Is £89 per week enough to live on?

[Lesstressy]

DC will be sharing a student house in an average uni city and we're trying to work out a reasonable contribution. I've looked at various theoretical lists on a couple of uni websites but would be interested to hear in practice what current students manage on.
Our current plan would mean that DC would receive £89 per week in total after their rent, but not bills, has been paid. This would therefore have to cover food, electricity, water, gas, phone, travel (minimal), books, going out.

Does this seem about right?

Sounds doable if tight. Books will vary by subject, ds mainly uses library but the odd one he has bought was not cheap. Can they get a job to supplement it? What about broadband, clothes etc?

Very tight but just about doable. £25 bills, £30 food, £5 mobile, £5 travel. Leaves £24 for clothes, going out, club membership, printing, books. Is a part time job an option? My worry would be there's no room for anything unexpected, like taxi fares.

They will have limited options for regular part-time work as the course runs for 44 weeks per year with some placements in different towns (healthcare) but has saved some for extras.

It doesn't sound enough to me but then if they want to they can get a small job. I worked my way through uni during all the holidays as I had a mortgage to pay.

What do you feel might be typical?

Do they get travel expenses refunded whilst on placement?

Assuming they do I'd suggest adding another £30 a week if you can.

That sounds fine to me. Of course some DC spend more than others on socialising / clothes and some areas are more expensive than others. Also depends on subject, some require materials, books and others don't.
When mine started I gave them a monthly allowance and said I would adjust it up or down once we had an idea of how much they needed.

They both manage fine on less than that. We give them each £250 a month after rent. That covers bills, food, phones, entertainment etc.
Both do science subjects and have never had to buy a book.
On top of that I buy an annual bus pass and any sports memberships.
Don't forget they are also at home for about 20 weeks of the year.
Neither works in term time apart from the odd one off bit of casual work, but they both have little part time jobs which they pick up when they are back home.

That sounds fine to me, their bills shouldn't be more than £20 a week.

I lived in a house with bills included and had £30-£40 a week to live off, so that seems plenty to me.

I shouldn't think bills would be more than £20 a week max, £69 a week after bills will be more than sufficient depending on travel costs.

D'S managed on £1000 for 12 week terms and two to three week holidays which he spent on the library. He cooked with friends/flatmates, took in sandwiches and walked to college. He was working very hard, involved in lots at college and neither he nor his friends drank much. Medics are often pretty bonded socially and busy so if she has a like minded group of frugal friends it ought not be a problem.

If your DC is doing a health care course would they be able to get bank work? That is what I am doing and I am currently on the occupational therapy program. Bank work isn't the best paid, I'm on £7.50 an hour plus some mileage, but it means that when I am quiet I can do more hours and when I am on placement or have an assessment due I can do less. The organisation I work for are crying out for staff so I can have as many hours as I need.

I think it's plenty depending on the city. I've always been suprised at how little my DC spend and I'm honestly not saying thst in a competitive 'my kids survived on bread and water and lived in a cardboard box' type of way. Loads and loads of students are skint so there are plenty of DC in the same boat.

Sounds fine.

It will depend on travel costs to placements which could be high and what else you intend to pay for. We largely bought clothes and paid for phone and travel home. Books, fortunately, came courtesy of a school prize but for some courses these costs can be high. Also broadband costs and printing can be unexpectedly high not to mention sports clubs! So my view is to do a zero based budget and work it up rather than do an arbitrary figure and hope it works. Lots of people on here won't have your circumstances or your child. Work out what your DC actually needs from the bottom up taking into account the big expenses and what you will cover.

There may be lots of hard up students but your DC may not want to be one! Discussion is vital as is realistic budgeting!

That's all really helpful, thanks.

perfectly doable. DD lives in a ten bed house, massive Victoria terrace. Each of the students pays £20 a month towards bills. They even have a TV licence! - their broadband is included in the rent though.They are rather tight with the heating in winter :-) She spends around £25 per week on food but lives well on that and eats healthy.

If she is on an NHS healthcare course her placement costs are reimbursed but the NHS, but they do take around a month to process each claim so an overdraft is useful for this.

Anything above the £45 we give DD goes on club tickets, Strongbow dark fruits and Maccies.

just realised she is better off than I thought! The bills are per MONTH so £5 a week plus £25 on food, she has tonnes of money left for her social life. I need to reduce her money ...

To put it in context... job seekers allowance is £57 a week.

That's a good point, I didn't know that. Out of interest, are utilities etc supposed to come out of that? I assume not.

I'll sit down with DC and go through the likely costs. They will get their placement expenses reimbursed but the point about it taking a month is useful to know. They are currently working over the Summer to build up a bit of a safety net, the last decent chunk of holiday they'll have to be able to do so unfortunately. Bank work sounds like a possibility though.

Thanks all.

Oh, and love the bit about any extra going on Clubbing, strongbow and Macclesfield Euphoria!
Sounds familiar 🙄

Yes, all utilities have to come out of the jsa allowance, including a portion of the council tax in a lot of areas now.

Can't you just give her the difference between the full maintenance loan and whatvloan she gets?

RedHelen- that's where the £89 per week is coming from:
DC's rent plus £89 per week for 44 weeks = slightly more than maximum full maintenance loan for students from lowest income families. We rounded it up a bit as their course is 44 weeks per year rather than the typical 36 weeks.

Well in that case it is enough they 'll be fine!

When ds was in a shared house I allowed £500 per month in term time for his allowance, and we paid the rent as well. That was £50 per month up from living in halls, due to covering utilities; electricity key meter, water rates and gas. The l/l covered the broadband. As he'll be in hall again for his MA this year I'll drop his allowance accordingly. I know the allowance seems high, but ds doesn't have loans (our choice).