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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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Original poster

Students - how much money do this need?

24 replies

Lottie4 · 27/03/2018 14:50

DD will hopefully be going to uni Sept 2019. Can anyone please give me an idea of roughly how much their DC's costs are, including living, food, clothes, going out.

I've worked out online she'd get roughly a £6500 maintenance loan, but I'm wondering how much money she'll actually need.

OP posts:

LIZS · 27/03/2018 14:52

Depends where she goes. In some unis that won't cover the rent in a hall of residence.

drivinmecrazy · 27/03/2018 14:58

We're in the same situation and trying, very belatedly, to start planning for 2019.
So far we've come to the conclusion that we will have to contribute heavily to accommodation costs or let DD cover these and pay her a weekey amount.
No way can she cover both living and accommodation expenses.
It's been a real eye opener looking at uni accommodation costs. Quite eye watering!
We've told DD that she absolutely must not consider finances when looking at unis and concentrate on course contents in the hope we can help support her.
I foresee family holidays on hold for a while.

mojito55 · 27/03/2018 14:59

Is she going into halls? They are quite expensive - £100-120 a week usually (bills included), though it all depends on the area - my halls were £135 a week in London. House shares are more like £75. Food can easily be kept under £20 a week, and I'd say realistically £30 a week for going out. Freshers week will be more expensive though, going out every day. I would budget £100 for that. Other possible expenses include travel if her accommodation isn't on campus, membership fees for any clubs she might join e.g sports uniforms, and if she's doing an arty course like Textiles then equipment will be pretty expensive.

isawahatonce · 27/03/2018 15:00

I agree that it completely depends on what uni and how good she wants the accomodation to be. Can you look up accomodation prices at her university? I live on about £7000 a year easily enough at UEA but somewhere more expensive might be more of a struggle.

Original poster

Lottie4 · 28/03/2018 09:57

Thanks for your replies. I'm just trying to get an idea really of what other DCs need, whether low, average or high and I appreciate it depends on accommodation and the individual. She won't get a full grant on our income, but we've had to pay for DH to do a course for three years and £20,000 desperately needs spending on the house (leaking roof) so we won't have loads to put into her pot, although, appreciate she's going to need some.

OP posts:

LIZS · 28/03/2018 10:18

Ds maintenance loan for next year is 5k (London, minimum) which we will top up to cover accommodation cost (currently just over £400 pm) . He has managed within that thus far but bought few books and has minimal travel costs etc. Other courses may have higher running costs, some non London unis have higher accommodation costs. Many students have pt jobs, but unis may limit the number of hours and some courses have high contact hours which may restrict work and volunteering opportunities.

putthehamsterbackinitscage · 28/03/2018 10:19

My DS is half way through 1st year at Liverpool and despite being told he needed to find part time work so he could find his social life, he hasn't so far...

His Hall fees are around £6k this year for 39 weeks all bills included but self catering.

We top up his minimum maintenance loan £3.9k by £200, pay for his car insurance, tax and servicing and phone and occasionally pay petrol or train fares etc plus the odd food shop and treats such as a ticket for a gig. I did send him with a yesr's supply of pasta, rice, loo roll etc too...

He is using his overdraft though and will need to work this summer to clear it.

To be fair he doesn't drink and he's not the most sociable so doesn't spend a lot...

Hopefully next year he'll be in cheaper accommodation and it will be easier ... he seems to manage on around £20 for food etc a week...

GnomeDePlume · 28/03/2018 11:11

DD1 is about to enter her masters year and DD2 is about to enter her first. Maintenance loan for DD2 is £4000 which wont even cover accommodation.

We make up the difference on accommodation and will give each £50/week to live on.

DH & I will be living on bread, skilly and what the cat can catch!

putthehamsterbackinitscage · 28/03/2018 11:15

Just re-read my post... that is £200 per month so £2400 plus gave him extra for freshers week last year and £150 security deposit for halls too...

putthehamsterbackinitscage · 28/03/2018 11:18

All in I think it is in the region of £4-5k a year - so effectively we top up his minimum maintenance loan to around what he'd get if we weren't earning or he was deemed self supporting...

The next issue will be bond and advance rent for year 2...

putthehamsterbackinitscage · 28/03/2018 11:22

And then in year 3, DD will be starting Uni as well - by then we will equally be abandoning any ideas of having a life of our own.

When DS finishes his Masters year and starts work, we'll have to put the money into retirement planning... but the next 5 years will not be easy.

