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Further education

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

Original poster

Anyone…what is your first yr students monthly budget

37 replies

Uurrjb · 27/11/2023 21:52

Every parent will have a different level of what they can afford…but I understand that parents can pay what they can

…but what do students ACTUALLY need?

first time so don’t know If right or not…

in a nice en-suite halls (800 PM)

his student loan comes to us, we pay his rent (more than loan!)

we send him 100£ PW

he uses online food delivery so a bit cheaper than in store express

pay his campus gym subs (want him to have a mental/physical health outlet)

he pays 12£ for phone sim

thinking of bumping to 125£

he has a Christmas job lined up but he can’t have part time job as his course is too intense (I did…but his course of a very different)

are we being fair?

he had not said anything at all about money or asked for more

but I know he doesn’t go to lots of society things despite being a member

OP posts:
clary · 27/11/2023 21:59

You are supposed to make up the total to the max student loan, around £9.5k outside London.

I give Ds a weekly DD plus larger sums when needed. He gets his own loan tho.

£800 pcm <gasp> is that catered? Unlikely as you mention food. I guess you might need to go above 9.5k as his hall fees alone are £8k.

Monstermunchy · 27/11/2023 22:02

We give ds £80/week but we pay for his phone and have paid for extras like the odd train fare and send him with a decent food shop a couple of times a year. His loan will cover his accommodation this year but we topped it up considerably last year.
My rationale is he has no bus fares while he’s there, text books are all digital and he’s not one for coffees out etc - so this funds a food shop, the odd lunch and his social life.
He earned a bit over summer so has money for bigger extras if he needs them - we would never leave him short but he’s not in an expensive city. I would imagine in some cities it wouldn’t be enough

Monstermunchy · 27/11/2023 22:04

clary · 27/11/2023 21:59

You are supposed to make up the total to the max student loan, around £9.5k outside London.

I give Ds a weekly DD plus larger sums when needed. He gets his own loan tho.

£800 pcm <gasp> is that catered? Unlikely as you mention food. I guess you might need to go above 9.5k as his hall fees alone are £8k.

I think last year would have been about £9.5k (loan plus what we gave him) but this year is cheaper for our ds

Original poster
Uurrjb · 27/11/2023 22:11

Hi thanks!

not catered and unfortunately the flat share he has secured for next year is 180£ PW without bills (🤦🏻‍♀️)

just wanted to check what the going rate is..I don’t think he would ask for anymore…but I also don’t want him to miss out on the fun of first yr

but u know when my third goes it’s going to be 🔥 💰 🔥….she has no shame!

OP posts:
nokidshere · 27/11/2023 22:22

You are supposed to make up the total to the max student loan, around £9.5k outside London.

Being expected to does not equate to supposed to.

Neither of my boys were topped up to maximum loan, we couldn't afford it. They both had holiday jobs but not term time ones. I sent them £100 a week which they both managed on.

DS2 is in London now doing a masters. He worked all summer to top up his funds. I don't send him any money at all because he says he is managing. He has an excel chart for spending and says his average spend is around £125 a week not including rent (1k pm). I will of course send money if he needs it.

Motheranddaughter · 27/11/2023 22:25

We pay ours £1100 a month to cover rent and spending money
Also still pay for things we were paying like phone and contact lenses

Original poster
Uurrjb · 27/11/2023 22:37

Thanks everyone

i know also out of his money he pays towards campus band rehearsal room rental sessions

he hasn’t got any new clothes (just got him some new chinos as he had shredded his pair)

husband and I were students in the 90s and skint! But I also don’t want him to live off supernoodles and boiled potatoes 😵‍💫

OP posts:
Defaultsettings · 27/11/2023 22:39

My children have/has the minimum loan. We pay their rent and they have their loan and if they need extra then they have to work. One works and the other is very tight.

UsingChangeofName · 27/11/2023 23:18

You are being incredibly generous.

As they have chosen such ridiculously expensive halls, with luxuries like en-suites, then they would presumably be expecting to have much less left in the 'pot' for weekly spends - because it is already being spent on the luxury that is an en-suite.

vdbfamily · 27/11/2023 23:22

Our son uses his loan to cover rent and we give him£50 PW to live on. He spends£12 PW on sports memberships of various kinds and rest on food. He sold a lot of sports equipment prior to starting which have him a nest egg and also has a job he can do as and when he chooses but head chosen not to so far!!

PhotoDad · 28/11/2023 05:33

We "top up" from minimum to maximum loan plus a bit extra to deal with the inflation which the official figures don't; so we pay her £120/week. DD pays rent and all expenses from that, other than the odd train ticket home which we fund, so £100/week on top of rent seems pretty generous to me.

She's in Year 2. Halls last year were around £500 per month for a 42 week contract, private accommodation this year is around £700 per month over the whole year. She has topped up by summer jobs (course too intense for part-time job in term-time.) She's doing fine.

LoudSnoringDog · 28/11/2023 05:37

In DS first year his student loan covered his halls fees. We sent him £80 per week and paid his phone.
he didn’t work in his first year.

christmasdodedodedo · 28/11/2023 05:53

UsingChangeofName · 27/11/2023 23:18

You are being incredibly generous.

