Reasonable weekly allowance for a 3rd Year University Student?

[OpenAmyrillis]

How much would you consider a reasonable amount to give DD in her third year of university as a weekly allowance for food, toiletries, bus fare etc. We pay her bills and rent, but she does study hard and is doing well, she also has 2 part time jobs that she puts towards 'treats' etc.

My DS and friends give their children upwards of £100 a week, I give DD £50. AIBU?

Would love to know your thoughts and opinions on this!

OP you ANBU.

It is fantastic that some people are able and willing to support their adult children.

I think a sensible rule of thumb is that if they were on JSA they would get £56.25. If they were renting then they would get housing benefit but would still have to pay bills, food clothes so £50 seems resaonable if you can do it.

Senua

Yep. I am pretty proud of ds1 tbh.
He phones occasionally with questions like - if I bulk make shepherds pie will the mash be shit or should I freeze basic mince and then do fresh mash?

He had some friends from uni come and stay over the summer and they were all a bit freaked out very surprised by his home. The fact that none of these people who ave known him for a year were the slightest bit aware that we are well off was a good thing I think.
But as he says 'i haven't got any money, you have'.
He is not 'playing poor' he knows that he remains immensely priviledged not least as he will inherit. And he knows that in a crisis we can help which makes him incredibly lucky. He knows all that.
But he wants to pay his way, rely on himself.
Doing bar work and budgeting is a life lesson in a way that my being his cash machine is not.

I'm planning on giving dd £40 pw in her 1st year next month. We'll also pay her hall fees (catered). She hasn't applied for a loan. Rates are not great. She can use my Amazon account for books and has an Amex card she uses only for petrol but it's a backup. Of course, she'll need to explain why she needs to use it if it's for voodka or similar!

DD is about to start her first year at university.

We are paying for her accommodation which is over £5,000.

She is getting a student loan of £3,575 and will use this for everything else - food, toiletries, stationery, travel, clothes, going out etc. This works out to £120 a week if there are 30 term-time weeks in an academic year.

She worked this summer and saved £800. She is keeping this in a separate savings account and will use this for big purchases like Freshers/ ball tickets, the initial text books, and expensive treats like a festival ticket or a holiday.

She won't be working during term-time because she's doing a full-on course but she'll work again when she's home for Christmas/Easter/next summer. Her aim is to replenish this savings account every holiday and keep a reasonable balance to give her options.

When she moves out of hall for her second year, we'll pay her rent. I'm going to give her a fixed budget of £85 pew week and it's up to her if she wants to use her own money to top that up. Again, she'll use the £3575 student loan for food and everything else.

OP your dd has two part time jobs which pays her a grand total of £100 per month ? This must be a misprint surely.

My DS lives on £80 pw after rent all from student finance loan & grant. Includes everything except phone contract and fares home which we pay. He says he doesn't struggle to manage on that.

Kind of hard for those students who get virtually no loan to be self supporting.

2 of my DC are at uni, and get only £900 per year (under SAAS (Scottish) loan rules)...£90 a month term time support! That's about a 1/5 of the cost of accommodation.

DC1 is at a Uni which does not allow students to work in term time, DC2 has been unable to find a job, but is looking.

We are legally required to support our adult children at university (we would anyway), to the tune of about £5000+, year (says the SAAS), that barely covers accommodation and not much else.

Many people fall foul of the income/loan bandings - earn over a certain amount and your DC can only get a partial loan for living costs... a house hold with 2 relatively modest earners could find themselves in that situation, not just those on super high incomes.

Really? Such low loans for Scottish students? do you mean loan or do you mean means tested grant? But presumably they get the course for free with no tuition fees SCOTCH?

I am the same as most people upthread. DS2 just going into 2nd year. We pay his rent and his phone contract. That's all. I consider that the loan is sufficient to live on when you don't need to pay rent or council tax etc. (books, travel, food, social life, incidentals) so long as it is not frittered foolishly. And if it needs topping up then he can earn it.

Really? Such low loans for Scottish students? do you mean loan or do you mean means tested grant? But presumably they get the course for free with no tuition fees SCOTCH?

