Money - how much need for weekly living?

[ForgiveMeFather]

Twin DD's leaving for Uni this September - one will be in London.

Their student loans will just above cover accommodation (basic level) and we won't be entitled to any other financial support.

We have budgeted £70 each per week to cover basic living costs (possibly a bit more for DD in London) - will this be enough?

We'll be helping out with transport to and from Uni each term, plus basic clothing, books, bits and bobs for their rooms etc but they will be self-catering so will need to cover food, evenings outs booze with that £70.

Is this a realistic amount?

Would anyone be willing to share how much they needed to contribute to their DC's just so we can see whether we are in the right ball-park?

Anything else we have forgotten?

Take all the loans available. Top up as little as you need to when they are actually in uni. It's the cheapest ever borrowing and they actually see the money slipping through their hands - I think it helps to stop the "fred perry and cocktails" lifestyle a little and back to Primark and charity shop shopping....

If you have the £££ or grandparents are donating it etc then save it quietly for a house deposit or what ever.

We do clothes for birthdays/Xmas, ditto toiletries of a "nice" sort rather than basics... DD has a "job" in the form of a choral scholarship and we top up a small monthly amount.

Have just started investigating this as DS will go to uni next year (hopefully)

I think DS will take the SL for tuition & accommodation fees and we will top up a bit too.

We will have both DS at uni for 2 yrs so we will be living on beans on toast I imagine!

NB: There will be NO 'Fred Perry & cocktails' lifestyle - at least until they're earning!

We could never afford to pay £5K per year for accommodation fees, we just don't have that kind of cash. Thankfully her grant and loan will pay for this, she has no other option, we can only afford to send her about £50 a week, she'll have to get a job but much as I'd like we cant help her any more as we don't earn enough, how I'd love to be able to say we can pay for her accommodation. We both work full time but are low earners unfortunatly

sayersville don't worry about contributing anymore. If your daughter has a loan and a grant and £50 a week she will have more than many - my DCs included. The reason other parents are having to pay for the accommodation is because their DCs only get the minimum maintenance loan and no grant and that doesn't cover their DC's accommodation. The Government expect the parents to cover the shortfall as they earn a higher wage.

sayerville your DD will be fine with what you are contributing. We did pay DD3's halls ( well we did the same for allof our DDs) but we didn't give her any other money and she has the minimum loan. Well she has managed to live on less then £50 most weeks and has bought books and things she needed for her course. She has actually still got most of this terms loan left and she is now home until September.

DS can only get the minimum loan, and this falls short of the cheapest halls. Luckily, his first choice was the only oneto offer an aacademic bursery which doesn't take into account our earnings (like a lot of posters, our out goings are not considered and whilst we have above the threshold income, actual disposable cash is very limited). This bursery is for either £1000 cash or a £1500 discount on uni accommodation. This means that he will have £300 left over the academic year from the loan.

We have budgeted to send him £50 a week to cover food etc. He is also going to be looking for a part time job

Ds spends about £50 a fortnight on food and then takes out about £40 in cash per week which covers everything else. He has a bus pass included in the cost of his halls accommodation and his university give every student paying the £9000 fees an 'Entitlement Card' which is loaded with £300 and can be used in the uni book shop, gym membership and some student union events. It is really worth looking into what 'extras' like this the university provide - we had no idea about the bus pass and entitlement card until just before results day and they have made a huge difference.