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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Uni accommodation rental costs?

68 replies

copycat · 19/08/2013 07:28

DS1 has received an offer, yesterday afternoon, of a place in his third choice accommodation which is ensuite and therefore expensive at ... gulp ... £5011pa. I have emailed to request an alternative offer

DS1 is my oldest child and I am new to this; please can I be nosy and enquire how much your DC is paying for halls and how are you or DC funding the cost?

OP posts:

Chopchopbusybusy · 19/08/2013 10:57

DD is paying around £3800 for hers which is very cheap. I'd say £5000 ish is more normal. She has applied for her loan which is about £3700. She will use this to pay for her accommodation and we plan to give her a monthly allowance of £400. She has worked over the summer so she has some money saved up.
I have bought her some bits and pieces to take with her. Bedding, kitchen items etc. I also plan to send her with a stock of store cupboard foods, toiletries etc.
DDs course has a heavy workload and so she won't have the time to do a regular term time job. She does plan to do some occasional casual work though and she already knows I expect her to work next summer holidays.

SilverApples · 19/08/2013 11:15

DD paid around £4,000 for her halls, the maintenance loan is now around £5,500.
The problem is then the food, books, transport, socialising and clothing.
We saved enough to give DD access to an extra £3,500 a year. Plus the occasional top up.

Chopchopbusybusy · 19/08/2013 11:28

Silverapples, parental income is taken into account for maintenance loans so not all students can borrow as much as £5500.

SilverApples · 19/08/2013 11:32

I was going from the website TBH, DD organised all her own finances so I don't actually know.
She had just over a thousand a term extra, on top of whatever else the government would lend her. Our joint income is over £70,000.

HuglessDouglas · 19/08/2013 11:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HuglessDouglas · 19/08/2013 11:36

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Fuzzymum1 · 19/08/2013 18:39

DS1 wanted ensuite which was £5638 self catering. (slightly higher for a double bedded room) he ended up with his fifth choice which is partially catered (cooked breakfast and evening meal monday-friday) but not en suite and is around £4600 for the year. He's come to terms with sharing a bathroom now especially as he realises he'll have more money in his pocket. As for paying for it, he'll get around £7k a year in student finance and thankfully my parents are helping him out with a couple of hundred a month.

amumthatcares · 19/08/2013 21:57

Silverapples our joint income is no where near £70,000 and DD was only awarded a maintenance loan of £4570.00 - not even enough to cover her rent, let alone other expenses

harbinger · 19/08/2013 22:28

I really can't understand this maintenance loan working. I have 2 DD going into their third year. The loan for one DD is over £1000 less than for the other.
I ring,they ring but no one can say why or change it.

Bangs head on brick wall.. repeat
ditto
ditto
ditto

Mermi · 19/08/2013 22:40

I think around £5000 is pretty average unfortunately and the majority of students I know get a maintenance loan that covers no where near that.

If your DD is moving out of uni accommodation for 2nd and 3rd year she might be able to find somewhere a lot cheaper than halls (for example some friends of mine have managed to get an amazing house for £70 a week).

Are you in the position to help contribute to your DD's rent or does she have anything in the way of savings or the ability to get a part time job whilst she is at uni?

SlowlorisIncognito · 19/08/2013 22:48

Silverapples did your DD study in London? The London loan is higher to take into account the higher cost of living.

Copycat Firstly, as your DS is an adult, he needs to do all the contacting of the university. They may refuse to discuss it with you. If he has additional needs that make this hard, he needs to communicate this to to the university and say that they are allowed to discuss it with you. Otherwise, it should be him doing all the contacting.

£5011 is a lot of money, but chances are a lot of the students put down the cheaper halls, and they will currently be full. Your other options are to consider private halls (which may be no cheaper) or a room in a shared house (which will be cheaper but more complicated). You can of course reject the offer and explore these options, but the university is not going to have space for everyone in the cheapest halls.

Does your DS have any savings, and can you afford to support him at all? If so, it may be best for him to take up the place at the more expensive hall, and wait for a space to become available at a cheaper one- this happens due to students dropping out or wanting to swap flats. This can happen quite quickly.

Otherwise, I would suggest looking at finding him a room in a shared house, and getting him let out of the contract. The university may be able to advise of spaces in houses with other freshers in, or at least give a list of approved accomadation.

Original poster

copycat · 19/08/2013 22:50

Thank you for your helpful replies. DS has approximately £3500 top up loan which will not cover his rent. He has to accept his accommodation and pay the deposit of £400 before the Uni will consider placing him on a witing list for suitable alternative accommodation.

OP posts:

noddyholder · 19/08/2013 23:01

My ds is in a house £350 month plus bils so about £450.

