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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

Student finance. How much are you subbing your child?

28 replies

clam · 28/08/2014 18:44

Big debates in this house. How much does a student "need" each week to live on? Ds is in University self-catering halls, and the minimum maintenance grant we're he's eligible for covers those fees, bar a couple of hundred for the year. Outside London, so no inflated prices there, but how much is reasonable to expect him to live on? If he's able to get a job locally, should that be for added extras, or for basic living expenses?

How's it working for others?

OP posts:

Lilymaid · 28/08/2014 18:49

There's a current thread in Higher Education about this. The title is something about "working down a mine"!

Original poster

clam · 28/08/2014 18:51

Ah! I'll take a look. I did skim through that section, but missed that one.

OP posts:

Caramelkate · 28/08/2014 18:52

I am working on £70 + hall fees in total.
£15 bus pas
£15 food
Then £40 for going out, books, etc. I am not giving anything during holidays, though he will get free food at home - he has a job during the holidays at the shop he used to work at.

BackforGood · 28/08/2014 18:59

Here you Go

cricketballs · 28/08/2014 19:01

We are sending DS £50 a week. His loan doesn't cover his halls (he is in cheapest available), so we are also topping this up (£300 a term)

Original poster

clam · 28/08/2014 19:25

£15 pw food?? Self-catering?!!!

OP posts:

cricketballs · 28/08/2014 19:32

I gave my DS £25 last week to feed himself; after checking a cookbook he wpent close to £23 with ingredients, snacks and very cheap pop from Aldi. He would have lasted 9 days (instead of freezing portions, my other DS and I ate ). £15, does however seem a little low

BackforGood · 28/08/2014 19:33

I asked my nieces (1 at end of 1st yr, 1 at end of 2nd yr, different cities), in order to get a feel for how much to send ds with.
They both (without knowing what the other one said) said they spent £20pw MAX on food (incl household stuff) - bit less generally. Niece in 2nd yr pointed out it was a lot cheaper once she started cooking together with a couple of her flatmates, than everyone trying to cook individual meals.

Caramelkate · 28/08/2014 19:55

Is it too low? You can get a lot of pot noodles from quality save for that

pinkrose123 · 28/08/2014 19:56

We are working on £20-25 per week for food and planning on putting this on one of those Sainsburys cards (therefore can only be spent in the supermarket and not down the pub!). Loan and small grant should cover the accommodation and leave some over. Plus he has had a part time job for the last 3 years, so has saved enough to be able to allow himself an allowance of £100 a month for 10 months a year over the three years he is there.

He is hoping to return to his part time job in the holidays, plus will be looking for part time work whilst at uni. He's had a lot of disposable income for the last years so I think he might miss this!

Caramelkate · 28/08/2014 20:00

I was planning on doing a big basics shop beforehand, but my Ds is unlikely to look in many cookbooks. He eats mainly cheese toasties and noodles, and I can't see this changing.

Milliways · 28/08/2014 20:09

Find a cheaper shop than Sainsburys. DS was amazed at Aldi/Lidl prices and then found "world foods" and got his budget for food to within £20/week.

He says £200-£250 covered food, socialising, phone, haircuts etc.

He has not taken the maintenance loan this year as worked throughout last year and managed to save his loan, and has earned almost £3k this Summer so will use that and continue with his job.

I did just get his Annual Bus pass for his birthday.

cricketballs · 28/08/2014 20:09

I got DS "Nosh for Students" cookbook; he's been able to follow the recipes very easily (I would recommend a week over seeing like we have done as there is some things he didn't understand/could work out )

It has put my mind at ease they he is capable of cooking a balanced diet) if he does is another matter

BackforGood · 28/08/2014 20:22

ds can cook - I'm not worried about that - he's even got a plan to cook for his flatmates in exchange for them paying for the food - of course this would only work if they can't cook and they have a relatively healthy budget, but I bet there are some students that would go for it...he's just got to find them!

MillyMollyMama · 01/09/2014 15:27

We gave £450 a month last year and subbed the hall as it was way more than basic maintenance. My DD's like a life and don't live like hermit crabs.

DD1 had less when in catered hall. In second year we upped hers to £450 as bills and food came into play. Rent was covered by the maintenance grant. They had a flat for 6 and each person cooked one night a week. No-one on a Saturday. Food bought on line from whoever had the best offers. We would never control our children by giving them a supermarket card. If they spend on going out, they do that. They need to make their own decisions and live away from home free of a parental control. That is what university is about.

goinggetstough · 01/09/2014 19:24

Wow Milly that is impressive budgeting on your families part. Your DD was eligible for a maintenance Grant that covered their rent....... So she lived on her maintenance loan and £450 per month. I expect she had a lovely life on that amount!!! My DCs would be slightly envious as they had to live on £50 per week, but we did pay for their phones. They did have summer jobs too.
I don't think having a supermarket card is controlling your DC. The grandparents had a card for each of ours and they put money on the card and my DC used it to buy extra things to eat rather than just the basics.