FellatioNelson - I do mean LOAN, Really! If parental income above a certain amount (not a huge amount, £36k), maximum available amount for living costs loan is £940 per year. LOAN, not grant (grants are available to those whose parents are on very low income, as well as the maximum loans).

The course is not tuition free for DS1 as he is at an English Uni, and a separate loan covers this - it was living costs I was talking about, my opinion being LOANS should be available to all students to cover living costs, they are adults yet parents are being legally required to continue to support their adult children (we are happy to support our adult children in education but I'm sure plenty of people baulk at the idea of borrowing money to fund university).

Fortunatly the unfairness of this situation is about to be rectified - from next year, the minimum available living cost loan for a non means tested Scottish student will jump from £940 to £4500 (with parents still legally required to top this up by a further couple of thousand!).

OMG! I don't disagree with you at all, but I think your son was mad to go to an English uni when he could have gone in Scotland for nothing! It's a shame he is not eligible for the same loan as English students under the circumstances.

the whole thing is a muddled ill-thought-out minefield, isn't it? I ranted for days about this last year. The loopholes and flaws in the system are ridiculous.

OMG! I don't disagree with you at all, but I think your son was mad to go to an English uni when he could have gone in Scotland for nothing! It's a shame he is not eligible for the same loan as English students under the circumstances.

Well yes, but is is Oxford , so we think worth the fees!

I think the loans or grants always have to come from the authority which operates where the student was resident for 3 years before the start of the course, so Ireland, Wales, Scotland or England - yes, lots of loopholes and flaws, parents just have to plug the gaps if we can.

Scotch, you are right we are in the same boat with two DC at uni although they go to scottish universities. The tuition fees are indeed free but our income means both of them get the lowest loan amount (£900).

To be honest as we are absolutely not well off (middling incomes) I would rather we had the English system of loans for both tuition fees and (reasonable) loans for maintenance. It is very worrying and also meant both had to go to local uni's as we could not afford accommodation costs for them.

I did, however, read recently that the Scottish government are planning to give all students, regardless of parental income, access to around £4000 loans so it may be better next year, fingers crossed. In the meantime,yes we are expected to support our adult children through their education.

YY VIRTUALISE, It is to be minimum non-means tested living cost loan of £4400 per student per year from 2013 (with parents still expected to stump up the difference between that and the £7000+pa the Scottish gov has decided on at the basic amount required by a student to live on). Fees, if there are any, come from a different loan.

I think this has come about because of the situation you describe - children of middle earners being forced to go to the nearest university, in order to stay living at home, as living cost loans are not available...

So the situation will improve a lot from next year, but the parental support is still expected (legally required!), for the funding gap between amount of loan awarded and the full amount of £7000+

We would fit into the high income (well above the new £34k cut off for means testing) but £14k (mostly on uni accommodation) a year for 2 kids Uni is a LOT of money... especially with such long courses (5 and 6 years) and DS3 already looking at 5 year courses for 2014, it's positively scary so really happy this change is coming in next year!

Ds's dad gives him £220 per month.

I don't give him money, cos it will go on booze and going out. I buy him an online shop once a fortnight, fund clothes, books etc. But I do not give him money.

He would spend it on crap

DS has gone shopping and bought boxer shorts with the word 'SOVIET' on the waistband. They do not look cheap. He gets student loan + £40 pw from grnd prnts + rent and basic iphone contract from me. Two weeks into term I go through his reading list with him and order what is missing (ie unobtainable from library) off amazon.

Indeed, scotch and this is the reason we can't afford to save for our own retirements. When our peers are off travelling we'll be sitting at home worrying about bills

Well we are low income family compared to many on here and our son has to pay his own way - and make the most of the loans, grants, overdrafts.
He has entered into a competition through HSBC to win a £10,000 bursary towards fees and to further his aims to start a marketing company to promoste green energy. If you feel like helping him out and voting for him that would be fantastic.
Go to shar.es/uhm0h and search for "Green Energy Marketing" - the video by M Johnson - and vote. If he gets in the top 15 by Friday he is in with a chance! (you need to be a member of Facebook).
Very many thanks

Bellaciao - done - good marketing on behalf of your son - good luck to him!