Cost of University 2017

[janmack23]

D1 is applying for Uni for Sep 2017 soon, no1 child -so confused and frightened about funding. Was an associated Med Occ with bursary but of course with my luck that's now gone, but I am struggling with how she or we can afford to let her go. Earnings are a bit above £50k on a good year but we have other kids at home, obviously don't claim benefits but after student accommodation costs (which won't be covered by student maintenance) it means we'll have to find money we haven't got to pay for her to just eat and live and there is nothing out there. Can some one explain how we can give her money we haven't got.

I am studying on a similar intensity course and am often working with physio students. I was lucky enough to get a bursary so can understand the frustration that it has been scrapped for.2017.

I also have a child at university and our income is 35K. She gets some means tested but not enough so has to work part time and live in cheap accommodation. it is hard when you cannot afford to help much.

Most students I know on the health courses tend to have jobs, often bank work.

This is difficult when on placement but I know some students who are on placement 5 days a week and then work all weekend. On top of that they have learning objectives and essays to complete. Many have children too. Not easy but possible.

Physio & other allied students often get more holidays than nurses so have that time to work too. This can be 3/4 months at summer.

It is competitive to get into but there are many 18 year olds at my university. As long as there is an understanding of the profession and you hold the right values, you def have a chance.

Ok - being really open here - husband works at sea, wages pretty fixed, I worked full time until we had the last surprised child - never wanted to claim benefits or to be honest when we thought we needed to could have, and have never done so , we were always just, and have to say always just over every limit every time! I work part time but due to our rural area it would be difficult for me to work full time as I do need to be around for the children at the beginning and end of the school day and let kids do something out side of school!

You have two choices - as everyone has already told you, she gets cheap accommodation and a job, or you move somewhere less rural and get a full-time job yourself or a cheaper house. It really is that simple.

Roughly speaking (not knowing the ins and outs of your income) your daughter will get a little over £5000 a year to pay for her living costs. Eg rent food etc This should be more than enough for rent and basic food staples.

Busynothings - if you work in a sixth form college you need to make sure you aren't giving students the wrong advice and this is wrong! My DS was asked to give 3 preferences for accommodation at his university. He didn't get any of them and the accommodation he was allocated was over £6k pa. Uncatered. That is not unusual.

There has been some media coverage recently about the scandalous cost of uni accommodation which has risen dramatically in recent years. DS3 is currently applying so I have been paying a little more attention to accommodation costs this time round and believe me £5k is really not "more than enough" at a lot of universities.

Don't forget your food bill not as high whilst they are away at uni.

That's a good point jessabell. Might be worth calculating what it costs to have your DD at home op? Our food bill also went down dramatically when DS2 went to uni. Plus no longer giving him money for school lunches.

I second what others have said, 5K is nowhere near enough for halls and living costs, even the cheapest halls will probably be 3.5-4K, and you sometimes dont have a choice. The pp who made that comment is grossly irresponsible.

My DS just started, his halls in a northern uni are 5.3K. He gets min loan so we will top that up to pay halls fees each term, then give him a weekly allowance, for food etc.

However, he also worked in 6th form and has that money as a buffer. He is also going to look for work again after xmas.

Does or can your DD work at the moment, to save some money up before she goes? Or can she do a gap year and save up?

Also remember your outgoings will drop when she has gone, we are amazed at how much less food we buy for 3 instead of 4! So you may be able to budget to pay her some of what you save.

You maybe need to work out exactly how much she will get and how much halls are in her preferred unis. Remember you can take your pension contributions into account when working out your income.

Can I suggest you get this thread moved to the Higher Education forum, as there are already threads on there about living costs and you may get more detailed advice. Also, when the time comes to apply for halls, ask advice on that forum, as people will know the most cost effective place for her chosen uni.

Have you thought about training as a physio via one of the armed forces on a medical bursary scheme?

DD's hall fees swallowed up all but £20 of her maintenance loan.
She cannot work in term time
So she works in the holidays and we send her what we would have spent on her at home.
Tuition fee repayment is a bridge I am not crossing yet.

Ignore the tuition fees/graduate tax and concentrate on the maintenance loan element. there are online calculators so you could work out what she would get this year based on your earnings. find this figure first then add in the cost of her not being at home - school dinners, bus fares, pocket money, extra food at home etc. then look at the courses and unis she is applying to for this years accom. costs and it will then tell you what the shortfall is likely to be. this gives you a proper financial basis on which to plan. don't knee jerk into taking a gap year to earn money until you have all these facts in front of you.

plus lots of rural areas have bursaries available. start on line searching for these. a couple of hundred pounds here and there might be just all you need.

we live in a remote area and the local town offers a bursary for kids in the area going on courses. most years it goes unclaimed because no one really knows about it.

Remember that she will not be at home and you are saving money that way. We are on slightly under 40k and having to find £400 pcm for DD1 to go towards rent of £650pcm and food. Family have pulled together to top her up, parents £100pcm and DBro lends her another £100. Do you have extended family who could lend her anything? DD1 works as well.

