Parents of 1st year uni students

[Abouttime]

Advice needed pls.

DS will hopefully go to uni in September. He wants to go to sheffield but is only predicted BBB so probably won't get in. His next 3 choices are Loughborough, Aberdeen & Hull.

We have been looking at accommodation for all of them & can't decide if catered or non catered will be best. I also have no idea how much I will need to give him every week for food etc

He will only get a loan for the minimum amount as my partner who is not his dad earns too much. This pisses me off but that's a whole other thread!
I think he will get about £3500. He wants a room with an en suite & I don't really blame him but are shared bathrooms really that bad?

Can anyone give us their opinion so I can start saving now? How much is a reasonable amount?

[goinggetstough]

My DC had £50 per week, but we paid for the phone contract.

[Abouttime]

So if his loan covers his accommodation & it's self catered how much is reasonable to give him per week for living?
I was thinking £50 p/w

[FirConesAtXmas]

ISING thought it sounded familiar!

[Cuckoocloud]

DS is a 1st year in self catered halls sharing with 5 others. En suite - which is a little pod at the corner of his small room with a shower that trickles. We get the minimum loan which covers accommodation with a tiny tiny bit to spare. We give him 300 per month. The Freshers weeks blew the budget but things seem to have settled down now. I thought he might get a job but is very busy with sporting commitments etc. Perhaps he will in the 2nd year. My advice is to apply for accommodation as soon as possible - the ones that applied earlier (not my DS) got their first choice.

[goinggetstough]

fircones I agree that it can be sociable to cook together if you are self catered but no more so than being catered. It is just different.

Both mine were catered and enjoyed going down with their floor/corridor for meals etc One of them had an app on their phone so the floor knew when everyone was going down for meals, so no one got left behind. Then if they are not busy they stayed chatting in the dining hall especially at the weekends. Mine both self catered in later years and that was fine too.

I think it just really depends on the cost of the various accommodation and their ability, motivation to cook.

[ISingSoprano]

fircones ds is in Selborne Court. He loves it there.

[FirConesAtXmas]

One upside of self catered, is that forces the student to spend time in the communal kitchen preparing and cooking a meal. The kitchen becomes a default hanging out space, so if you're lucky, you have a ready made group of people to attend freshers events with.
Isingsoprano - your DS accom sounds identical to that my DS had in his first year. (Chancellors court)

[cricketballs]

It is also worth checking out any bursaries available. As you op, my DS will only get the minimum due to our income and despite 3 out of his 5 choices not having any additional help he can access, there are 2 that do. His favourite (luckily!) Have an academic grant which is not dependent on income (and is his actual target grades, his offer is lower) thus grant will either give him £1000 cash or a £1500 discount on accommodation. The other one is a sport one he can access (although this may not be his insurance)

[BackforGood]

ds would be very happy to go in the cheaper accommodation / non-en-suite but I've just been on the list on the University page, and out of the 20 or so accommodations listed, only 2 are not en-suite. I (and he) would rather pay the £20-£25 less per week, but it seems the choice is very limited.

[fussychica]

DS never bothered with en suite as it's sharing in second year anyway. Did self catering and has always coped well. In halls lived on £85pw for everything (food, entertainment, etc) - could have managed on less.

[mumblechum1]

DS is in Unite accomm in Liverpool. I pay £5k per annum (it's en suite, 4 rooms per flat).

He has the minimum loan of £3,500 which works out around £80 a week or something.

I think that's fairly typical, the loan doesn't even come close to paying the rent never mind anything else.

[BackforGood]

Yes - I have a couple of threads on 'Watch' - indeed, started one myself as I remember being surprised(at the first place we visited) how little difference there was between catered and self catering.
ds can, at least cook, and is happy to cook for lots of other people too so I think he'd be fine in self catered / shared flats.
Have my head in the sand a bit about the money side though

[secretscwirrels]

BackforGood but if he doesn't get his first choice then we apply after results day The prospect of not only losing their first choice but having no accommodation means 15th August is going to be a nail biter.
I too am not prepared to leave this to DS who sees a deadline as the date to start thinking about something.
DH and I have been looking at how much DS will be entitled to take in loans and trying to figure out the best plan financially. I have spreadsheets and stuff. I also bookmarked a couple of threads on here last year about self catered v catered and how much students need to live on.

I am also writing a student cook book for him and forcing teaching him to cook something other than macaroni cheese.

[ISingSoprano]

Ds pays £116 per week for his self catering halls. He has what they describe as a 'premium' room which is a bit bigger than most, has a (small) double bed, a big corner desk and a sink and lots of storage - wardrobe, drawers, under bed storage etc. There are two bathrooms in the flat shared between six people so they use one for the guys and one for the girls. On the plus side, the shared areas of the flat - kitchen, bathrooms and hallway - are cleaned twice a week.

We have stared ds off at the beginning of each term with a well stocked larder and freezer and if he comes home for the weekend I send him back with homemade cake and some home made ready meals in foil trays which goes down very well!

[BackforGood]

Thanks TheOne - gosh, how do parents who are not on MN know all these things?

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

I think once you've made your firm decision that university will write to you & there's usually accom information in that letter?

If you decide on your firm well ahead of the deadline that should help.

You can also apply for finance once you've got a firm

[senua]

arf

[BackforGood]

yeah - he will but then will forget to tell me what he finds, and forget to actually book anything or apply for anything, then I might end up with him living here another year
No, this is one I'm happy to help him with

[senua]

Actually what I meant to say was get your DC to look at the websites.

[BackforGood]

Oh, right, thanks Senua

[senua]

Offers and CF and CI and all that is centrally run by UCAS.
Accommodation is down to each individual University - look at their website. (Do it now, so you know the deadlines!)

[BackforGood]

OK, thanks - so when he's got all his offers in, he makes his choice, and at that point we ask for this accommodation or that, but if he doesn't get his first choice then we apply after results day ? makes note not to be away after results day for the next couple of weeks
Thanks folks.

[goinggetstough]

Applying for accommodation depends on the university. Some do let you apply for accommodation when you firm their offer in the early spring/summer.
Others like Bristol I believe let you apply in June/July and then you don't hear until the beginning of September.
Some will guarantee first year accommodation and others don't. It is the latter category that can lead to worrying. For those who are not offered accommodation some universities run " find a flat/friend" days where new students go to the university in the summer to meet others in a similar position and then go off and find a flat.

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

Backforgood, iirc you apply for accom at the point where you make their offer your firm (so if you get the grades you are in a good position to get the accom you asked for)

if you miss your grades & have to go for insurance you slip down the pile - quite a long way

if you miss your insurance grades then you have to beg

think that's how it works

[Bonsoir]

Unite is a quoted company that owns lots of student accommodation. They convert disused office blocks into bedrooms, hence the grim architecture.