Original poster

Lottie4 · 28/03/2018 16:33

Thanks everyone for your replies (so far). They're certainly helping. I doubt she'll be one for going out drinking, but will want the odd cafe treat (providing she can find a kindred spirit). It's all the things you don't think, like their phone.

OP posts:

MoorMummy · 28/03/2018 16:39

I’ve posted before. DS at Sheffield Hallam. We paid accommodation , this year 4K next year £5300 . He lives off his maintenance loan of £3900ish though I buy most of his food, pay for his clothes and phone, he manages very well but I suppose he should based on the above! It’s been a big stretch to meet the cost to be honest. He hasn’t worked yet but I’ve told him he needs a summer job and ideally a few hours next year when he’s back too.

TheFairyCaravan · 28/03/2018 16:48

DS2 is a 3rd year. His bursary and small loan is less than £5k. He got a job within weeks of starting uni.

We pay for his food. I used to send him a Tesco shop when he was in halls but now he’s in a house we give him £200 a month. We buy anything he needs for his course (he’s a nurse), pay for his phone and house insurance and give him extras if he’s desperate. He usually has clothes for Christmas and Birthday.

He’s got a student account with an overdraft facility but he doesn’t use that.

MyDcAreMarvel · 28/03/2018 16:51

Our eldest dd has £65 a week for food, travel , entertainment etc. That seems to be average with her friends. All bills are included in halls.

dingit · 28/03/2018 17:00

Dd is at Surrey, her (minimum) maintenance loan covers halls, we give her £70 per week which is plenty, she's not a party animal. Next year her rent will be more, £500pm, she will live off her loan. We also top her up with staples at start of each term, and I treat her to some clothes when she's home.

GnomeDePlume · 28/03/2018 19:23

One tip I gave DD1 and I heard her passing onto DD2 is don't get into a Costa/Subway habit. It's all too easy to start small and before they know it they are burning their way through their food budget on frothy milk and a sandwich. DD1 saw some of her flat mates in the first year do this.

ifonly4 · 29/03/2018 17:14

We haven't been through this ourselves (yet), just we have a friend who paid for his DD's accommodation and that was £450 pm approx four years ago. Due to family income, I doubt she received much of a maintenance grant, but she was lucky as her parents lived closed to a major tourist attraction for children, thus she had guaranteed full time work if she wanted it during holidays.

We'll be going through this ourselves in a year. A couple of uni sites I've looked at do give you an idea of costs for accommodation and how much to allow for other costs, but they quote different amounts and priorities.

quartermooninatencenttown · 29/03/2018 21:28

DD is first year, has minimum loan. Rest she pays for herself from working (has worked since16) during holidays. Hasn't worked term time this year but I think will next year. Advantages are she gets to understand budgeting and taking responsibility for herself - she does go out but doesn't spend nearly as much as a lot of others. She has also found she has more money now than a lot of friends who have been given very generous contributions from parents.

ifonly4 · 04/04/2018 17:37

quartermooninaten, , what job does your DD do in the hols? DD has been looking into this, we haven't got any tourist attractions nearby and she hasn't seen anything local advertised.

quartermooninatencenttown · 04/04/2018 18:37

ifonly4 she works at a local tourist attraction - we're lucky as there are loads of places she could work. I think once she got used to working and having her own money she was very keen to carry on. Neither of us had anticipated the amount of money that is spent on going out at uni - at first I think she did feel under pressure to go out and spend money on drink but the fact that she was spending money she had earned herself was a big incentive to stop! (can someone tell me how to add smileys!)

Xenia · 10/04/2018 22:28

It's very hard to generalise. My two have friends with more money and some with very little. Also some students spend more than others. Just give what you can.

raspberryrippleicecream · 12/04/2018 19:16

It does depend hugely on the uni. DS1 is at a northern uni. his maintenance loan is around £6,500. This year we haven't needed to top him up at all.

He has a holiday job in a fast food chain, but he sues the money for luxuries not living.

DD goes, hopefully in September and is looking at London and southern unis, so I think we will be helping her out more.

ifonly4 · 17/04/2018 15:27

My DD is considering a couple of unis in London.

LSE's website says to allow £1100-1300 pm for accommodation and spending. We'd get over £9000 grant and they also this uni also gives bursaries and we'd qualify for £1,000, so for this uni £1-3,000 would need to be made up by DD earning or parents.

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