As they have chosen such ridiculously expensive halls, with luxuries like en-suites, then they would presumably be expecting to have much less left in the 'pot' for weekly spends - because it is already being spent on the luxury that is an en-suite.

We went for the cheapest halls possible but they're limited. We were offered halls at £160 pw which included en-suite. We literally had no choice, it was that or nothing.

We also pay DS £100 pw

LynetteScavo · 28/11/2023 06:51

I have no idea if you're being fair.

My DDs loan goes on her accommodation and we pay the rest. After that we give her £50 pw for food, each week she is at uni, not over Christmas/Easter. We also pay for her phone and all her course materials and clothes that she needs - not whatever she fancies from Biscester Village Hmm. She comes home once's a week for a long soak in the bath and a roast dinner. She'll then insist we take her to Sainsbury's stock up on goodies like her favourite drinks and snacks.
She also works one day a week, sometimes two so usually earns about £100 per week, but it could be £180. She has a very intensive course of over 40 hours pw contact time, so working isn't totally impossible with that type of course. She still finds time to party.

She told me recently she is "dirt poor" and I had to walk away to avoid an argument.

There is no simple answer, but I certainly don't think it's "top it up to the maximum loan". That just doesn't work- some parents won't be able to top up to the maximum loan and and some parents whose student receives the maximum loan might think they don't need to contribute anything, which would leave some students on £38pw (going by what DDs reasonably priced shared house will cost next year)

FriendsInAllThePlaces · 28/11/2023 08:45

Our son gets the basic loan which is about £4.5k. We pay his rent in halls which is £7.5k.

He bought lots of new clothes before he went, from earnings over the summer, but we gave him some money towards them.

He has savings but so far says he is managing on the loan. We’ll check in again about money at Xmas. I think you just need to ask how he’s managing and how things are going.

yikesanotherbooboo · 28/11/2023 09:27

Our masters student in London was managing on £100 pw for food and bills . The course is almost full time. They do ad hoc work , maybe one or two sessions a week, taking coats, waiting or bar work. It was a bit of a stretch and was putting a bit too much pressure on the need to earn( he has a chronic health issue that was also suffering). We are discussing increasing it to £125/150. He hasn't asked us and is not someone who spends much on going out or expensive hobbies.

NotDonna · 03/12/2023 08:10

@Uurrjb if they’ve not suggested an increase I’m wondering why you think they may need it? £100pw seems reasonable. Just have an honest conversation. If he says he’s fine leave him be. I was going to give DD £50pw (as semi-catered) but she said too much so agreed on £40. A few weeks in we had another convo and I upped it to £50 after all. She’s not working atm.

@UsingChangeofName We’d calculated the finances based on DDs choices but before she was assigned accom. ALL her 8 choices were self-catered & shared bathroom to keep costs down (yet still more than min loan). However, she wasn’t allocated ANY of her choices and was given the very expensive catered ensuite which totally scuppered the plan and is only a few quid off the max loan amount (that she doesn’t get)! If she’d have declined this she’d have had to find private accom.

For 2nd year she’ll be lucky to find a house for £180pw and all the lettings are a full year; for 52 weeks. So already £9360. I’m thinking £100pw for spending on top of that.

LynetteScavo · 03/12/2023 14:08

I think universal credit is £73 per week (I may be wrong) but that gives some idea of how much the government thinks it's possible to live off.

Goinoutalone · 03/12/2023 14:14

When I was in uni…which was admittedly about 18-20 years ago I worked each weekend (24-26 hrs per weekend) which earned me 195ish and then tips (very high end restaurant!) was another 200 per week. My parents paid my accommodation. I paid everything else.

UsingChangeofName · 03/12/2023 15:34

Sorry to hear your dd has had such bad luck with accommodation @NotDonna . Obviously not that it helps you, but that is quite unusual though.

I still think £100 pw is incredibly generous for a student who is in catered accommodation. I mean, it is more than twice what my dd has from us, and she is self catered, so has all her food to buy from that money.

Obviously, if families are wealthy, and have that money, then it isn't anyone else's business, but I always worry on threads on the internet that when parents suggest that their students need that kind of spending money, that it might put off students from less wealthy families from going.

WillowTit · 03/12/2023 16:11

i think martin money website might tell you
depends what you can afford
food isnt that expensive! how much do you think he would need for food for one?
you say his course is too intensive to work

WillowTit · 03/12/2023 16:12

i didnt pay but dd did have a maximum loan, find out how much that is perhaps?

Princessfluffy · 03/12/2023 16:19

I'd say about £60 a week for food, plus whatever necessary travel, plus £30-£40 a week for socialising and hobbies.

I'd expect them to find paid work in the Uni holidays to top this up.

Eatbetterthisweek · 03/12/2023 16:50

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

TheChosenTwo · 03/12/2023 16:55

We top up the rent (she’s now in second year and in private rental down in Bristol which is ludicrously expensive, this year is £210 p/w without bills), she only gets the minimum loan and it doesn’t come close to covering the rent.
so whatever it is to top up rent monthly and then we send her £100 p/w to live on. She does work when she’s back home and saves her money for travelling. She was in Australia for a couple of months after breaking up for summer. We are happy with our arrangement.