SilverApples · 20/08/2013 07:36

DD isn't in London, she's currently in a lovely shared house with a large room for £300 +bills. One of the lads she shares with is in a smaller, cheaper room at £260 but he only needed space for his scuba kit and guitar.

Anthracite · 20/08/2013 07:52

DS2 was in halls last year and it was around £5000 for an ensuite room. I paid it in 9 monthly instalments by standing order. He used his £3500 maintenance loan for everything else and this was plenty.

DS1's hall cost was around £3500 (central London) but that was shared room/shared bathroom. His maintenance loan was £5000 so he was able to pay for this himself.

gazzalw · 20/08/2013 08:00

Yikes that is seriously a lot of money.

Mind you, some decades ago, DW used to get housing benefit to cover the exorbitant excess in rent she had to pay in a very smart university town.

That is a seriously depressing amount of money. No wonder so many London based students are choosing to live at home.....:-(

I really think that we are heading back towards a university system for the privileged....

INeedALieIn · 20/08/2013 08:10

How much are tuition fees? I understand these are not repayable until earnings are high. Does the same apply for maintenance grants?

I only have 10 years to plan for dd1.

Good luck to all of the freshers and the mums left behind. Exciting (and expensive) times.

SilverApples · 20/08/2013 08:14

It is also the incredibly high standard of uni accommodation, and subsequent cost. Three years ago, when DD and I were checking out things, I couldn't believe my eyes at the ensuites and the whitegoods.
It was very different to my own studenting days.

goinggetstough · 20/08/2013 08:18

silver I believe the accommodation in universities is of a high standard as they rent it out for conferences in the vacations. A least that is the reason they gave at Exeter.

A PP mentioned bikes and bike locks. If you are insuring your bike many policies state the type of lock you have to have. So it might be worth looking at your policy before you buy the lock.

goinggetstough · 20/08/2013 08:19

Sorry bit about locks should have been on the other thread...

UptheChimney · 20/08/2013 08:44

I really think that we are heading back towards a university system for the privileged

Possibly ...

But first let me clear up your confusion of tuition fees with maintenance grants/loans. What people are talking about here is the loan available for maintenance while at university (ie to pay for rent and food etc).

The loan for the tuition fees is calculated separately, and repayable when the graduate's income reaches a certain level. It's really a graduate tax

But while we have children as written about in this forum who find that they just "cannot" or "will not" share a bathroom, or want a private flat etc etc, then yes, it will cost a lot. If university students are so entitled then yes, it will cost a lot. But it really really doesn't have to!!

< sigh> whatever happened to living a bit on the edge as a student? It taught me to manage -- dodgy flat mates, rather badly maintained halls etc was all part of the student experience! And affordable.

Old fogey rant over. But I'm starting to understand why some of my students are the way they are in their attitude to their studies by reading this forum ...

SlowlorisIncognito · 20/08/2013 10:53

UptheChimney I agree you do get some students who don't want to share a bathroom (although they'll have to get over it for second year!). However, univerisities only have so much space in the cheapest accomadation, and end up having to put students who haven't asked for it in more expensive accomadation.

Uni rentals will always be more expensive than private rents. You're paying for accomadation with a warden living on site, often with extra security at night and usually with a cleaner! Also, unlike private rentals, all bills including internet are included.

Copycat If your DS is only entitled to that level of loan, it is because SFE have decided you are well off enough to be able to support him. Some level of parental support is expected for all students, except those from the very poorest backgrounds. If you think this is wrong, DS should contact SFE and ask them if he should actually be entitled to more loan. If your income has dropped sharply, then you should consider getting DS to fill in a change of circumstances form.

amumthatcares · 20/08/2013 11:25

Slow If your DS is only entitled to that level of loan, it is because SFE have decided you are well off enough to be able to support him. Some level of parental support is expected for all students, except those from the very poorest backgrounds I get that, but I dont get this: The maintenance loan is now around £5,500. Our joint income is over £70,000. DD isn't in London

Can this be right?

QuiteOldGal · 20/08/2013 14:53

I was just about to come on and say DS only payed about £85-90 a week, two years ago for ensuite accommodation, when I have just looked and it now costs £114 a week for the same rooms

I can't believe how much it has gone up.

We payed this rent which if I recall was about £3600 for the year

SilverApples · 20/08/2013 15:00

'The maintenance loan is now around £5,500. Our joint income is over £70,000. DD isn't in London'

That was me confusing the issue amum.
I went to the website to find out how much a student outside London could get, and that was the figure it came up with.

It was then pointed out to me that the figure was the maximum, and that not all students got that. DD is both very smart and very independent, she sorted out all her own finances and I actually have no idea how much she is receiving as a maintenance loan. She gets an extra £3,000 a year from savings we put aside.
Apologies, I was just trying to be helpful...oops.

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