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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to say that a student loan can be enough to survive on at uni without having to get a job?

186 replies

Mickeyx0x0 · 08/01/2022 23:10

My son is in second year of uni. Due to a drop in our income due to pandemic, he has received full student loan last year and this year. If he had not got full loan, we would otherwise have made it up to the same amount with our parental contribution.

He has found the amount he has been awarded more than enough to live on, without needing to get a part time job. Perhaps it is the area his uni is in (Loughborough where costs are cheaper than some places). Maybe my son is more frugal than the average student (quite possibly; not sure about this one). I am just curious as to whether other people find that their student DC is can manage on their student loan without needing to work as well?

OP posts:
RampantIvy · 09/01/2022 09:10

I don't know any student living in a studio flat. DD is in her third year and is living in a flatshare in a Victorian terraced house, as are all of her friends. Bathroom is shared.

Some universities halls allocation is a complete lottery and often students get allocated the more expensive accommodation that they didn't apply for.

nosyupnorth · 09/01/2022 09:14

If you are recieving the full loan or have parents willing and able to top up to the full amount, then yes it is possible in cheaper areas if living frugally, but that won't be the case for 90% of students who will either be in expensive cities and/or will not be getting so much money handed to them, it should be obvious that your sons experience is an outlier.

Original poster
Mickeyx0x0 · 09/01/2022 09:20

@Paq

OP, excluding rent your son has £104 per week to live off, and pay for:

Food
Toiletries
Transport and travel
Phone
Insurance for personal possessions
Clothes
Laundry
Study materials (including laptop?)
Leisure and social including subscriptions, gifts for family, sports equipment etc.

It's doable but it's a very frugal existence. I presume you do subside him in some ways, e.g. don't charge home board at home?

No, we don't charge DS board at home.
OP posts:
Paq · 09/01/2022 09:23

Also, if he's in halls and not a flat in second year (less usual for students) presumably his rent includes utilities/wifi?

Grida · 09/01/2022 09:26

@Neverforgetwhothisisfor

Cambridge Uni students aren’t allowed to work during term time, so they have to find a way to manage on their student loans.
I would have hated that. How do they police it?
RampantIvy · 09/01/2022 09:32

@Grida the workload at Oxbridge is very intense so most students would struggle to find time to work during term time anyway. Both universities are wealthy and they can offer bursaries to support students in financial need.

nokidshere · 09/01/2022 09:36

The shortfall between the full loan and the amount awarded is the amount intended to be the parental contribution. In theory, all students would recieve the same amount comprising student maintenance loan and top up from parents.

Even when I was working when DS1 was in his first year there was no way I could afford to top him up to the same amount as someone getting a full loan.

LessTime · 09/01/2022 09:43

The full loan is quite a lot for most.
I don't understand why more kids don't save up before Uni. The summer holiday after Alevels but before starting Uni is really long. One of mine saved thousands during this time.
Another had stashed away babysitting money over the years and had thousands from it (she did a lot of babysitting)

My kids knew a good few people who had full loans but weren't from low income families.

Abraxan · 09/01/2022 09:44

@Whatayear81

* Sadly, some just don't either, despite being able to afford to do so. We've seen this from a couple of DD's friends - the parents definitely could afford to, but choose not to. *

What are you basing that on?

Because I know the specific families involved and know what they've said about not topping up and why. I doubt their comments and belief about it are unique to them. They felt we were daft to give dd the top up (and more) as she could just go and get a job instead.
Twizz · 09/01/2022 09:49

The financial bar to get a full loan is fairly low - particularly when there are 2 working parents.

Length of course and location all play a part.

One will have cost us about £30k in accommodation and the other £18k.

They would not have been able to afford to go to uni without our support.

Crayfishforyou · 09/01/2022 09:50

My student loan just about covered my rent.
That was it.
I had to work 3 different part time jobs

Lou98 · 09/01/2022 09:54

[quote YerAWizardHarry]@elelel Scottish funding is abysmal! £6750 MAX is shocking[/quote]

While I do agree it's not a lot, they also cover the cost of uni fees so we don't need to pay anything (unless you go on to do PG etc)

I didn't qualify for bursaries when I was at uni a few years ago so I got the full loan amount of £4750 for the year. Split over 10 months I got £475 a month, I was in the cheapest halls at my Uni and was still £450 a month for accommodation. I had to work as £25 a month covered nothing.

