To ask folk to share how much money do you give dc per week if you suppor them at uni ?????

[ginorwine]

Da goes to uni in sept
He will get no grant and £4110 maintanance loan
The accommodation costs alone will be 6,000
He has a £1,500 bursary linked to grades
This leaves him with zero cash for food , books , travel costs etc
This out first Dc at uni and we are really unsure how much he will need pw in support
Any advice much appriciated
( he can cook !)

We pay fees, rent and an allowance of £500 per month, but the allowance is term time only as ds comes home for holidays. I drive to the UK to drop him off and pick him up, and do the first big shop and buy clothes, shoes etc. The allowance has to cover books, food, utility bills, hobby and a bit of fun stuff. The electricity is metered, so that costs, and ds has now found out that heating a house costs as well.

Dh's employer defrays education costs up to age 24, so we get some of that back, hence why we are doing it.

There is a whole thread about this in the Higher Education topic that is current. For me, I don't like the loans, and this is also a cast iron way of avoiding IHT later. Ds is getting his inheritance up front now.

I can't afford to give DD any money or pay for her upkeep, but due to my low income she gets a grant and maximum loan, plus a scholarship, hardship funding from the university, some disability benefits and a little p/t earnings. That covers all her costs and allows her enough for holidays and hobbies. Apparently she is even managing to save some of it! She stays in self catering accommodation as it costs less for her to cook her own meals than pay for catered halls.

My DD got £9000 in loans and grant for maintenance in London (low income family). Rent was £180 a week X 40 weeks so 7200. Leaving 1800 for the rest, or about 45 quid a week. Her travel cost 40 a week. So that wiped out the rest.

We gave her £200 per month and paid her mobile phone bill. We paid for her to travel home in the holidays and sent the odd tenner when we could, as did her Nan. In the holidays she works (fast food) but not in term time (competitive course with lots of contact hours), though she might next year. In the holidays we pay for everything for her when she is home, apart from the odd night out which she pays for herself. I want her to be able to save up her summer job money and have a bit of a cushion next year. (No halls next year, got to rent privately and that will be £150 a week plus bills, though travel will be cheaper as its closer to uni).

When I was at uni in the late 00's my parents paid my rent for me and I used my loan to cover bills, food and everything else.

They did also help me out with things like books, sometime bills and by always taking me to the supermarket to do a huge food and toiletries/ cleaning product etc shop when they came to visit.

Thanks I'm shocked that some get 200 s week tho - what do they spend it on ?

private rent and bills. Even in halls on a long contract it is well over £100 a week in the north

My daughter gets enough maintenence grant and loan to live on (just) but has to work to be able to afford constant nights out etc. I can't afford to subside that as have 4 younger children and many bills. Basically mine have to support themselves but they have had jobs since age 16.

Bear in mind that when parents think they have a certain amount per week, many students blow their loans in first month. My DD did this. However although I have given her small sums of money I prefer to give food bags and pay for haircuts than subsidise partying etc. I put a very small amount of money each week in an account to save a bit

If you can't afford this then you need to lower your other expenses'

I don't agree with this. Some people cannot simply 'lower their expenses'. 25/35K may have seemed a lot years back but these days 2 people on min wage with high cost of living cannot always afford hundress to uni fees. The thresholds haven't risen with costs of living. Some people also have multiple children at uni or debts from living costs.

Did I read that right up-thread - they have to get jobs (hah, yes, easy stuff!) not just to support themselves, but to buy a house while they're studying?

Where do these magic part-time jobs come from that pay mortgages - and can I have one?

Nobody said they had to buy a house or that it was part time but it was doable at the time 2001. My cousin is studying now 15 hours a week, you could work 40 as well as that easily

Forget how were her travel costs £40 a week that's ridiculous!

AndNow. In London. Placed in halls in an outer zone, has to travel to zone one everyday for lectures (lots of contact hours). Oyster card is for those journeys is about 40 a week.

£40 a week for to travel from halls is really unfair. The uni should really subsides it.

DD starts in September. She gets full loan for fees and around £10k in maintenance loan as uni is central London.

Her halls (cheapest ensuite room available) is £235 per week. Yes, per WEEK. This is for 51 weeks, so her loan doesn't even cover it. Her dad will give her £150 per month, in place of the maintenance he usually gives me for her. This should just about cover her food. I can give her £500 a term, no more, as have huge mortgage and single parent with other DC still at home.

She will work for her spends. To be honest I am a bit at all the posters whose DC don't work. All my friends DC work/worked through uni, even the very wealthy ones.

It's doable, just, as she has no travel costs to uni from halls, as on campus. I would give DD more if I had it, but I simply don't.

Our Ds worked all through Uni, and in summer he went back to his old high school job each year. He still had loans and grants and scholarships, and I bought him food, and all the books and supplies like paper, pens and the rest.