1st year university - how much do your DC have to live on?

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How much do they have from loans & parental contributions?

And how much are their hall fees?

You'll have to excuse the typos as I can't preview on my teeny iPhone 5! Soz

The big problem is cost of halls which vary from around £4,000 to double that in London and £10,000 plus isn’t unheard of. The minimum loan barely touches that even with the bit extra they give for London. I think that children from ordinary backgrounds who cannot live at home are now struggling to afford London unless they get a job. However some courses are very full on so holiday working is the only option.

I cannot see how a student can realistically survive on £35 a week. Never in London because travel would suck up a portion of this. It would mean no socialising at all and not much of a university life as most would like to live it. More like a university hermit which isn’t healthy. Students need friends and some nights out. Just sitting in your room with pot noodles isn’t living! A pint of real ale in London will be £5 so I think there has to be a realistic approach to working out costs from the bottom up. What do they need? Who’s paying for the phone, clothes, laundry, house bills and deposit for second year onwards, journeys home, travel to university if needed, books, laptop, the odd night out etc. £35 a week is clearly not going to buy much except food!

Loan doesn't cover rent (which is incl of bills) so loan used for that and I pay the difference.
I then send £35 pw from mid Sept until end of May for everything else.
Both my dc have worked during holidays, and dd (just starting 2nd yr now) has got herself a job at University now too, as she is saving up to go abroad for the Summer. She runs her own car that she bought from what she saved during 6th form, after paying for her driving lessons / pays her own insurance.

Dd isn’t entitled to a student loan.

We pay her accommodation of £130 per week including breakfast and evening meal & we give her £30 per week. She also earns £15 per week from a part time job. We also pay £10 per month phone contract.

If she isn't entitled to a loan, do you pay the course fees too?

She is doing a Level 6 professional diploma & has a government DaDA award. This covers most of the fees but we do have to make a contribution. It’s on a sliding scale according to parental income.

There is a maintenance element available but only for family incomes of less than £30,000.

Nothing, but dd lives at home, she works 16 hours a week and funds all other costs herself. She didn't take any loans as we saved money for fees since she was born, we settle them

I didn't think it was a good idea to pay fees, but take the loan. Just in case they don't end up earning over the threshold so wouldn't end up paying off the loan.

£17 a week...!