Uni weekly allowance

[Alwayswonderedwhy]

DD will be going to uni in September and just wondering how much people give their DC to live on at a Midlands Uni? Excluding accommodation how much do you give your DC to live on? She'll be on campus so shouldn't need too much for travel costs.

We gave our DC £1100 a month to cover rent and spending money
Elder DC has now finished and we shall give DS 2 1300 a month

We pay accommodation, and they use their minimum loan for everything else.

Mine has £20 a day after accommodation has been paid. We also pay for the mobile phone contract.

That’s in Lancaster which is a cheaper university

Thank you! A lot of the replies I've got are irrelevant. There's no way we can top up the loan to make it the full amount. We obviously earn enough to be given the minimum loan but personal circumstances are not taken into consideration.

I'm really just trying to find out what the average or minimum amount students live on. DD will look for work too but I don't want her doing too many hours and it interfering with studies.

The system is based on the minimum loan being made up to the maximum

Be aware that outside of London the competition for jobs is fierce. The existence of zero hours contracts means nobody needs students who are only around for part of the year and cause rota issues. Many students just can’t find them

Realistically, if you don't top up the loan to at least the minimum, then your child will be going short. It's shit, but it's true. Certainly we top up to over the minimum and that's before any extras that we pay for. In our experience, most parents have planned for this and do top up to the minimum amount. Jobs in university towns are not necessarily easy to come by, and it can make coming home for holidays difficult, as well as severely impacting on their ability to study.

Top up from min loan to max loan works out at around £500/m per child, but almost certainly some of that amount would have to go towards topping up accommodation.

I appreciate it’s stressful but did you not think about this when your dc said they wanted to apply this year?

most kids live on the rough equivalent of the minimum loan and then on top of that there is accommodation to pay for. How did you think you would pay for the accommodation? Also bear in mind that the first term is really expensive with clubs and societies, freshers week etc and they typically sign up for new accommodation for the following year at Christmas or at the beginning of the second term so at that point they need the deposit money for the second year.

Yes of course we thought about it and planned but circumstances change. We will get by but I'm just interested to know what others live on.

Well the answer to that is that most students either get the full loan, or are topped up to the equivalent of the full loan by their parents and they manage to get by on that. Anyone living on less than the full loan amount will struggle, hence the expectation that parents will top them up fully. Many parents recognise that even the full loan amount isn't generous and top them up to over the max loan amount if they can afford to, as they'd prefer their children not to live on the absolute breadline.

The guideline is that the minimum amount a student needs is the equivalent of the full loan - and even that will be tight as it's not kept in line with inflation.

If you don't top them up to the maximum loan amount, then they will struggle. It's as simple as that.

OP if your circs have changed and your household income has gone up or down by more than 15% in any academic year then funding can be reassessed.

Sorry but it sounds like you want it always don’t want your YP to work, don’t want to contribute or contribute less than than the max loan in total etc. See Martin Lewis.

If they understand the value of money (by earning money before they go and understand how much it costs to go to Uni) and know how to budget and how to cook some basic meals before they go this will help. Also how to shop frugally at Aldi/Lidl and cooking mainly from scratch money can be saved by avoiding ready meals, eating out and takeaways. Buying own drinks when out and having a drink in halls before going out helps save money etc. Please note washing clothes is extortionate in halls etc.

Some students they meet will have a silly and almost unlimited amount of money available to them each month and other students will be really struggling and barely able to afford rent never mind eat or go out (so will have a miserable time). The latter lot of students are more likely to drop out and or fail course.

Also you don’t have to top them up say 5K all at once you can top them up weekly but monthly is easier for them to budget.

I worked whilst studying medicine. So did many of my peers. There’s a massive difference in work ethic and professionalism between those who don’t work prior to starting their career and those who do.

If you’re paying accommodation OP that’s very generous - I’d expect a job to cover the rest.

I’m not sure exactly what we’ll cover (I don’t want them to work as many hours as I had to, I still got a first but had to cut back very very severely on socialising and I think that’s important) but we will certainly expect them to work as well.

DC is doing Medecine. I agree a job in the summer is a must not just to earn money but for many other reasons too.

We have found the first year very expensive. If it helps we paid for Halls accommodation last year on a 0% credit card over 24 months. Full disclosure we are not wealthy but we did not have to use the credit card but I often use credit in this way to help cashflow.

