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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

Fully catered halls - how much extra per week?

20 replies

Katkat50 · 11/09/2015 21:57

My DS will be living in catered halls (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Can anyone give me an idea of how much he will likely need on a week-to-week basis for social, coffee, sport etc. I don't want him to be miserable, but don't want him to have more than he needs, especially if he becomes used to spending it just because 'it's there'.
He has a pt job at the moment and says he will look into getting a job once he settles in... This may or may not happen, and I think it won't be a priority.
Thanks in advance!

OP posts:

mrsrhodgilbert · 11/09/2015 22:46

I'm wondering the same thing. Dd is putting her (minimal) loan towards her catered halls and we will top it up by about £2500 to cover the year. I don't want to be mean or give her too much. She has saved a lot over the summer and has an inheritance from her grandma, specifically for university. I'm thinking about £30-40 a week. She will only half an hour away so I'm sure well be delivering goodies on a fairly regular basis.

Decorhate · 12/09/2015 07:38

My dd is also going into catered. Wanted self catered but that's what she got given. The plan was she would live off her maintenance loan & we would pay the rent. But now we are paying more & she has less outgoings. So we are also concerned she will become used to that & then find it harder next year when she has to buy food too. We have spoken about it & she is going to set herself a weekly limit of £40-50 & see how it goes.

Original poster

Katkat50 · 12/09/2015 07:52

£40-50 is what I feel sounds right, DH says he'll need £10 a day .... I don't spend that! We are paying most of his hall fees (almost £7000... yikes) which means he should be very comfortable with the loan, and he has savings from work.

I think setting a weekly budget is a good idea, but it wouldn't be one of his strengths, especially as he has always money in the bank from his job and a 'I'll spend it if I want it' attitude!

OP posts:

Decorhate · 12/09/2015 08:46

Katkat my dd used the bank account she already had when setting up her student loan. She has now opened a student bank account & will probably leave the loan going into her first account & set up a weekly transfer into the student account & live off that one.

BoboChic · 12/09/2015 08:46

Lots of universities have a sports pass system where students pay upfront for a year or three years membership. DSS1 has found this to be a total bargain - he uses sports faculties 5 x a week and it works out at £1 a time.

Original poster

Katkat50 · 12/09/2015 14:22

decorhate yes, that's what ds is going to do too, I guess he can adjust weekly amount as required... Hopefully he will realise that he doesn't have to spend extra just to use his weekly allowance!
I know freshers week will be a bigger hit than usual, so I'm hoping he will impress me with his budgeting skills lol

OP posts:

GypsyFl0ss · 14/09/2015 14:05

I have briefly talked with DD about doing similar with two accounts . We are paying the 7k halls and she is going to live off the basic loan. I think it's a generous amount bearing in mind she is catered and I am expecting her to save a little of it / to use it to pay her travel down to see us/ see BF.

stonecircle · 14/09/2015 15:04

Gypsy - that is generous for someone in catered! DS is in self-catered and I'm expecting him to live off his basic loan (we paid his accommodation fees) so about £100 a week.

mrsrhodgilbert · 14/09/2015 16:22

That's very generous for someone in catered gypsy.

Dd1 lived off the basic loan when self catering in year one and we paid the rent. She didn't go out or buy alcohol ( had a very miserable time) but she spent all the loan just on food and travelling really. She had no overdraft though. Those who were going out a lot found their loan ran out very quickly and were eating some fairly grim food by the end of term.

For dd2 in catered the loan will go straight from her bank account to pay for accommodation with a top up from us. We will then give her an allowance, we need to discuss whether to pay that weekly or monthly. If weekly she might have a better idea of what she's spending to begin with. She has plenty of savings so will easily be able to add to it if she's running low by the weekend.

Decorhate, is your dd going to be on campus in her catered hall?

Decorhate · 14/09/2015 17:14

No MrsR she is off campus. Thanks for the heads up on the other thread about paperwork to print off & take

mrsrhodgilbert · 14/09/2015 17:28

Ah, dd really liked that one but in the end distance was the deciding factor!

GypsyFl0ss · 14/09/2015 17:37

I've just read out your comments to DD who is sat next to me! She says shush please , don't be giving me ideas

stonecircle · 14/09/2015 17:43

MrsRhod - you're making me panic! I thought a little over £100 pw would be enough for ds to eat reasonably well AND go out. Am I being overly optimistic?!

Figmentofmyimagination · 14/09/2015 18:00

Mrs RhodG that sounds like us, except that although DD is catered, food is billed separately from the accommodation (which is around £4000 p.a.)

"Recommended minimum spend" on this self catered food per month is £265. This seems a lot to me, as others have mentioned on the other thread.

This is oxford, so it's an 8 week term, with (I think) everything coming home (aargh) at the end of each term, and extra costs for any extra days outside the 8 week term.

I don't really know how much to give her on top of the rent, as it depends on how the food costs really pan out. But I don't want her to feel the need to stay in or starve, both a possibility!

I had been planning on using topped up loan to pay the accommodation and then doing a £200 monthly s/o all year round, which she can too up with vacation work. But I'll have to give her a bit more to start off with, to fend off starvation possibilities etc.

Am buying all books, basic toiletries etc and she's not going to be in huge problems as she is only 2 hours away and banks online.

Figmentofmyimagination · 14/09/2015 18:02

Sorry - I meant "recommended minimum spend on this catered food per month" - not "self catered". Whoops.

Decorhate · 14/09/2015 18:05

Stonecircle if my dd was in self catering I'd expect her to still manage on the minimum loan for food & socialising. She just got lucky this year that she was allocated catered. We've made it very clear that she has to try her best to make the loan cover everything else.

Have no idea how we will manage if/when dc2 goes & they overlap ??

Decorhate · 14/09/2015 18:08

Oh and for those of you topping up the accommodation & giving a weekly amount for living expenses, friend's dd is in London & £75 a week is working for her

madein1995 · 14/09/2015 19:15

I'd say perhaps £40 to live off - factoring in supplies for lectures, emergency money, food for the weekend, joining a gym (very cheap in uni usually) plus extras like going for a coffee/meal out/cinema with friends. I live off £65 a week in uni - £20-25 on food shopping and then the rest goes on gym membership (£5 a week), washing money, slimming world membership (£5 a week), £10 on socialising (coffees/cinema/meal out now and then), which allows £20 spare for emergencies/the odd treat now and then. If you're not sure ds will treat the leftover cash as for emergencies, £30 should do it quite comfortably.

hellsbells99 · 14/09/2015 19:34

DD is going self-catered and we are planning on her having £80 a week to cover everything except rent. We will pay for books, freshers wrist band and some start-up food/toiletries.

mrsrhodgilbert · 14/09/2015 20:15

Just thinking back to her first year, she probably spent £20 a week on train fares as she came home every weekend, she really had an awful year. Her nearest supermarket was Waitrose and she ate very well. She did buy a few clothes I suppose, not many books as most things were available online or in the library. She spent the whole minimum loan and she doesn't drink. I'm not sure how that worked but I remember her saying that it wouldn't have covered an active social life. She also did weekly yoga and Pilates classes, probably £10 ish.

Dd2 will have £10.70 per day to spend on a meal card. No money can be carried over to the next day. I guess it will take a week or two to see the best way to spend it. There is a kitchen as the weekend evening meal isn't provided, so she could make breakfast or lunch cheaply if necessary. We are very close so I'm sure we will drop by with some supplies occasionally.

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