants to do medicine or clinical science then portering, HCA work, cleaner work in hospitals etc would add to her CV as well and they'll throw as many hours her way as she wants. She might HAVE to do a gap year to save, she might HAVE to go to a cheaper uni up North to get what she wants in the longer term - even if her autism makes that challenging.

Try to encourage her to play the long game and tbh, though this is never what people want to hear, I worked all the hours God sends in shite jobs, and still graduated with 20k credit card debt, a 5k overdraft and my student loan. It didn't matter, because I graduated onto a career pathway where I could pay that off. It's undoubtedly been harder because I was poor, and from a really poor family - foodbank using, no heating, holes in my clothes, hungry all the time type poor. I didn't have, and still don't have, the same opportunities as my more wealthy peers. Us poor folk don't have the same choices as rich people in where we go to uni, what subjects we study or what jobs we do but if she's clever and driven enough to compete at a level where clinical science and medicine are options for her she needs to just tough it out and get through them in whatever way she can - it will improve her life prospects immensely.

DC1 graduated from a London uni and DC2 is at one now. Certainly for DC2, private rent has actually been cheaper than a student hall. DC1's uni owned their own halls but DC2's uni offers halls owned by Unite Students. DC2 had to pay the hall all through the summer holidays, except the last 2 weeks. It came to £13.1k for the year (2023/24). Luckily DC2 had a year out and worked full time the year before and had saved all the money.

I know you say your DC is autistic and probably can't work and study. And to be honest it is difficult for students to find part time work. However, they may surprise you and manage it.

DC2 does have a job. They earn £160 each Sunday doing an 11-hour lifeguard shift. This is a good job for autistic people. DC2 has ADHD and probably also autism.

If she's autistic she may be entitled to remain in halls for the 3 years as a reasonable adjustment which will keep costs down from private rentals.

This is certainly the case at UCL if you can demonstrate need for being close to campus etc.

Thank you @Antonania

I was also coming on to suggest Imperial because of the bursary. If she is still considering medicine, the bursary has been extended for medical students so they now also receive the bursary during the final 2 years that are funded by the NHS bursary, not just the “undergraduate years”.

I think she would be eligible for accommodation in halls for the entire course if she is receiving DSA (disabled students allowance). One of my DC was offered it, although I am not sure whether it is guaranteed.

It also has lots of music going on. There are music scholarships available for tuition at the Royal College of Music (which is next door).

I would also add, if she does decide on medicine, bank work as a HCA is popular for medical students as it is great for work experience and it is also irregular. She can do as many or as few shifts as she wants.

If she needs to take a gap year, either because she doesn’t get in to med school the first time round (not unusual) or because she needs to save money, a gap year working as a HCA is looked on very favourably by med schools when applying.

My kids got the tuition fee loan and the basic maintenance loan. We said that we would pay for the term-time accommodation and that they would live on their loan for everything else (bills, food, stationery, travel, going out, toiletries etc etc). They worked during the long academic holidays to pay for going out during those periods and any holidays / travelling they wanted to do.

I sat them down in good time and explained to them that we couldn’t afford rent in London and that they should consider midlands/ northern universities as the rent would be much more manageable for us. That they could move to London when they graduated, for work, and pay their own rent there - if they wanted to - when they were financially independent. This is exactly what happened.

She who pays the piper calls the tune.

So they had 10k on top of accommodation !???
We won't be paying anything above the couple of hundred a month to top up their loan. They will be making the choices as its their loan.