How much does a student need to live on per week?

[Greenshadow]

DS1 is starting university in September.
The loan nowhere near even covers the cost of the student accommodation so we are going to need to help him out.

He will need to pay for all food, but no travel as this is included in his accommodation package. Otherwise only books, stationary, toiletries etc.

The idea is that he will pay for his social life from potential earnings.

We thought maybe £30 a week living expenses would be about right, but I really have no idea...

How much does everyone else pay there DC?

My dd has just finished her first year at Keele. She was entitled to a full maintenance grant and loan which amounted to £6403. As she got a full grant she also got a bursary from the uni of £800. She has to pay rent on next years rented house from the first of July but if she doesn't get a job she will still have £30 a week left to spend each week of the summer and enough to buy a new laptop.

Dd spent - on average - £30 a week on food and buses. At Keele Uni they had something known as Keele link where students would go into local secondary schools to work as classroom assistants one day a week which then gave a bursary of £600. This money has been saved.

Mind you dd is the only student I know who went to uni with savings and has come home with all the savings intact.

We ahd a similar system wrt to secondary schools, although we went as Mentorss. They pulled the money for that after my year which was a particular shame as we went into the valleys where we all know life chances are still somewhat reduced by unemployment etc.

The cost of student accom is the biggest factor in getting by; at ours it's less than loan rate. My lot are lucky!

ok people. This is the first time I have used one of these web sites and my daughter is driving me mad. Apparently I am soooooo tight!

She has enrolled on a course which is expensive and her tuition loan does not cover the fees, so we have agreed that she use her tuition and maintenance grant to pay the fees and we will pay her monthly £750 to cover rent etcOn top of this we have bought her a bus pass, paid her rent deposit, paid all the course registration fees etc and pay for her phone. Her rent is £430 per month and I have advised that she sets asisde £100 a month for her share of the bills. That leaves her with £230 a month to live on. Apparently "everyone else has got at least £500"! Please someone convince me that actually that is enough. I have spoilt my daughter, she went to private school and I think she has no idea of the real world and I want this new experience to rectify her view of money.

I don't we can generalise. I pay their university fees and rent (university hall is just under £8k in their case!) and then on top £150 a week by standing order all year. I think that's quite generous. I can afford it as I work full time but loads of students have much less and most have loans - over 90% have student loans.

I really cant imagine a student surviving on £30 per week. If there's £20 for food a tenner is to cover transport, books, socialising, sports or other club memberships, clothes, medicine etc? I would've thought at least double that.

But it does depend if he can get a job as well.

To be fair Jobcar - 2003 is 14 years ago so I think you'd have to inflate your budget quite a bit. £100 in 2003 is equivalent to £149 today! So your £7,500 income would be about £11,100 today..

i would suggest a weekly standing order paid ON MONDAY.
far to easy to blow the whole amount on a good Friday night bash.
my husband and i paid for 3 young adults to attend uni and found the weekly Monday payments to be the best way.

This is a zombie thread from 2011. allardyce bumped it accidentally as a newbie. I don't imagine jobcar even posts on mn any more, and the op's kid is out of university now.

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE ZOMBIE

DH & I agreed on €100 a week (which has a buying power of around £100) to cover food, university supplies and personal expenses. Plus trains if he comes home, where meals and laundry are provided, thus cancelling the cost of his train ticket.

He's been budgeting for himself most of the summer so we've taken a leap of faith and given him a lump sum to last until Christmas. We have access to his bank account and are curious to see how he gets on!

OOPS!
Fallen for the old zombie trick again!

still might be helpful to Allardyce

My DD has just started her 2nd year. She gets the minimum maintenance loan. Halls for her first year were £5600. Rent this year is £5600 plus bills. We cover the difference between her loan and her rent (so around £1600) and then we give her £240 per month with which she buys food, pays bills including her mobile phone, gym, books, stationery, laundrette, any travel etc. At the start of each term we do an online shop for her (the one at the beginning of this term was £60 but I did put quite a few 'treats' on for her as well as store cupboard essentials). So far she has never dipped into her overdraft. She has been brought up in a household where if you can't afford it you don't have it and has been very sensible. She is with an agency doing waitressing work and has had a few jobs over the summer which paid for her to go on holiday and to buy some new clothes etc.

Oh Bugger fell for a Zombie

Thanks guys. Yes I am a new guy and yes I am IT phobic so didnt spot the thread was older than me!

Cheers