WWBU to purchase DD expensive university accommodation?

[ThreePounds]

This isn't some twisted bragging thread, BTW. We have been saving since she was born.

She will be going to London in September for university and we are pretty set on a lovely studio apartment that's in student accommodation. It's just over £400 a week. We can afford this.

My mum thinks it's a bad idea. I never went to uni, so I'm not sure what experience she has, hence I'm asking here. She thinks she needs to 'learn' that's it's not easy or necessarily 'nice' to live alone, etc. etc.

DD has a part-time job herself and isn't expecting at all.

WWBU?

Leghoul but she can afford it. Money isn't the problem here.
It's wether it's suitable accommodation or not. Yes it's not the most suitable for mixing and socialising etc, there is a chance DD could feel a little left out but if it's what you DD wants then go ahead with it. She could always have her friends around her flat visiting. Some students want the luxury and leave and quiet of their own accommodation outside the communal/shared accommodation blocks.

My son is at uni in London. He was in halls for the first year and although it wasn't the loveliest of places it was clean and warm and well-equipped. He shared a bathroom and paid about £155 a week. He could have had his own en suite for about £250-300 a week, but decided he'd rather have the money.

I'm not sure if you're planning on renting a studio which isn't in student halls of residence, but if you are, don't do it. She'll have a wonderful time in the halls of residence, and she'll make far more friends that way than if she rents outside of university. It's been brilliant for my son, and I hope it's just as good for your DD.

Bit sad to live on your own at uni, plus bit of a waste of money as she will spend all her time in other peoples flats or having friends stay over. At uni I lived with 4 other girls for the whole 4 years and for the majority of the time at least 2 or 3 of us would end of sleeping in the same bed or bunking on the floor in each other's rooms for sleepovers that's whay uni is all about !

Does she have a boyfriend who she might like to have spend most of the time there?

My parents paid for the nice accommodation for me for two years, while I was hugely grateful at the time I really really wish they had let me suck it up in more basic halls and saved the money for a deposit.

To be clear I don't think I'm entitled to a deposit and am saving slowly myself just that if they had money spare to give me god I wish I had saved it for a house!!

Yeh, I think it's pretty isolating and anti social
No personal development, and I know a few people like this who grow up pretty spoilt never to learn how to muck in together, etc
Do you really think everyone who can't afford to do this just want to party / never want to work etc?! Poorer than you does not mean lazy

peace and quiet - not leave and quiet. Typo!

Wow that's expensive. I am privately renting a nice 1 bed flat in zone 1 for less than that. If you could buy it might be different, but it seems mad to spend so much on rent to me

Nurses wages aren't too bad? My niece has just graduated in science and is on 18k. She will be on 26k, to begin with. I'm not saying it's amazing but definitely not too bad!

@ThreePounds considering you seem to have a lot of cash you don't seem that well versed in how far a nurses salary would go.

After tax she would have approx £350 (on 18k) or £500 (on 26k) a week.... about you are about to pay £400 a week JUST for her accommodation! What will you do after uni? Continue to subsidies her living costs to keep her in luxury?

Today 15:28 ThreePounds

It may have less 'partying' students, but she couldn't think of anything worse. She's not shy, but she isn't the type who is into that, never has been.

^
This was me before Fresher's week. I (and everyone i went to sixth form with) changed hugely in that first few weeks.

I would ask her to consider a small flat (4-6 people all with double bed in their en suite rooms) until the first reading week or end of first term with the offer of a change should she dislike it.

Ps I had a medical student who is now a spinal surgeon as one of my room mates, yes they needed sleep but as a nurse she will need to learn to balance life and work and that might mean going to lectures on little sleep!

Plus she is what, 18? She needs to live it up even if she is studying! I studied v hard at a russell group and had a fulfilling social life plus many extra curriculars and did great! and lived in the cheapest halls in first year which were practically a health hazard, however it massively built character

@SunnyCoco not at all? PPs were talking about how she will miss out on partying, etc. and I actually grew up on a council estate and was homeless for 6 months at 18, I know what being poor is.

And as for her needing peace and quite as a nursing student. I was a medical student and what I needed most was a way to let my hair down.

I wish her luck in her endeavours. Studying for HCP roles is taxing, and emotionally stressful she will need a support network and I and most people on my course found that in good flat mates and making friends.

Three - a social life doesn't mean partying, it doesn't even mean drinking. What about extra curricular societies, sports clubs, special interest groups she might join, late night study sessions with copious junk food, pub quiz, fundraisers, political interest groups, theres so much to do at uni!

@BangkokBlues I was comparing her nursing wage to my niece's science wage: science is on 18k and she will be on 26k. I'm saying it isn't a bad graduate salary, compared to some other salaries. I'm not saying it's going to go far in London, I'm just saying it isn't a bad graduate salary. A lot of graduates don't even hit the 21k to start paying back student loans.

OP, you sound like a lovely a caring parent, but you are going to end up having to subsidise your DD all her life if she is to maintain this standard.

Honestly, the kindest thing (believe me) is to let her struggle when she is young, whether its with noisy flatmates, sleep deprivation, a messy kitchen. She is never going to be homeless, as you sadly where, but I honestly think, from your posts that she needs to experience a grittier side of life.

Honestly, my only concern about this would be that she might feel terribly lonely at times. I didn't do anything near as stressful as nursing for my degree, but there were times when I really needed to company and support of my housemates to chat to, especially in third year. Not so much the partying, I wasn't ever really bothered about that, but I would have been terribly isolated and lonely living alone.

What will you do when she graduates and probably wants to work in a central london hospital? You might have money for a deposit but on 26k she will not be able to afford the mortgage a home anywhere near these "standards" or anywhere near London for that matter. (unless she meets a wealthy partner).

@TrinityTaylor - surely the same as all the other graduate nurses who live in London do?

@TrinityTaylor to be honest, she could commute from home.

All the others will probably end up in a grotty house share for a couple of years whilst they scrimp and save. I'm just getting the impression this is not an option for your dd? But if she can commute then that is great, as she can save for her own place similar to what I did. I paid rent to my parents but it was less than what I'd have been paying on a flat.

No OP I think It's excessive. An ensuite is more than sufficient. If she doesn't like it she can switch elsewhere after a term.

Not to shock but £70k for a deposit isn't massive and some of that £60k could be better used towards a post grad if she wants to do that or towards reducing the debt 're fees if you aren't paying them.

I'm not suggesting she loves in a novel but I think A £400pw studio is madness. We lived in London for more than 30 years and have buy to lets in zone 2 which happen to be in trust for the children. Our DS lived in catered halls for the first year, a house in the second and a flat in the third. It's part of being a student, growing up and It's proportionate. If he wants to live in his trust fund it will be when he can afford the running costs out of earned income.

DD is off to uni in September and will be doing the same.

Lives in a hovel.

I think an ensuite would be more than enough.

A lot of graduates don't even hit the 21k to start paying back student loans.

I consider this a complete failure TBH and a total waste of everyone's time if grads don't even manage to earn £21k in their earning lifetime.

to be honest, she could commute from home

so to be honest, what is she going to gain from living on her own, apart form a shorter commute?