To think £60 a week to live on will be a struggle for DD at uni?

[Lex345]

Just that, essentially. DD is looking at moving into halls next September and when we looked at the cost of halls, based on her budget, this is how much she will have left to cover course materials, food, clothes, travel, socialising etc.

All bills would be covered, but I think this will be a very, very tight budget even just on food. She is planning on moving away from our home area and will be looking for a job as well, but I know that isn't a guarantee, especially not immediately in a new city.

AIBU to think this will be really hard to live on, or am I being completely ridiculous and DD will be absolutely fine, £60/week is plenty?

It's quite tight, especially if that is to cover food. Can't she save really hard now so she's got a few hundred pounds to tide her over until she gets a job or could you save up enough to give her some money for her first few weeks?

I used to survive on £25.

it’ll work. It’s called being a student.

It'll be tight. But she can apply for student funding/loan, and look at working through the summer. This is what my DD does - she does not work in term time, but does at Christmas and in the summer holidays to save money to use in term time.

To cover everything it might be tight, but ‘just on food’ would be loads?

there are always jobs to be had at uni if you get in quickly.

Can she work as much as possible this year and save? I know it's not popular now but most people worked part time term time and more in the holidays when I was a student and that was Durham where there loads of wealthy students

We do have a savings account for her, that has just over £2k in-which I am hoping will help with essentials that need buying and provide a bit of a buffer. I am just a bit worried that this will be burnt through quite quickly in the first month or so to top up the budget (DD is ok with money but I don't think she has realised £60 a week is so tight).

I will of course never see her go hungry and could send her food deliveries, I guess, but I don't want her to struggle to enjoy uni life either.

£60 a week won't cover all that.
I'd look at getting a job now and over the summer and save some money in advance.
My DD has £50 a week for food only and we are able to top that up if she needs more.

Was this quite recently, as this is reassuring?

Where is the budget coming from? Are you calculating just on the loans available or are you contributing to her funding?

I don’t think that’s enough to live off when thinking about the cost of a social life at university, snacks, materials, toiletries, clothes etc however she could get seasonal shop work during holidays and earn quite a bit. Also student loans will help - she probably needs double that amount.

i have agreed a similar budget with my DS who started this time, as his loan only just covered his rent. He has had to use some of his savings to cover extras during freshers like societies and gym membership but it otherwise seems to be enough for food, laundry and the odd cheap night out. He worked throughout a levels and has a good buffer put to one side for emergencies and I have saved for him too for if he needs more but as long as they are careful and cook rather than buy prepared food it should be fine.

Unless you're doing fine art or something course materials are negligible these days. Most resources are online and in the library.

Is that £60pw all year or term time only? Some courses are only 25-30 weeks of the year.

Travel is trickier, but with certain student bank accounts you get a discounted or even free railcard, bringing down the cost of train travel. The mega bus and coach is also an often overlooked mode of transport thats cheaper!

Clothes, send her off with a decent wardrobe. And she will get student discount. I know in liverpool that the shopping centre there does special student discount days where lots of the clothes shops do additional student discount.

And on terms of food, if you send her off with a decent store cupboard, it really helps. You can start buying some stuff now to spread the cost, especially things like loo rolls, scourers, first aid stuff etc. Closer to the time, oats, cans of tomatoes and passata, pasta and noodles can be added to a box to take with her.

Finally, remember Christmas is hot on the heels of term 1 starting. She can have some clothes for Christmas and things like Greg's vouchers, or even supermarket vouchers from granny or whoever help!

Knowing now is really helpful because you have the best part of a year to plan!

For food that will be plenty but it would be a real stretch to cover other things as well. Even things like using the laundrette, course materials, phone contract/sim etc all add up even if you're living frugally.

£60 a week might cover going out, if she's anything like I was age 18!

It's tricky..if that's what she's got to live on then that's what she's got. Good not to come of of uni in huge debt as far as possible. I echo what PP have said about working in the hols if there's work to be had near you? Not guaranteed these days. It's hard. I think it will become harder for many children to go to university as part time jobs won't be available as much as they used to be.

