How much money do students need?

[bevelino]

Eldest dd will be going to uni this year and has chosen catered accommodation. Tuition fees and accommodation costs aside, how much extra cash will she need to live on?

A friend gives her Dd £250 per month, another gives £500, and another gives nothing and says they expect dc to get a job. Dd is unable to work as uni frown upon students working during term time. I have to budget for 4 dd's (triplets) at uni at the same time and this is a serious issue/question.

[scaryteacher]

Martin Lewis is not always right. I prefer that ds does not come out of uni saddled with debt, and why pay extra stamp duty, or have IHT implications when doing this this doesn't attract that?

You obviously missed the bit where I pointed out that dh's employer defrays 60% of our costs for university, as part of the employment package, so as we receive money to help ds through university why take a loan? What the employer gives us pays the UK tuition fees. Given the level of income, it would be minimum maintenance loan, so we would be topping up anyway. I see no point in making ds take out a 3K loan when we can meet that cost ourselves. That would just about cover his rent, and we can do that and the allowance.

You make an incorrect assumption about the tax treatment of dh's income btw.

It isn't just about now either, it's about avoiding any alteration of the Ts&Cs later, as HMG can change them at any time. There may come a point when HMG can't afford for the loans not to be repaid. I would also rather ds was paying into a pension when he starts working than paying back a student loan.

I could buy more books and lovely shoes each moth, but I prefer to spend it on ds.

[ChipsandGuac]

We give our son $150 a month. If he wants more, he can get a job. We also pay for his fees, dorm, books and meal plan which comes to an eye watering $50k a year. I try not to think about it otherwise I'd cry!

[MrsGuyOfGisbo]

Like Scaryteacher I think we will also pay DC fees instead of taking out a loan, because co-inicidentally I was thinking yesterday about IHT.
The money is earning nothing in the bank - property not such a good bet - transactions costs, maintenance , disposal costs - where will they end up living?

[KindDogsTail]

those intending to pay up front
I think its a good idea if you can.
The interest accumulates the whole time.
When you leave university, if you can't get a job straight away or do further study, it mounts up even more. Say, even if someone decides to do teacher training - essential for the future of the country - not only will they need to borrow to pay those fees, but also the interest from the first loan still continues to build up.

It was different when money saved in the bank (instead of being put towards the fees and living costs) accrued interest, the loans themselves had a very low interest rate attached and the loans did not need to be so high in the first place (because the tuition cost so much less).

Maybe The Money Saving Expert/Martin Lewis would disagree though.

The only thing to watch out for though, is paying for your child's living costs while they meanwhile fancy some more money and take the loan out anyway. Though that would be their choice I suppose.

[bevelino]

Chipsandguac It sounds like you are posting from USA as you refer to dollars. I am sorry for your loss of all that money.

I asked the grads at work today about how much money they needed to live on while at uni. it ranged from £25 -£50 per week. The guys seemed to spend more than the gals on food. Our grads are from a range of backgrounds but all said they either worked in term time and/or holidays, no matter how much money their parents gave them.

[scaryteacher]

Bevelino I work on £125 per week, and give him £500 per month. That's food, books, utility bills (they have a meter for electricity, which costs), emergencies and fun. We pay his phone, we are not in UK and he is, so pay for him to contact us, and we pay his rent. Dh's employer pays a percentage of the total uni costs, which covers the fees for the following year. I don't pay his allowance in the vacations, and pro rata it at times, so in June he breaks up on the 10th. He will get £250 for June.

[bevelino]

Scary teacher thank you for your post. I now have a good idea of the budget range from reading all the posts and I thank eveybody who has contributed to the discussion.

[Spam88]

Oh my gosh, this is all madness :o I'm aware that in London student loans aren't sufficient, but everywhere else they're enough. My parents didn't give me any money routinely, although they did give me £50 when I first went as I'd spent the last of my wages on a bus pass and loans didn't get paid for another week, and a tesco voucher at some point during first year. Could have lived quite the life of luxury if they were giving me £500 a month!

[circular]

Spam I am not sure how you can conclude that.

If a parents income high enough for the student to only get the £3820 basic loan, there' are many places where that wouldn't even cover the halls costs.

I think it's only fair to top up to a similar amount to what they would receive with full loan of around £8200. For most families, the difference shouldn't be more than their DC was costing when at home.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

I'm aware that in London student loans aren't sufficient, but everywhere else they're enough.

This is bollocks. This year the minimum loan is £3700 and something. My daughter's rent is about £3600 (for 27 weeks). Pretty sure she can't then live off two pounds a week, even on a mumsnet chicken. Next year the minimum loan is £3821, and her rent will be about 5K. Which is obviously not enough.

We weren't spending anything like an extra £4500 a year on her either. And the student finance people only knock about 1K of your assessed income if you then have another child going to uni, so it could be argued that that is all you're expected to contribute ...

[AtiaoftheJulii]

(Which would be stupid, as it wouldn't provide enough to live on!)

