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?

This includes my contribution which, unless I get a get a 2nd job, is the maximum i can afford.

You really don't need to focus on that as much as her earning money.

She won't need appliances other than perhaps a kettle as there are rules about which electrical appliances are allowed in rooms (fire risk.)

I'm a bit confused with the time scale here- can you elaborate?

Students doing their A levels (yr13) apply from now onwards and get offers usually between now and Xmas- sometimes later.

Has she go a place already and applied for a hall?

Or has she completed Year 13 and is having a gap year?

2k should last a few months to give her time to settle in and find a part time job. You can spend about £500 on essentials and then give her an extra £60-£100 a week so she budgets. An idea is to register with a support agency as that's a flexible way to work. My daughter has support workers and they are all university students. They don't do any personal care.

Has she done her A levels already and is having a gap year?
I don't understand the time line here.

If she's in Year 13 she won't have an offer or a hall already.

What year is she in?

It may be unpopular, but i feel quite strongly about parents not getting another job to pay for their kids to go to uni. There's no reason at all that your daughter cant get a job now, and during, uni. I genuinely think it does them no favours to see their parents working themselves silly whilst they don't even have a job. Please let her find her way a little.

She is in year 13, and wants to start in Sept 26. Conversation has come up as they are doing personal statements for UCAS in college at the moment

If that £50 includes your contribution, that sounds odd, simply because her loan is based on parental income. So if her loan is very low, the premise is you top it up.
How much top up are you providing?

She have £60 a week plus the allowance from you plus savings. If you take a larder of stables with her when she goes that will help.

Just a small cafe or bar shift, not too much would make a difference too.

So she has a whole year before she goes to uni.

In that case she needs to get some part time work now- supermarkets, cafes, local pubs, babysitting, dog walking, pet sitting, etc.

I also question how your own contribution would only bring up her weekly money to £60, taking out her accommodation costs.

Have you not had a prediction of how much you are supposed to contribute?

I went to uni back in the early 2000s (much cheaper tuition back then!) but my parents just had no idea and I had very little money other than my leftover loan and money I’d earn over the holidays. It felt rubbish as a lot of my new friends had financial help from their parents and I didn’t want to miss out going down to the student union or going out to the pub. I clocked up credit card debt and an overdraft, I felt such shame for it but now in my 40s I realise I just wanted prepared and educated about money. my parents (as lovey as they are), didn’t give me any budgeting advice or make it known that others may have more money than me when I got there etc. the lack of money during that time but wanting to do stuff with my friends still sits with me now even though me and my DH are very financially comfortable.

if you can find a way to give her a weekly handout on top, even if that’s a gift card for a supermarket that would help massively.

If money is so tight, don't waste it buying new stuff. Set of sheets and a towel from home, basic crockery from charity shop. She can buy the rest as and when, you don't want to end up buying things she doesn't need.

I may have missed this, but why is she struggling with juggling a job and A-level work? Is she doing a course that takes a huge amount of time doing homework, or is she prioritising going out with friends evenings and weekends? If the latter she needs to be told very firmly to pull her finger out. Even working a few hours a week would give her enough to make life more comfortable at uni.

OP- are you a single parent?
Your posts say 'we' as if she has a dad round.

Between you both,, if he's around, how much will you be paying her weekly?

does she have generous grand parents?
or start saving now, all of you
although i agree that she should be the main saver, i know my dd had very little money, i did pay for her phone, i also had very little money, and she missed out on clubs.
their social life seems to be a large expense

Our contribution- £3000 (just over "parental contribution") maintenance loan= £8285
Accomodation=£8165

Edited to add not a single parent

I've read some but not all of these but there's some really useful advice on here. The biggest thing I've learnt since DC1 being it at uni is just how horrific it is that the loans don't even touch the side of accomodation alone in a lot of places.

That was the big hitter - the 'decent' ones - either decent by location or quality involved an additional payment equivalent to c. £1000 per term. That also meant finding the bulk payment of £1000 per term before anything else is taken in to consideration. Not so bad if you can pay that weekly but it's still an insane amount. The one DC is in now is much cheaper and only £400 per term to find which is more manageable. BUT - it's much further out and even trams / buses can be really expensive so there's been an accomodation saving but an increase in travel costs.