My dd has £38 pw to live off after rent and the full loan. Halls are madly expensive and pricing out students from poorer backgrounds by making it unaffordable

How long ago was that?

Uni costs are tough.
£60 a week, after all bills paid, is doable but there will be very little to work with.

To be honest though - lots of students don’t even have £60 a week without money from parents and/or a job,

the minimum maintenance loan (outside London) is about £4,500 at the moment. Rent needs to come out of that - my daughter’s is £648 a month this year.

have you looked at the figures/halls costs where your daughter is aiming for?

It's tight. If she's a decent cook, and plans meals, she will cover food for that amount, but travel, societies, etc are a lot. Also, it's pretty important that she does the whole socialising thing, especially at the beginning. A lot of that is built around booze, and even if she doesn't drink, going to clubs and being out is £££.

I was at uni 2017-2020.

I used to do a food shop in Aldi or Lidl. My parents would send me back each half term with a big cupboard essentials food shop - tinned goods and pasta, freezer food, etc.

Teach her to meal prep on a budget now. You can make a good bolognese for about £6 and it’ll do a week of meals. Even better if she’ll go veggie, it’ll be cheaper. If she has family that want to give her gifts, ask them to do a gift card to a supermarket. Pick a meal each week and see how cheap you can do it, while still having nutritional value. Make sure she’s happy to make her own lunches and take them up to campus with her, make sure she can do cheap breakfasts, and will take coffee etc. in a cup with her. It’s all of those things that add up.

If you’re willing to gift her, get her a supermarket delivery pass. She can do a big food shop and have it delivered, and get all of her tinned goods to her (make sure she has a suitcase to take it back up to her room!). If you have the funds available (or if she works), suggest to her that she does a trial run for a period of time - she does her own food shopping, pays for transport as it would be at uni, etc.

My parents would gift me my bus pass each year for my birthday, so that took off some of the pressure as well. You’re in a good position wherein you have a year to help her prep, and to see if this is a realistic option.

Would she be planning to get a job while at Uni? When I went (which admittedly a while ago) pretty much everyone had a job,I used to work 6pm till 10pm every evening in a call centre so 20hrs a week on about £10 an hour which gave me the better part of £200 a week.

I don't believe this. 20 years ago I had a £10 a week food budget as a student and always ended up going over by about two pounds. I didn't eat any cheese (faaaar too expensive) had about one piece of chicken a week, ate 28p a loaf sliced white bread etc. That would leave less than £15 a week to cover any socialising (which students need to do to have any sort of a life, even if it's buying a soda and lime at a pub), books, clothes (everyone needs new shoes now and again) and crucially train travel home. Even if you do things like buy a Railcard, that would wipe out your extra £15 for two weeks and that's before you buy the ticket.

This £60/ week is including loan.

This is based on her preferred uni halls cost-her 2nd and 3rd choices are slightly more expensive. To help her more financially, I would need to get another job.

I will be helping take a bit of a larder with her and have planned to help buy some essentials too. (I am glad I have a year! As I said she does have a little savings account too)

DD doesn't have a job-she really struggled with jugggling A level work and gets an allowance from us instead, which I cannot afford to increase. This is another cause for concern if she struggles to juggle uni work with a job that I think she will need to help financially at uni.

I increased the grocery money to £60pw towards the end of last term, for my eldest. From £50pw. He sends a photo of the grocery receipt, the food is very basic, light on actual meat, no branded stuff, lots of pasta, rice, eggs etc but just not enough of it (6’2” male). I also pay a small amount on a Monday to cover any transport or non grocery items for the rest of the week (not a first year student).

She’ll need a job. If she gets one now at McDonalds or Miller & Carter, she may be able to transfer her job to wherever she is at Uni.

She needs to get a PT job now, and work the summer, to save up.
DD worked at Next and transferred her job to the Uni city.