MillyMollyMama · 01/09/2014 21:57

The rent equalled the maintenance loan! We don't qualify for a grant. Only the loan. Both hall of residence and private flat rental equalled the loan each year in Bristol and the catered hall DD was in was the cheapest and she shared a bathroom with 6 others. In London for DD 2 we had to sub the rent in the hall of residence to the tune of £3600 pa. You will be hard pressed to find a student who lives on the maintenance loan including rent and everything else! How??? The monthly allowance we gave was for food, bills, some clothes, travel, entertainment, books, stationery etc. I didn't really want our DDs to slum it in grotty accommodation or eat cheap food. They budgeted and had a good time. They also work hard and don't have to worry about money. Plenty of students get what they get. DD2 has a part time job now but DD1 has done a lot of work placements for her chosen career and volunteering. This has been a priority for her. Just don't expect the loan to cover everything. It won't !

goinggetstough · 01/09/2014 22:29

milly sorry I was only confused as you said that rent was covered by a maintenance GRANT not loan. So if you get a grant of that much to cover rent, you would also been entitled to a largish loan. Hence my confusion!!!
I know exactly how expensive Bristol is, my DC1 was there too. They had a great time there and I hope yours did too?

morethanpotatoprints · 01/09/2014 22:33

My dc funded themselves from being 16, I will help them maybe with small house deposit but that will be all.
They worked full time from being 16 and paid their own way through college and uni.
Both are debt free now, even paid their own fees and small student loan.
I'm not sure I would have helped if I had the money as I hear of so many dropping out because parents are funding them.

goinggetstough · 01/09/2014 22:47

morethan that's impressive but I expect your DCs that have now graduated were not on the £9000 tuition fees as those first students haven't graduated yet. It is very hard not to help them out if they are on the minimum maintenance loan. You mentioned that you probably would not have helped them if even if you had had the money so maybe they were on higher levels of loans and grants. (Apologies if I am wrong)That makes a major difference IMO.
I also think there is a major difference between supporting your DCs through university rather then totally funding them! I think the posters on this thread tend to do the former rather than the latter.

LightastheBreeze · 02/09/2014 09:05

With regards getting a job locally, we subbed £3000 of DS's accommodation costs which were about £3800 so he could have a basic standard of living with his basic maintenance loan, (he was left with about £2500 for the year). He did have a job locally and managed to earn quite a lot but we still gave him the same amount as if he hadn't got a job, as we felt his wages should be for his benefit not ours.

He was able to afford quite a lot of 'luxuries' but this was from his earnings not what we gave him, he also has managed to save some money also.

morethanpotatoprints · 02/09/2014 09:18

going

Oh yes definitely makes a difference.
Ds1 had the higher fees, not sure why though as he graduated a couple of years ago. He didn't have the maintenance loan and paid fees mostly from his work with a little student loan.

He lived at home but was paying a board at the time.
It is only fear of him not completing that stopped me from helping out much and the fact I couldn't have afforded it as well as help all our dc out if they need it later.

I think if you are rich and can afford to do this and give funds in their later lives it is great, but I don't think it necessary.
I also think depending on the student it might be better not to fund if they are the type that don't see things through, its a lot of money to lose.

I also appreciate had he not lived at home continuing working full time wouldn't have been possible or maybe permitted.
I am proud that he managed it on his own, and ds2 only went to a local college to study so he was very similar in not needing too much support.

MillyMollyMama · 03/09/2014 16:22

If a student is working full time, then surely it is a part time degree with a different funding system? Not sure any student can work full time and do a full time degree. Part time degrees have a different fee structure too.

Apologies for using the word grant earlier . I did mean loan and our DDs have had the minimum. When my DH went to university his parents were supposed to pay towards his living costs. They bought a colour television (expensive in those days) and a car but didn't pay the amount they were assessed to pay to my DH. It lead to problems as you can imagine. We were not going to see our own children scrimp and save when it is not necessary. They have taken out loans and there is plenty of evidence now that many students will not repay these loans - ever! We took plenty of financial advice on whether to take out the loans or not, but as DH is nearing retirement and self-employed, we need to consider our pension provision. Our DD's inheritance tax bill for us could be huge. We will pay off the loans if we need to in the future. In the meantime we have no problem with our DDs having a loan and us topping it up. They have done some part time work, work experience and volunteering to help with their future careers. We feel if they work for the money they can keep it.

morethanpotatoprints · 03/09/2014 17:11

Milly

A full time degree is only 2.5 or 3 days in uni.
You are supposed to do the same amount of study outside.
So ds1 managed a full time job at night quite easily.

Ds2 worked in a call centre full time in between study, he is still there now but much promoted

Scholes34 · 04/09/2014 13:44

For next year I'm assuming a budget of about £4,000 for the year, so roughly £350 a month to top up the maintenance loan.

If a student is in receipt of a full maintenance loan and full maintenance grant, that should be sufficient to live off with no contribution from parents, as long as they watch the pennies.

The university should give an indication of what maintenance costs are needed for the year.

I know that to take out loans to cover all the tuition fees and maintenance comes to a lot of money, but I would rather my DC take out the loans and I have money (if I have any) set aside to help them with a house purchase, car purchase etc once they've graduated when loans to cover these purchases would be more expensive and not so easy to obtain.

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