Cost of kids at university

[MumofCandR]

I have 2 kids one may be in university in around 4 years and the other in 6 years. I'm trying to estimate how much to save up to help them through and I can't work out what's a reasonable amount. We are high earners so would only qualify for the minimum grants/ loans. I currently spend around 125 each a month on clubs and similar each on food. Clothes probably average 50 month each so probably 300 month spend per child that we won't have when they're at university. Did you contribute more when they went to University and was this significantly more? I'm thinking it's probably going to be 800-1000 month per child on top of maximum loans, does that seem reasonable?

I think we are ‘supposed’ to contribute about £6000 but from everything I’ve looked at that doesn’t seem to really be enough with accommodation costs. I think we are going to aim to cover rent, and anything he wants above that and the minimum loan he will need to earn himself. Rent for the unis he’s been interested in seem to be c £10,000 a year which is why I don’t think £6,000 will be enough.

It’s so variable. I had three at uni at the same time, and to keep it fair, paid their rent and they lived off the minimum loan plus any earnings.

I have three in university. One more to go.

I instead they took out tuition loans because I want it to be their money they are wasting if they choose to not attend lectures etc.

I pay for their rent and then £500 pcm, plus phone & travel, I do a big shop at the beginning of the year and send the treats from time to time. One is broke all the time and constantly asking for top ups, one never mentions money and the other seems to be doing fine with only the occasional comment that life is tough!

Like others, we cover accommodation.

We were upfront about our finances with them - if they wanted to go to a particularly expensive uni like Bristol (for example) they'd need to take a year out to earn as we literally didn't have that kind of money.

If they wanted high end accommodation (like their cousin who had a double room and a cleaner) rather than the usual stuff, they'd need to cover the upgrade from their holiday jobs as we needed to put two of them through and money isn't elastic.

The first year was the most expensive as it was in halls of residence, they others easier. About £7-9k a year I think.

Wow, I can't believe rents are so high!

We give our son 6k a year, which is usually split monthly. This mainly covers his rent, although he’s final year and he had one year that 6k didn’t cover his rent so he had to work to top it up.
He then lives on his minimum loan, so this covers food/socials/fuel/train fare etc

He also has a job during the hols, so tops up savings.

I do get the occasional bag of shopping for him to take back after being here for the weekend/holidays. First couple of years I took him back to uni via the supermarket so he started with a full shop. He now drives to Uni so sorts himself out!

Adding all three of mine are at expensive universities and so I think we’re on the hook for about £18k each.

Obviously if they’d taken the maintenance loan then we’d have provided less (I think the max they could have got was around £5k)

key Factor is the accommodation costs. Dd is at Bath which is £££, whereas Ds attended Warwick which was £.
dd works in the summer vacation as her course has labs and a lot of contact hours so a part time job would not be possible. She also has a chronic illness and would not be able to manage uni and a job.

It helps that ds cycles everywhere so no car costs either. His uni doesn't provide parking for students so a car would be pointless. Every halls room has a bike locker instead. Very green 😊

We pay the rent it’s £8400 yr2 (12 months contract) yr1 uni halls she opted for cheapest room none en-suite and it was cheaper under £7000. Plus phone, train home very occasionally and shop at beginning of semesters. She lives on min loan.

I’m in Scotland and it’s far more Common for kids to stay at home and go to a local university. Sorry, appreciate this isn’t a helpful comment!

We started saving for the DC when they were born because I don't like the way student loans have gone/the repayment terms.

So far we've saved the tuition fees and over the next 10 years we will save the accomodation & basic living money. They will be expected to get summer jobs to pay for anything like holidays/treats.

You'd need to top up DC to the maximum loan amount so they are not disadvantaged. Then whatever else you can afford to give them towards food each month. The maximum loan normally only pays for halls, joining a few societies and toiletries. My Foster son pays ££240 per week on halls which includes gym membership. That's £10,080 per annum just for accommodation. The loan is only £10,830 as studying outside London. No one can live for almost a year on £750. It's madness. There are not always part time jobs available either. It's got worse for part time work since RR increased employers NI for part time workers. We buy all Foster sons food and give him £120 per month for food. He gets PIP too, without that we'd have to give him more to live on.

My DD is off to uni in September having taken a gap year. She has saved hard anyway from an early age and plans to start Uni with 9/10k in the bank by the time she starts. She's chosen to do camp America too over the summer as the travel part of her year out - basically being paid to be there as a holiday.
I'm currently being made redundant and looking at how to reinvest my payout so I can help her further.

I wouldn't recommend being made redundant but do 100% recommend a gap year as I do think they gain a lot.

Honestly if you live in London, go to uni in London

Top up from minimum to maximum loan (about £500 per month per child), plus pay phone contracts, prescriptions, eyecare and dentistry and sports costs and equipment and car costs for them. This basically covers all their essential costs, plus a basic social life. They work in the holidays etc for money for holidays, fripperies and fun stuff.

Mine are on minimum maintenance loans and I give them £700 per month so that's similar to the £8k each others have estimated. But there are savings at home that offset that a bit. Food is the obvious one but we also have noticeably lower heating and water bills during term time when it's just me and DH at home.

We pay about 5.5k a year towards rent. DD gets minimum loan.

We pay the accommodation, phone and travel costs = £1000 p month.
They work in the holidays to save money for their food and social budget throughout the year.
Tuition fees are a loan.

What jobs? The local reddit is full of locals with full flexibility and commitment to the city who can’t get retail or bar jobs. A barista position was advertised recently wanting 4 years experience for a NMW job. It’s an employer’s market. Students with fixed lectures and the risk of leaving in the summer are not top of anyone’s list.

not even counting the 50-60 hours a week expected for her course.

Our DS is at uni in London. The accommodation is the expensive bit. It will not be as bad for second year but still a lot more than most other cities. There's no getting round the need for relatively affluent parents to help with this when it's London.

He's budgeted well for food and socialising entertainment. A bit of part time cafe work helps a lot. As far as entertainment is concerned. He doesn't have tv licence access but doesn't need this as we bought a Netflix sub and a BFI subscription which includes BFI player. These were birthday/christmas gifts. Going to pubs etc. he budgets for.

A well managed gap year can help with funding. Some work and a bit of travel. Some travel options can be both. He will join us for our surfing and chilling in Cornwall. I'm not charging for the accommodation and I did not take 'board' while he was on gap year. The understanding would have been he saved some money from working but he's sensible so I didn't have to even say.

It's really sodding expensive. I gave up trying to work it out but we were pretty skint through the uni years. 1st year halls, years 2&3 student rentals, living expenses (food, basic social/leisure, clothing etc), tuition fees, books, blah blah bloody blah. We were deeply relieved when it was over.

We have fully funded rather than DS taking loans. It is about 20k/year including fees, accommodation and monthly allowance. He has a part time job in our village pub, so holidays only, but he uses that for any extras.

The number of students wanting jobs has gone up and the number of jobs available has gone down. "Feeling obliged" to get a job does not guarantee you will get one. Most of my daughter's peers have applied to dozens of likely vacancies unsuccessfully.

Loan largely covers tuition & living costs. Expect to cover rent yourself so around ~£9000 per year - if halls it’s more exp but 9 months, if shared accommodation it’s cheaper but 12 months - so works out around the same.