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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

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:

RomeoOscarXrayXray · 03/12/2023 19:22

DS goes next year and I'm kinda planning for him to need £1,000 pcm and that will be a combination of loan, job and parental top up.

Non catered accommodation is likely to be £110 - £175 people for 39 or 40 weeks.

Hopefully during the summer the parental contribution will be less as he'll get a job!

Comefromaway · 13/12/2023 11:06

We top ds's up to the full loan amount as his minimum loan doesn't even cover his rent.

Last year we split it over the weeks he was actually there which gave him £68 per week and he managed fine (he pays for everything including phone and travel except the beginning and end of term we give him a lift).

This year due to getting part time work he asked for it to be split over the 12 months which gives him £45 per week. He has struggled on that and has gone into overdraft by about £900, however he is due to be paid £2,000 from work he has had to invoice and he has had a lot of work related travel expenses.

uneffingbelievable · 05/02/2024 10:10

Sorry - this excuse of intense workload always surprises me.
We have dental and medical students who hold down jobs, play sport and still pass.
With one fast approaching Uni, I asked a group which was mixed responses but 70% had jobs in the holidays and saved, 40% worked during the termtime aswell, 30% were fully funded by bank of Mum and Dad to the tune of £1000 pcm in some cases with accommodation, phones, travel etc paid for on top and some still worked - some ( girls!) def did not work and felt it beneath them - very much Daddy pays!

One had maximum loan and worked on top as could not ask his mum for monies as she had v little in the first place.

Most were on the bank in the hospital - working as admin clerks, hcas picking up ad hoc shifts etc. Once known on a ward - they were contacted early to cover shifts.

None felt they were missing out on anything, they worked hard, partied hard and all were enjoying themselves

NotDonna · 21/03/2024 07:34

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.

She doesn’t get £100 a week btw! I send her £50. She’s catered bfast & dinner Mon-Fri so has to cover her own lunches and weekend food. £50 a week seems to be ok for this, her clubs/societies, gym and going out. She’s now got a zero hours contract job @ £7.49 ph so has a bit extra coming in. The catered ensuite that she has but didn’t choose is £192pw for 40 weeks. In a northern city. So well over the minimum loan amount.
In 2nd year we are looking at £180pw for the house share but includes bills albeit it’s a full year rather than 40 weeks. So very expensive but not unusual.

Hotcuppatea · 21/03/2024 07:51

So pleased you said that @uneffingbelievable. I worked two jobs at uni. No parental contribution. Graduated with a 1st. I'm fully expecting my children to have jobs while they are at uni and was starting to wonder if I was being unreadable.

inkblackheart · 21/03/2024 07:56

£500 a month here (£16 a day). Not in catered halls. Not in London or an expensive city.

That's after rent has been paid

ilovebreadsauce · 21/03/2024 08:01

£120 pw spending money Inc food

shepherdsangeldelight · 22/03/2024 08:21

(Talking about parents like OP who can clearly afford it, here)

We are paying rent and DD is living off the minimum loan.

For those saying parents are meant to make the total up to the minimum loan, you do realise in England, this has not risen in line with inflation? So I think if you wanted to do this it might be reasonable to make the total up to a slightly higher amount.

OP - is there a reason that you are micromanaging your child's finances? Students typically get their own loan and work out where to spend the money themselves. If you are worried about your DC having enough, why not ask him to create a budget (or sit with him and do this, if you think he won't know how)?

Goldfinchtriad · 22/03/2024 08:30

I’m feeling very cheap reading this. Ds gets £250 a month which has to include food and all socialising, clubs, clothes spending etc. We pay rent £180 per week and a cheap phone bill, also any train rides home. Otherwise, they have to economise.

gegs73 · 22/03/2024 08:45

Some students seem to get lots on here from parents. Great if it can be afforded but many don’t get that much and do just fine.

DS had his minimum maintenance loan which pays for most of his accommodation for the year except about £500 which we top up. We give him £70 a week when he’s at university (term time), pay his phone £10 a month, gym £150 a year and coach tickets for when he comes home. When we drop him off we do him a big food shop and also visit about once a term where we do the same. In the holidays he’s expected to do some kind of work to pay for going out which again so far has worked out fine.

In his 2nd year shared house, he has one of the highest weekly budgets. A couple of them have much less than that a week and only one other slightly more. The only people he knows with more than £100 a week generally have full maintenance loans and are topped up by bursaries. He sometimes saves money and therefore often has only £40/£50 a week to spend so at a push we could give him less. For context, he is in a midlands city, plays sport in a club once a week and goes out but does it cheaply/pre-drinks.

BarleyShuga · 22/03/2024 09:04

I pay their rent and they live off the minimum loan and any earnings.

Keeps it simple.

Exhausteddog · 22/03/2024 09:20

DD is planning to go to uni (outside London) and she'll get minimum maintenance loan. If we topped up to the maximum amount, after rent she'd probably have 1.5k to live on for the year.

so were planning to do what other pps have said, we'll pay rent, she'll use her loan. I realise we're fortunate to be able to do that and for lots of people that's not feasible.

I'm hoping she'll get a job and pay more of it herself in year 2.

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