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?

My DDs loans covered rent and left on average around £100 spare a month for food, toiletries, socialising etc. I sent them£200 a month (previous they got £100 pocket money plus an extra £100 as I was no longer feeding them/reduced bills etc)
They managed ok but also got jobs quite quickly. Costa, McDonald’s, kfc, Wetherspoon etc are usually taking on. She will be best to start looking for jobs immediately as jobs filling up quickly.

it’s not hard to get a job in a student city!! I had 3 at same time at one point! Her budget is manageable, if she wants more she needs to put the effort in and work! And work all summer / other holidays. I saved over £2000 each summer holiday, my loan didn’t cover my accommodation costs so I needed to help myself.

Are there any good universities in commuting distance, so that she could do e.g. two years away and the final year at home?

To all those saying “just get a job”: it’s actually quite difficult to get a job at the moment.

My dd has just started uni but she had a gap year and found it very difficult to find a job in London. That has been the experience of many of her friends. She eventually found one through a family connection. It’s a brutal job market out there and also employers don’t particularly want students. Our experience is that employers want people who have maximum flexibility and are likely to stay in the job long term.

Absolutely not. In fact my son had to do a shopping planner for school based on eating healthily for a week on £35, and we just about scraped it, and that was on a very basic vegetarian diet. £25 for travel, books, clothes and socialising and sundries on top of that?! What about toiletries and hair care etc? No way.

I don’t think you are doing her any favours by not encouraging her to work for fun money. I have 2 currently at uni. Both worked and saved hard the summer before they went to uni so went away for £2k in reserves (my daughter also funded 3 trips away from her hard work and achieved top grades in her a levels). After rent is paid mine have a similar amount of spends your daughter has, plus I send them off with a larder full of stuff and toiletries etc. And if money tight and funds run low I send a supermarket voucher someone starve. I also fund travelling home and phones. The rest they work for. My daughter has just started her first year and her employer transferred her to uni town for work so as well as having £2k in reserves she earns approx £400 pm with no overtime just working a Saturday shift, she’ll
do extra though. My son is his final year works over the summer to build up a reserve and also has work in his uni town (zero hours contract in student union. Suits him as he can’t cope With working excessively when has deadlines) so can pick and choose when he works. They both manage to run a Car also. Have to learn that if you want extras have to work for them. Not have it all handed on a plate.

Hello, just about to take my son back to uni for year 2. A few things to think about. If she gets a job at uni, it may not be easy to turn on and off. I know my nephew works in supermarket (from year 2 and now going into final year) which is great, but does mean he lives there all year round. He earns around £1000 a month and does night shifts which may not be suitable for a girl so much (I know I would worry about my DD being out at night). You may find it is cheaper for her to do term time only rental and live at home and work in the holidays, depending on your local economy. At least for the first year if she can do the minimum rental term she will only need to be there 9-12 weeks a term (depending on the uni). This saves a lot.

My son works in Cineworld in the holidays starting from after A levels. They tend to be busy in the school holidays so it actually works quite well for students if she is able to come home then.

The kind of jobs that we find our friends' kids doing that pay well and they seem to enjoy include working in a gastropub (good tips), holiday clubs (prefer either to be sporty or first aid), school uniform shop (good summer job). Another friend's DD cleans Oxford college rooms in the holidays (she doesn't go there). If she is staying around the year the uni often rents out accommodation in the holidays and keen to have extra hands for the rapid turnaround of rooms in holidays.

I think you are sensible to put aside some settling in costs. I started to collect things for DS from Year 12 - so when I was doing my online shop and saw a good offer for say a pyrex dish, or a duvet, I would stick it in my basket and pay for it then. It meant by the time he went we had everything needed. All the youtubers posting about uni hauls etc is quite OTT, they definitely don't need all that stuff. Also good to factor in annual subs for a club or hobby or two - they won't be expensive but they will get a lot out of them. DS is currently in two societies and this year has taken on Officer roles, in which he is learning great skills (emailing people outside of uni, organising things etc).

If it helps on the food front, DS budgets £30 a week. He works out a lot and has food allergies so this includes a lot of protein and things like oat milk which are more expensive. We do a massive shop at the beginning of term. We give him £100 a week and it is plenty - he could manage on less if he had to.

Very good luck to you and her - it is daunting but she will rise to the challenge and grow immensely in confidence by working through this - far more than those who have everything handed on a plate. I employ a lot of grads from top unis and almost 100% the ones who have had to work do much better and progress better in the workplace so don't feel guilty at all.

Is uni spending a particular “thing”? DS lives in a uni city but isn't at uni, he’s in a flat share and works f/t. Once his bills are paid, he has between £50-£80 to live on for food and going out, and manages; it’s not a luxury lifestyle with takeaways every night, but he eats and goes out.

If DD has a food budget, then combining with a room-mate and shopping together can make some things cheaper, eg a pack of four chicken breasts will be slightly cheaper than two packs of two, and larger packs of mince will be a bit cheaper too.

