Money to live off

[AlexanderHamilton]

Dd is going off to college.

We will be paying for her accommodation which includes breakfast & evening meal. She had a part time job on a Saturday morning where she will earn £14.75 per week. She’s not entitled to any maintenance grant at all.

What sort of sum is reasonable for her to live off? At the moment she gets £10 pocket money per week plus I usually give her £10-12 per month for personal toiletries etc.

What does she need to cover?

Buying lunch presumably, and any snacks and drinks. Will she have the wherewithal to cater / cook for herself if somewhere catered?

Does she need bus pass ?
How will she travel there and home at start / end of term ?

'One offs' such as a railcard, her student card, photos, etc. and such as kitchen equipment?

Any expenses for the course she is doing ?

Paying to join clubs / societies / sports teams / fixtures / matches ?

General socialising?

Toiletries, occasional clothes replacement, other oddments she will need to buy ?

Phone contract ?

Will she need to pay for laundry - the machines themselves + detergent?

Does she have a 'coffee out' , meal out, or takeaway habit ?

I'd try and give her £40-50 a week.

Lunch - yes or she can have fridge space to make a packed lunch

Lift shares to college are arranged. She will probably want to get the bus into town at weekends.

Course expenses - replacement tights, shoes, hair stuff, music, books

Clubs - there are none. There is a gym at college

We will take her & fetch her at the start of terms. She may want to come home on a Saturday night sometimes especially as she has the offer of driving lessons here.

Socialising - they do very long hours but she may want to go out for a coffee/cinema/theatre etc

Toiletries - yes

Phone - we currently pay that

Laundry is included

Well my dd has just finished her 1st year and managed fine on £35 pw. She is self catering on that.
She works in the holidays and uses that money to run a car (which makes me think those giving the lift shares might be needing petrol money ? - I know dd drives quite a few friends to various places and then they insist on paying for her entrance ticket (if the cinema) or food (if McDs) etc.).
dd pays her own phone.
If your dd has a fridge and kitchen facilities then that will help.

Regular travel home and driving lessons are going to cost though.
dd is lucky there are lots of clubs and societies and unusually at her university, they are all free.

These 'How much...?' threads do show what variety people spend though. Some people are giving their dc £100+ per week and others far, far less.
My (now graduated) ds also managed on £35 pw (+ his loan paid for accommodation, incl of utilities and wifi)

Alex is it worth funding something like Netflix or Prime for her to use in the evenings? I think we are budgeting around £5 per day for lunch, drinks, snacks and emergency bus fares for when the train stops running. However, DD will be at a uni style 6th form whilst yours will be in a very different environment.