I was like you beforehand, panicking we would never do it. But we have, somehow. It's not easy. DH is working extra hours and I've cut spending to the absolute basics. I'm very glad it's only 3 years because long term it would be too depressing - I've had to analyse every single spend on a budget sheet and ask myself if it's really essential. But the fact she isn't living at home has saved me way more than I realised it would - she was certainly costing me £250 a month to have at home, minimum. Before she went I'd have said food, maybe £50pcm. Once they're gone you realise how the taxiing to places and the 2 hour showers and the clothes washing and the odd treating them to something all add up!

Try not to panic. I wasted months panicking but these things tend to work themselves out. Send her what you save (and you will save money) by not having her at home and get her to work part time.

Your electricity (& water if metered) bill will go down with one less adult - no hair drier, straighteners, phone charging going on. One of my friends is quite surprised by how much power her daughter used.

Don't forget how long Uni holidays are. If they get a job they can earn a good few thousand. It depends where you live but a lot of employers seem to like Uni students. Where I live they seem to be able to get jobs very easily. One had a data entry job for £8 and often worked 45 hour weeks. She wasn't even interviewed.

Students can take jobs that other people don't want as they don't need to worry about zero contract stuff and job security. Although I'm sure it makes a huge difference where you live.

Also it's amazing at how little they can live off at Uni. Loads of students are skint so they don't feel they are unusual.

Some student cities are very cheap. One of my DC pays £59 week for his room exc bills. It's not that nice but it's dry, clean and warm. It's a bit scruffy but he doesn't care. It's a Northern city.

Study in Europe - far cheaper even with GBP doing so badly against the EUR. Courses taught in English. Probably pay a quarter of the cost. I think you can get loans out too. We're still technically in the EU so she should get first year as EU student, probably second year too as I think earliest for Brexit is spring 2019 but this could be delayed and she could do the three years as an EU student. Even if she had to pay as an international it's still cheaper than £9k a year.

Annielouise we know a few people who have opted to study medicine in Ukraine. English university, fees approx £3k, living expenses very cheap and their plan is to transfer back to UK uni in year 4 in order to graduate from there. The kids are having a great time apparently.

Study in Europe - far cheaper even with GBP doing so badly against the EUR. Courses taught in English. Probably pay a quarter of the cost. I think you can get loans out too.

Not many reputable courses taught in English. Fees of good courses often 4k per year, payable up front with no loans on offer. Living expenses in European cities often high. Hard to find accommodation as many European students live at home. Not an easy option.

user my friend did mention that the standard of english in the uni in Ukraine was rather low, however if you are a native speaker this should not be a problem as the textbooks are in english. This would obviously be disadvantageous to non-english speakers.

Is there any reason why she can't work over the holidays once she's finished her A Levels? She could earn £2000 easily in the three months she'll have off.

Look at the accommodation offered at her preferred universities rather than what people are putting here. We don't know what those will be. Check yourself. Maybe this could be part of the criteria. Not every university halls cost more than maintenance loans.

Busynothings - PLEASE UPDATE THE ADVICE YOU ARE HANDING OUT.

I think you need to look into it a bit more user 7214. I know more than one student paying less than EUR2k a year - and that's pretty standard - at universities that are more highly rated than Bristol and Exeter according to the last Times survey - all top 100 in the world. Accommodation much cheaper too. Only problem is finding a job but £4k much cheaper than £9k. Loans are on offer for these but maybe not all countries. Research into it has to be done but it's most definitely a viable and easier option. Even doing it the way franincisco has highlighted.

If she hasn't got a job now she needs to get one, I had one all through college as did most of my friends, my university ran schemes for student ambassadors, mentors for schools and classroom assistants which were all flexible and paid, I also spent one year working in the su, jobs like these within the university are term time only and often 0 hr contracts which are perfect for people who have changing timetables and placements. I also spent every Christmas at m&s who have contracts from 1 week long so can do full time for all or part of uni holidays, Next usually have summer jobs as they have their big sale, places that sell school uniform and outdoorsy places also often have summer jobs.

The fact is that the living expenses loan for the very poorest students is £8200 so that's a rough benchmark of the cost. It is implied but not enforced that parents pay the difference if their income is such that the DC gets less. Explained here
As others have said the cheapest halls are very often the most over subscribed and many students are allocated rooms costing much more. My DS was allocated a room costing £6000. His loan is £6000 and we pay him an allowance for living expenses. He is self catered, eats cheaply and doesn't have an expensive phone contract. He isn't in a position to work part time on his course but does work over the summer.
Don't forget of course that your household bills will go down a little when she goes.

Why cant she do bar work or shifts in a cafe while studying ? I used to really enjoy that sort of work in my late teens and early twenties.

Two or 3 shifts a week will be good for her and are also a good way of stopping her from being ou every night spending ! I didn't work at uni but really should have. I was ou every night spending instead.

DD1 is working at the every Saturday at the moment and saving hard, she's taking 4 a levels and can't really work any more hours as any spare hours are spent doing sports or volunteering which I encourage as 1. she loves it and 2. looks brill on her c.v./personal statement. Her first choice uni has one of the cheapest accommodation costs approx.£100/£125. She's not into drinking/clubbing/clothes in a big way so I realise that her living costs are going to a lot less than others but whatever way I look at it we are going to have to find living costs for her, do all students just have an over draft?
By the way comments as in - you'll just have to move are really not helpful!