uni finance and summer work.

[RomanyQueen1]

Hi, I'm just trying to work out a realistic ball park figure of what a 16 year old could earn working ft for about 8 weeks in summer, or 4 weeks ft and 4 weeks pt.

If your dc are doing this now what sort of difference will it make to funding living in London for 4/5 years. I don't mean the fees, but the living costs. Average will do, i know there will be differences.

I'm trying to help dc work out if it's a realistic possibility.
The course would be 4 years, but PG is usually expected as well so possibly 5 years of working all summer

Not quite sure if you mean working in London for those weeks? Anyway, assuming you can find a job for just 8 weeks, mine have had part time jobs recently (aged 15 and 18) and for that it would be ‘cash in hand’ and about £6ph.

Do you think it's realistic to be able to save to help fund cost of living in London as a student.
I'm sure there will be a maintenance loan, but we can't afford to regularly fund, but will obviously help out when we can.

My DS worked as an intern for 8 weeks each summer from age 18 and earned around £8/hour. He saved around £1,500. He was very lucky to get paid and relevant work through a friend of a friend.

The minimum maintenance loan is around £4000 outside of London. Accommodation ranges between £3500- £8000 again outside London with the lower end being small and basic.

Parents are kind of expected to make up the loan to the maximum loan level of around £8500. I think there are loan calculators you can use to estimate what would be payable.

Within London loans and costs are higher. We didn’t even consider London unis for that reason.

Oh dear, I hope we don't have to do the same, it really needs to be London, or so she says.
I think she would get the full maintenance, due to our income, maybe a bursary but can't depend on that.
She will probably have about 5k in savings to begin with, but unlikely to fit in regular work whilst studying, but will manage ad hoc bits here and there. Plus holiday work if can find a job.

There will be certain periods when your DD could earn quite well (Christmas time), my DD 17 earned £850 over a 3/4 week period (Just being an ELF).

Babysitting is a win-win situation because your DD could earn money whilst she effectively is doing her homework/self-study. I am pretty sure London rates are quite high for babysitters....so she could do this all year round - my DD is doing this whilst she studies for her A Levels because it has little impact on studying time.

It all depends where you live and the availability of part time work.
NMW for a 16 year old is £4.35 an hour so any more than that would be lucky.

Plenty of other people manage to be students in London. She can also work part time at uni maybe?

She won't be able to work at uni, due to being busy at night.
Hopefully she could pick something up at weekend evenings but it would be sporadic nothing she could do regularly.

I know plenty of people managed it, but just wondered how as I don't know anyone who went/ is studying there.
We are NW Greater manchester.

Depends on what work is available where you live; what her skills are ; what her qualifications are; how many contacts she has; how lucky she is; how hard she is willing to work.

My dc have worked as lifeguards. So about £8 something an hour. Depends on how many 'casuals' the employer has as to how many shifts they can pick up. One Summer one dc worked virtually FT - so 40hrs pw x 12 weeks x (I think it is about) £8.30 an hour = nearly £4K. They then come back and work shifts at Christmas and Easter too. Plus, there is all likelihood they can find work at University.
OTOH, if they are only looking to work 8 weeks, and don't have a skill, or qualification, then they will earn considerably less.
Then it depends what they have to pay out in travel etc to get to work.

2 of them have done quite a lot of babysitting - charge varies, but often it means they can get other stuff done whilst sitting on someone else's settee whilst the dc are asleep. From that, one (this is in 6th form) has picked up a few whole days of looking after a friend's dc in the school half terms - great money for essentially going to the park / playing in the garden / playing some board games and watching the odd film on TV. Ad hoc work, but she loves it.

However, surely anything helps ?

Does it really have to be London?

Ds has worked 12 hours a week in London for a major retailer since he was 16. Currently in 2nd year at uni there...clears about £500 a month. He pays £800 A month for a small room in a shared house

It really depends on which university and where she wants to live after y1. There are cheaper areas and many students live in these and commute to university. If the course is special, then ask the course provider about what students do from y2 onwards. Many live at home of course.

What course is it and where is it?

My son qualified as a lifeguard and earns £9 an hour aged 17 at David Lloyd. They always need extra liefguards over summer hols as they need holiday cover and open their outdoor pool too. He can pretty much pick up work when he wants. He qualifies 2 weeka after turning 16. Obviously there are less people they can employ as they have to have the NPLQ qualification. 2 other pools offered him jobs. He also has paid work experience with PwC lined up.