Uni funding

[JimB]

Dear all,

DD goes to Uni in October... after accommodation costs are covered how much money for food, entertainment etc should we give her? Don't want her to be super skint, but do want her to learn to budget and the value of money.

Thanks!

Many parents pay for accommodation and they use the basic maintenance loan for everything else.

But there will be a very wide range, from kids who only get the basic loan whose parents don't support them, to those who pay for everything and then some, to those who get the full loan.

Watching with interest.
DD goes in September.

Take the loan and housing costs out of it and how much would you expect typical student living costs to be... £100 per week?

God I can't remember, it's a standing order, I think we make our daughters up to a hundred pounds a week from her maintenance grant.

In the first year it was generous, as she had food paid for, but in the second not so much, water, electricity, food, toiletries, socialising it all adds up.

We also pay her books for her, she's doing law and needs a lot of books.

Sorry I should say that's over and above rent and she gets min grant. We also pay through the holidays though. Rent contracts are for twelve months after halls. We also pay her train tickets home. Usually about 50 quid return, but we'd never see her otherwise 😂

Lot of good older threads on this in the Higher Ed board also worth looking through.

All in DS1 probably about £8k ( including student maintenance loan) for each of last two years. However he has also had well paid summer work so what he has actually spent could of course be more

To be honest, knowing the kids mine goes to uni with it's not the norm for any of them. I think saying it's the norm is maybe an assumption rather than based in fact? Some get hardly anything and grant goes towards rent also and they need to work, others get more than my daughter.

I don't think if guess at the norm, but I'd guess 100 a week as the average.

can you give us a clue where she is going Jim Costs can vary quite significantly between Unis / Uni location.

DD has just completed her first year at Uni.
She gets £3,800 pa student loan, which she uses to pay her accommodation (we top up £1,400 pa)
For living, we put £50 a week into her account. She manages fine with that. Train fares, books, equipment, etc, we pay for.
Socialising, she pays for herself!

2 pay the accommodation for our 2 sons and they live on their maintenance loan , budgeting themselves . They both also have holiday jobs to cover any extras they want .

Ours have accommodation, fees, phones, insurance, contact lenses and travel costs paid. We then give them £400 per month if catered and £550 for self catering. We top up if they've been unwell and needed prescriptions or for dentist etc.
During holidays we don't expect contributions towards household costs but expect some form of gainful employment- either paid work or something that helps with career building. We'll pay for languages one to spend time in Italy/Spain, for example but expect her to have a part time job for spending money.

Thanks for all the replies... very helpful!

Two students here. After rent and utilities they have both managed fine on £250 a month for food, clothes, phones, entertainment. We also make one off payments for things like bus passes or sports fees / equipment.
Both earn a bit in summer though not much.

I was paying £650 a month in DD's first year for her accommodation for ten months - a bit too much like having another mortgage. She kept her maintenance loan for every day expenses.

ds has just finished.
His loan covered his accommodation (leaving him about £100 for the year) and we set up a standing order for £35 a week for everything else (self catering) which he has managed fine on.
He struggled to get a job at University for the first 2 years, but did work when back at home at Christmas, Easter and Summer.
£100 sounds a vast amount to me, but, as with all these money threads, there are MNers who have vastly different budgets and dc who seem to have vastly different expectations.

We sent out daughter £50 a week so after her accommodation was paid this left her with £100 to live on.

Anything more that this we encouraged her to get a part time job which helps fill spare time and make more friends