It’s not clear from your posts OP if she is getting the full maintenance loan (either in full or topped up to the full amount by you) and then after accommodation costs she has £60/week or if she isn’t eligible for the full maintenance loan and you can’t top it up and she’s left with £60 a week. Halls have rocketed in price in the last 2 years. My DD paid £150/week for an en-suite room in a new block next to uni. DS is going next year and all halls start at c£200/week including in the city my DD is in. We paid DD’s rent (we still do) and she’s responsible for everything else out of her maintenance loan. She has about £100 a week in term time. She also worked from 16 and works every summer. Her course is too full on to work during term time although she does pick up ad hoc shifts at a big sports venue. She’s been able to do this because she has previous work experience. Students without any experience struggle to find work because it’s so competitive. With DS we will do the same which will cost us about £2k more a year than for DD because of the cost of halls. We are having to plan for this now. I buy her a food shop when I see her and I still pay her phone contract. I also might buy her new shoes or other expensive items if she needs them. Ultimately your DD needs a job now - thousands of teenagers manage this with no detriment to their exam results.

It's not really enough. It's enough for food but not many other expenses. When my son was at uni a couple of years go, it cost £4 for a load of washing. Travel costs would depend on where the uni is. She'd ideally want to have enough to go out, as it's a way to make friends. Can she get a Christmas temp job now and save the money? They are just starting to pop up in supermarkets and usually last until end of Jan.

What subject is she doing? I did a design subject and would regularly spend 100-200 a month just on materials, supplies and printing. 20 years ago!

In 2025 these jobs aren't as easy to find. Quite often the jobs that are available might not fit in with contact hours, depending on the course.

All these "when I was a student" posts are not relevant or helpful unless you are a student now because things have changed so much.

My son works over the summer to top up his loan. We put it all in to one account with loan and our contribution. He then gets £100 a week.

You sound like such a lovely mum but honestly she need to figure things out for herself. Please try not to be overprotective - she will manage and everyone will be skint too . I say this as someone who works in higher education.

Sounds too tight. I think DD should be applying for PT/weekend jobs in the city she will studying in now. I would have thought £60 isn’t going to work, what about haircuts, clothes, the odd meal/drinks out? Can you afford to send her a £30 internet shop of basics each week? Pasta, rice, baking potatoes, veg, baked beans, tinned toms, garlic, butter? Enough to make some super simple meals? Even then she still needs a job immediately.

She could pick up some seasonal work this Christmas to save some cash and get a reference. Bar/ hospitality work and she can do her school work in the day time.

Ok , I remember back to when I was a student and had very little to live off .
I worked in the holidays to top it up but then it was still tight plus my parents actually asked me for £ towards their bills in the holidays 😳
My parents didn’t fund me at all , not even a few pounds here and there to help with train travel home or getting me a few clothes to top up my wardrobe.
So , if you send your daughter off to uni with plenty of clothes, shoes , toiletries , a starter pack of food especially non perishables , and have a savings account for her with a decent amount in it then she has a good start .
Depending on the city she’s in she will find it easy to pick up part time / weekend work to fund a few extras .
£60 should cover food ok if she is careful but wouldn’t cover eating out.
She will need to learn budgeting carefully but that’s a good skill

She'll need to get a job. There will be options on campus, she should start investigating now as these kind of jobs are highly sought after.

Honestly, I don't think you can tell if this will be enough or not.

There's a lot of variety in what different Uni's/halls include (I've been to three different unis). My first year halls it wouldnt have been enough. The expectation was that you would mostly eat in the canteen.the shared kitchen was listed as "snack preparation only" because it wasn't up to modern fire regs. So between 12 of us there was a kettle, a toaster and a small microwave. There was no freezer, and only a small fridge. Food cupboards were small and communal - 4 cupboards between 12 of us. Bulk buying/batch prepping was just not possible.

However other places have full kitchens with freezers and lots of cupboard space.

Cost of laundrettes varies enormously. Ours was VERY cheap and must have been subsidised.

A lot of it will depend on how she wants to socialise, or if she has hobbies that cost money.

What work do you do in higher ed? Admin? Lecturer?

Many students are not skint because they have wealthy parents who fund a lot of their expenses. Most parents do have to contribute something.

Most families I know started budgeting for uni when their kids were younger, or made their kids get weekend jobs/babysitting/ pet sitting etc as soon as they could, to build up some savings for uni.

Get her to start a budget now. Start with her writing down everything she buys and if you eat as a family then cost that too.

It might be an idea to get her cooking for herself now so she can see how much she needs.

Life is about making choices and then living with them. If she is on a tight budget, that will motivate her to find a job real fast. I personally trust in the flow, and adulting. Let her make her own decisions and live with them. She may surprise you. I was never without a job at her age.

It's still going to be very tight.
She can't live on pot noodles or pasta as someone else suggested.

She will need to buy fruit, veg, dairy, as well as meat, beans, eggs, bread, rice, pasta etc.

One tip is to go shopping at the end of the day or weekends when prices are 'yellow stickered'.

I gave DS £80 per week. He came back with savings in the bank. He doesn’t drink.

I think it is doable if they’re not spending it all on socialising.

Back when companies weren't shedding employees in the wake of minimum wage hikes, ni increases and in advance of an employees rights bill that makes ad-hoc student staff a risky investment.