[scaryteacher]

Spam88 Level of income means ds would only get the minimum maintenance loan, which would just about cover his rent. As we are abroad and he is in UK, I make sure he has enough allowance to provide for any emergencies, catastrophes etc. I see no point in him paying compound interest on such a small loan, when we can cover his costs. We only have one child, why shouldn't we do that for him?

[circular]

Atia We are by no means extravagant, but I've just worked out around £600 on school lunches, £500 on school travel, £600 allowance, £1500 less food shopping and £600 clothes when DD was at home is already £3800. That's without her share of family holidays. Also not counting all the music lessons we were paying for as that's a personal thing.

Her halls for first year were around £5200, (40 or 42 weeks) so she had a £1500 shortfall. And they were mid-priced for her Uni.

We do have a DD2, but if she goes to Uni will be after DD1 finishes.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Looking at my accounts - my average food shopping/eating out has gone down £70pcm, comparing from when she left until now with the year before she left: £840. I gave her £60pcm pocket money (£720)and very little on top of that - £300 in a year on shoes and clothes for school is probably a generous estimate. Maybe another £200 on school trips and train fares to open days etc. 3 lots of £75 for her drama group = £225. £100 on bike bits and bobs. £100 on her phone contract. I didn't hand out money for entertainment, she cycled to school and most other places, and took packed lunches to school. I'm not counting holidays either - most of ours haven't been pay per person (except food of course) and our most expensive for a while was just this Christmas after she'd done her first term! I've not noticed any reduction in any other bills ...

So about £2500.

[circular]

Grocery bill down about £40pw since DD gone. Expensive food and
toiletry tastes. Said £1500 a year on the basis she will be back some of the time.

Interesting she is only spending about £50pw total while Arun.

[circular]

while at Uni - autocorrect again !

[serin]

DD gets the £3800 loan which just falls short of her halls rent, we supplement this.

We then give her £75 a week to live off. She says this is about the same as most people have but a few have significantly less ( a lass from India had only £200 for the whole first term but has managed by setting up her own Bollywood dance class! a few others have over £100 a week plus their cars paid for).
We also still pay her phone as it's part of a family package and if we visit I always make her some homemade frozen meals and treaty things like posh biscuits.

We are spending less on food/petrol at home since she left.

To those saying they expect their DC to get a job, it really isn't always that easy. DD always worked when she was home as there is work to be had here, but many Uni's are in rural or impoverished areas where even the local population are struggling to find employment.

[hellsbells99]

Serin - I think if our DCs only get the basic loan, then they are supposed to work down the pit to supplement their loan 😉 .....even if they are doing STEM, healthcare or other courses which are generally 'full time' (and not 4 hours a week as mentioned in a previous post)

[bojorojo]

What pit? hellsbells99! (Joking!)

No course is 4 hours a week!!! All students are expected to study in their own time. This is not school!

I think if anyone is at a university with halls for £3800 then they are very lucky. The basic loans are not meant to exempt parents from paying. However, there are problems for the "squeezed middle" with several other children. I have never seen student rentals for 27 weeks either. Most are 40-42 weeks or even 50 weeks. Private rentals can be 52 weeks in lots of cities. The rental runs from 1 July to 30 June. The student pays for the whole year. Some people posting here seem to be way adrift of reality regarding costs.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

I have never seen student rentals for 27 weeks either.

Oxford college accommodation. I think we pay from Sunday of 0th week to Saturday of 8th week. And then everything has to come home each holiday. Dd's college don't have accommodation for second years so next year she's in private housing for the full 52 weeks.

All the university accommodation that dd2 has applied for is on a 38 week contract, which I think is one of the shortest I've seen for non-Oxbridge halls.

[scaryteacher]

RHUL does termly lets for the halls in the main building (30 weeks), so that was cheaper, but I think it worked out about £4.2k for 2014/15.

[hellsbells99]

Bojorojo - sorry I was brought up in a mining area 😉 though sadly that era is long gone. The lads 'went down pit' and the girls generally to the biscuit factory (or occasionally shop/office work) unless you were one of the very small minority that went to uni/poly.

[mumeeee]

We have had 3 DDs go through university well youngest is in her final month.
Anyway we paid for their accommodation they funded everything else themselves.
Well actually we did pay for the first lot of books they needed.

[KindDogsTail]

The thing is though mumsee paying for the accommodation means paying a lot.

Did they fund the other living part themselves through work or through the maintenance loan/maintenance grant, or both?

[lifeisunjust]

My son gets a full grant and a university bursary which cover the self-catering rent for the student year. He also has a student loan and spends about £35 per week, just under £1500 for the year out of the rough £3500 maintenance loan. That's left him with almost £2000 surplus from his loan this year which has gone into an ISA account. Unsure if he'll take the maximum loan again next year or whether he uses the £2000 surplus for next year..

It's very much up to the attitude towards materialism of a student how much they live on. I'm sure few manage to budget £35 a week over 40 weeks and keep to that budget