I got a job in a local nightclub so I could work at night, I made such good friends doing it and had such a great time that I was glad I did it. The money was rubbish and I was constantly skint but I somehow made do

Original poster
Mickeyx0x0 · 09/01/2022 09:54

@Paq

Also, if he's in halls and not a flat in second year (less usual for students) presumably his rent includes utilities/wifi?
He is in a uni flat, so rent does cover gas, electricity, and WiFi. He is self catering so buys food. Seems to order a lot of takeaways which he appears to be able to afford.
OP posts:
LethargicActress · 09/01/2022 09:55

My dc get full loan because I’m a low income single parent. Both living in halls or dedicated student accommodation, in expensive cities, and neither have to work out of necessity. Nor do I have to provide financial support beyond the normal things that most parents would provide like bedding, kitchen equipment etc.

Redlocks28 · 09/01/2022 09:59

Now, most students I know live in their own studio flats, have the latest iPhones, run a car, eat out and / or use Deliveroo several times a week, have subscriptions to Netflix, Spotify and Amazon Price etc.,and so on.

I don’t know a single student who lives a life like that!

All live in halls or shared houses, none run a car (most can’t drive due to covid disruption to tests), none use deliveroo regularly and the ones watching Netflix are using their parents’ login!

hedgehogger1 · 09/01/2022 10:04

Lots of info here www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes/

Original poster
Mickeyx0x0 · 09/01/2022 10:04

Thank you all for your posts BTW. All of the insights given much appreciated. The reason I posted this thread was to work out whether my DS is atypical in being able to manage fine on his student maintenance loan. As my DD is about to start Uni this year, I was wondering if she will also be able to manage her finances. DD is a more extravagant spender than DS so I am curious if she is likely to need to get a job.

OP posts:
RampantIvy · 09/01/2022 10:09

One of mine saved thousands during this time.

Doing what? Was this before covid?

WestendVBroadway · 09/01/2022 10:10

I agree with you OP, but only if the student receives the full loan. My DD is at what is considered a 'London' uni, and due to my DH having recently retired she receives the full loan this year. This gives her £236 per week. Her 2nd year accommodation in shared house is approximately £120 a week with bills. This leaves her with over £100 per week for food and other expenses. This is more than enough. In her first year when she received less we topped it up slightly. However most students do not receive the full loan and they have no choice but to work to supplement their income.

Lazypuppy · 09/01/2022 10:12

OP as someone else has said, they really should get a job regardless. Whrn thry come to apply for jobs after 3 years of no work, most employers won't be that impressed and would prpbably chose someone who had real world wotk experience. Unless he is doing a full time degree like teaching, he will have very few hours of lectures a week and ppenty of time to work

RufustheFloralmissingreindeer · 09/01/2022 10:13

@Mickeyx0x0

My son's self catering hall costs £4278 for this academic year (about £109 per week). His full student loan is £9706, so he seems to be fine to live on the amount he is getting.
In the position your child is in my children would manage absolutely fine…its more weekly money than they are getting now

Dh pays their rent which is about 6k per child and they get £250 a month on top

OrangeShark27 · 09/01/2022 10:14

It very much depends where you are based. I went to uni in Wales and my accomodation was half that of some of my friends, drinks were about a quarter sometimes even less. Buses were less, parking was less. Everything was cheaper and so its doable

When I was in first year it was very much a competition of frugality, how much money you can save, how little you can live off. But that gets boring very quickly, it's nice to have a bit more money to eat better, maybe run a car, go on holidays, buy drinks when you are out instead of having to make sure you've drunk enough before entry. Have the odd meal out. It doesn't take many hours a week as a student to improve your lifestyle quite a lot. I think I worked about 10-15 hours a week and that easily tops you up. The people who were still mass cooking plain pasta and bean tins in final uear, and refusing to do anything to save money were a bit irritating when they could have a got a bloody job.

halulat · 09/01/2022 10:14

Definitely depends on location. DS went to Newcastle where his rent was under £500 a month. DD is at Oxford and while hall fees are actually cheaper than Newcastle was( as they are subsidised), when she has to move into a house next year, rent will be almost £700 per month.
She is also not allowed/ able to work on term time but did save a lot for her 6th form job fortunately.
We have topped up to full loan amount for both.we were lucky that they haven't been at u I at the same time though.
I was in my last year when student loans were introduced and am sure one of the arguments for them was that they were not based on parental income. The grant system which was based on parental income did take into account siblings studying which IMO the loans system should still do.

Asdf12345 · 09/01/2022 10:14

It’s a long time since I was at uni, but back then there was no way it would have been workable without significant parental support or bursaries.

The rules were clear that if we failed an exam and had been working in term time there would be no second chances, but bursaries were not necessarily available unless very low family income.

This ended up with an odd situation where of the two flat mates with most disposable income one was from a long line of investment bankers, and the other was from nothing. Those of us from middle of the road backgrounds were the most stretched.

RufustheFloralmissingreindeer · 09/01/2022 10:14

Dd can’t work for various reasons though she does work in the summer holidays

Ds2 will be looking for a job this year although he will probably just work during the summer as well