• Travel is much more than I anticipated and a massive cost.
• The upfront payments are something you need to watch for, along with a need to potential guarantor from 2nd yr onwards.
• Less about course costs and more stuff like washing costs. I can't remember how much DC said it was, but it's a LOT. And if they are active like mine is, one wash pw just doesn't cut it.
• Socialising is less of a cost issue than you would expect. A lot will nurse drinks for a lot of the evening etc but it will still eat in to funds. As will societies etc.

My DC is actually about a 40min train from home. They have currently kept on their part time job in their home town and come back for shifts at a weekend. Their uni contact timetable is Mon - Wed. This wouldn't suit everyone but it's been a great help for us and that sustains them absolutely fine from 2/3 shifts. They may get a transfer to uni town though.

What I've learnt for 2nd child going up in 2027;

• They are saving from now. Just got a p/t job. This job was found by 'knocking on doors' and asking around. Don't underestimate the power of doing this and you may find something that suits your DD flexibly. I'm encouraging my DC to be saving from now. That would at least provide a cushion until they can find a uni job if it's a bit tricky.
• Look carefully at not just the uni, but price of the city in detail and accomodation.
• Concentrate not just on the cost of accomodation but transport as well. Where are they in comparison to their course, the city, social stuff. How much would the buses be? How much is washing? How near is it to a supermarket and what kind of price supermarket? Try and create a really realistic budget around their lifestyle. (I sat with DC1 with Lidl receipts to work out a regularity of what they ate and likely weekly costs)
• Being realistic about savings for upfront costs so they aren't on the back foot.
• Working more during school holidays to create a buffer. Generally EITHER a good uni holiday job OR a uni job should be available. Holidays may be easier for her and stock pile some funds. Jobs definitely aren't as easy to come by though and will take some research.

I just wish the basic student loan covered accomodation plus a very basic food shop or something like it used to - but the reality is, there's often a gaping hole before they start!

I was lucky enough to get holiday jobs, including short ones filling in at Bank Holidays. In my case it was a posh hotel. I earned the trust of the HoD so I knew the ropes and kept going back. Working with different people and being treated as an adult was a great development.

Students often work waitressing and in bars, but pay and conditions can be poor.

One of my colleagues used to say "while you're here, you're earning, and you're not out spending,"

I think holiday jobs are less disruptive to student life than evening jobs like bar work.

Looking at this another way- some halls in some unis are very expensive.
Unless she gets a job now and banks some money, she may need to re-think her choice of uni if the living costs are too high there. Ditto private accommodation frm Year 2 onwards.

What's her first choice?

I was out at least 3 times a week at uni so it’s not even going to cover that. Food is a different ball game these days. I’d say 10 years ago I used to spend £25-£30 on a food shop but again not including my
alcohol take aways etc. I got a part time job and learnt £900 per month to live off

This is unhelpful nonsense from someone in the sector. Ignore this OP, you are doing the right thing to plan.

You've had some excellent advice here. I think that DD will be fine with the cooking skills mentioned, and potentially getting some work in before she goes to uni maybe even over half terms or when A levels are finished- I think that's March/April time.

My weekly shopping bill for a family of 3 used to be £38 so she’ll be fine.

oh by the way - this was in 2006 🙄

I'm sure I am worried over nothing-of course DD will need to get a job-I think I am "worst case scenario planning" really.

Its natural to worry I think! Thank you for all the helpful advice!

I'm assuming you've been to or are going to the Open Days for her top 3 choices? The accommodation talks are really useful; don't be the parent who wants to talk accommodation in the subject talk. You'll hear the sighs frm everyone who has planned their day properly.

It really would be useful if you would say where and what your DD is looking to study.

I’d urge her to look for a job now. We live in a uni town and have hired many, many students and still do.
we also had college A level kids just doing washing up who then progress, they were babysitting on the side as well.

But if there’s nothing on her cv it will be incredibly hard to get a PT uni job.
it’s also much, much harder to find a graduate job these days so this is experience she will need to keep her going for potentially quite a few years to come.