For me and my DH the priority is to try and help our DC become financially savvy with the resources he has available to him. With this in mind we would never ask him to hand over his minimum maintenance loan for us to manage we really want him to start managing a budget himself. He saves £20 a month and change after Debit card round up. Which adds up when invested too.

When he turned 18 last August 2023 he had 6k in his CTF which he invested and this has now grown to 9k in his investment portfolio with a 1k cash emergency fund he can access.

Going into his second year he has just been accepted for a £500 student credit card to help build his credit score. Also, his accommodation off campus this year is in a bit of a dodgy area so we felt if he started using his credit card for everyday spending and paying it off in full every month if he was mugged only the CC limit could be utilized by the thieves (and not his student account with a 2k thus far unused overdraft limit). DC is signed up-to the free credit score and experian services to keep an eye on his credit file and score.

Before DC leaves this year we will set them up with some Premium Bonds to start them off.

What I am trying to get across is what I wish someone had done for me when I was a teenager. Help me make the most of what I have available to me. My DH and I had no help at all and we have struggled with financial decisions all our lives.

Your DC will adapt to her budget and what you can afford as a family to give to her. The gift of helping her manage her budget and expectations is far more valuable to her than trying to match what others have available to them.

My DC is doing medicine so it is unrealistic for them to work in term time as he finds the course very challenging but they have found a job this summer and earned £500. Hopefully next summer DC will get more shifts and earn more.

In summary,

Consider paying DD’s Halls accomodatiin with a 0% credit card if it will help with cash flow and it is manageable.

DD open a student account with OD facility (in case of emergency may need to access).

Student Credit Card (may only be eligible in second year once a responsible pattern of management in current account has been established).

Look at budget with your DD and encourage even a £3 a week saving goal to invest.

Sign DD up to free Experian Score and Clear Score.

Try and give DD a cash emergency fund (in a separate high interest account) she can access.

Make sure DD knows how to maximize her loan and student support should an emergency arise and she needs access to money (this is dramatic but I always imagine if me and DH died in an accident how would DC know what to do). In relation to student finance in these circumstances contact student finance and the Uni hardship fund.l can help.

I know this is long and laborious so apologies I just feel so passionate about helping DC budget and manage on what they have available and try to generate some income from savings too however meager.

I am sure your DD will be fine and have a great time.

It's very straight forward. Whatever maximum maintenance loan is minus the loan they get awarded. The shortfall from maximum loan is for you to make up based on your earnings. I'd then give a bit more money every month for extras.

Apologies. Loads of typos in my post on a train!

@caringcarer OP has said she cannot afford this.

We are doing exactly this but minus the travel expenses. We did get them a 3 year student railcard in year 1. We usually collect and drop them off for the longer breaks as they have more stuff.
They work when they're home but manage on the minimum maintenance loan, I think it helps them to budget.

My son gets the minimum loan. He uses that to pay for his accommodation (we have to top it up) and we then give him £45 per week to live on. We gave him more £68 per week) last year but this year he asked for it all year round rather than term time only.

It all works out to the amount he would get if he were on maximum loan.

If you can't top up to the full amount, then I think you are asking the wrong question.

How much is her accommodation? In a lot of places that will be more than the minimum loan before she spends a single other penny. (my DD's is considerably more)

Is her accommodation catered? If so, then she doesn't need to budget (so much) for food.

Unless DD is living somewhere very cheap then it's quite possible that the full maintenance loan + whatever you can afford to give her will leave her needing to work a fair number of hours a week.

Is your question better phrased as "my DD will have £x amount a week to live on, plus whatever she can earn - is she going to struggle?"

We paid for our sons accommodation which was about 8k in halls.

He then lived on the minimum maintenance loan which was about £4.5k. As he was only actually at uni for about 7/8 months of the year, he found it was plenty and had some left over. He has worked over the summer.

Except it's not that straight forward as the minimum loan (in England) has not kept pace with inflation, so if you want to do this it would be better to consider the maximum loan to be the values that they are in Wales (about £12000 away from home and outside London).

Comfortable is 150 a week. 100 a week is a bit tough if I'm honest.

Op aren't you expecting them to look for part time work? This is totally reasonable with most u over with courses and timetables (I work at one). I would reasonable contribute what you can based on the previous answers but expects some contribution too.