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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Uni money to live on

179 replies

Kattya · 20/08/2017 09:48

Just after a few options/advice. DD off to Uni. She's in halls and her maintenance loan doesn't cover all of her rent so we will have to top that up. I'm just wondering how much she will need to live on. She will get a job she's not work shy but I dont want her to be working all the time as she needs to study so was thinking of giving her so much a week for food etc ??

OP posts:
whenyouwish · 20/08/2017 09:58

Don't know if this is an option for you. But 10 years ago my mum and dad paid my accommodation each month. My loan was used as spending money for the year and because I couldn't be trusted not to spend it all in one go she divided it over the year and I got it transferred every Friday during term time. It worked out about £60 a week for food and socialising which wasn't much but I got a job to top this up. Only one evening in a pub a week for an extra £40 a week.

Original poster
Kattya · 20/08/2017 10:49

Thankyou. That's sounds like an idea. I'm still slightly 😱About the price of halls 😀

OP posts:
scaryteacher · 20/08/2017 11:29

Kattya, Ds starts his MA in a month. His rent last year was £365 per month....his postgraduate hall is £8k for the year!! Ouch.

AndNowItIsSeven · 20/08/2017 11:32

Ian shocked what others pay for halls, dd's are £4760 ensuite.

RedHelenB · 20/08/2017 11:56

Can't you give her the difference between the loan she gets and the maximum and divde this monthly or termly? Part of living away at uni is learning to budget.

Original poster
Kattya · 20/08/2017 12:50

Thanks. Yes she has to learn to budget Asos' profits will definitely be going down !

OP posts:
scaryteacher · 20/08/2017 13:22

Andnow Postgrad halls are £6k, £7k or £8k. It is over 4 terms though, as they do write ups in July and August.

Bobbiepin · 20/08/2017 13:25

Lots of supermarkets do two part cards, you keep one and top it up like a pay as you go phone, DD has the other half and can spend the money in that supermarket.

ajandjjmum · 20/08/2017 13:37

Kattya
Slightly off topic, but when DS started at Sheffield he went up a couple of weeks before, and distributed loads of CVs. It meant that he got a part time job in the local Spar, before all of the jobs had gone. We also did a detailed budget, so he could see what he was responsible for, which really helped.

stonecircle · 21/08/2017 15:37

Kattya - a lot of people pay the rent and let their offspring live off the maintenance loan. That's what we do - they just get the minimum loan, not sure if I would do it that way if they got more.

DS2 has just announced that his first year hall accommodation is £6.5k, which prompted DS2 to kindly tell me that his rent next year is paid monthly and the first instalment - of £520 - is due on Thursday Shock

Kez100 · 21/08/2017 15:51

We paid the rent and let our DD live off of the maintenance loan.

She managed well and saved £500 of this by the end of three years. If she had needed to pay for all of her trips home then she probably would have spent it all but once or twice a year we went up in the car and brought her home for holidays. She also wasn't a big drinker but she did have a course heavy in printer ink, paper and in her final year portfolio and exhibition costs.

BackforGood · 21/08/2017 16:05

ds has just finished. He got £35 a week from us from start of term in Sept until end of May (ie, we let it run during the Christmas and Easter hols). That was plenty for living on, after rent (rent included bills).

AldiAisleOfCrap · 21/08/2017 16:32

£35 is very low to cover food, entertainment,toiletries , transport, printing costs etc. Am assuming he had a job as well?
We budgeted £70 a week ( after transport costs had been paid) as the bare minimum.

BackforGood · 21/08/2017 17:11

He worked in the holidays - but hadn't been able to get a job where he was at University, until his 3rd year.

He walked most places (had a bike first year, but 2nd + 3rd yr houses were closer to the town centre). If they were out late at night then would share a taxi so not much there. When he traveled home or mostly to see his girlfriend, then Megabus was his friend. Journeys cost about £3 generally.

Food et al came in at under £20 per week. He can cook, there was a freezer, so he made meals to save, in bigger quantities. Social life at Univ - most students are in the same boat, so tend to have house parties, or at very least drink at home before going out. Not sure there was so much printing done as to be a separate cost on it's own.
He was pretty proud of his Freecycle obtained huge TV screen. At the start of term, we'd leave him a stock of tins and fruit juice that would be heavy to carry.
Having his job in the holidays gave him the extra for meals out, take aways, holidays etc.
Am planning to give dd (who starts now, in September) the same amount.

Hoople · 22/08/2017 20:02

We are in the fortunate position of being able to give DD a reasonable amount and have agreed on just over £100 a week. This is to cover everything and I've made it clear I won't contribute a penny more for anything at all (although if course I would if absolutely had to!)

So it's on the generous side. She also has a job lined up too

AldiAisleOfCrap · 22/08/2017 20:51

He did really well then BackForGood. I think a lot of dd's "essential" costs are make up and clothes!

Lucysky2017 · 22/08/2017 20:51

There will be a lot of people stuggling and needing jobs, don't worry. Mym son just started at deliveroo and has done 3 weeks now and hopefully he can carry on with that at university too.

I fund mine without loans so I pay the university fee, I pay the halls direct (£7800 a year halls for my twins this september each !) and then I pay them each £150 a week throughout the year but I work full time and am fairly well paid . This is not at all typical and most students will have loans and most will not have a lot of spending money. Plenty will have loans for the rent and fees and make up the difference between maximum loan and rent by a job.

Mytimenow · 22/08/2017 20:54

DS1 maintenance loan covers his accomodation with about £300 for the year left, we have agreed to £50 per week transferred weekly to his bank account and I will still pay his mobile contract. I've been putting bits and pieces away when I do my shopping (condiments, spices, washing tablets) and will do him a full food shop before we leave on moving day.

Teenagedream · 22/08/2017 21:00

We also have £35 a week for the first year. Seemed to manage reasonably ok. They have both worked this summer so will have more money this year for any extras. We paid for a few food shops and let it run over xmas and Easter.
Haven't decided how we will do it this year yet. May go for a monthly amount.

BackforGood · 22/08/2017 21:19

Thing is Aldi, I wouldn't consider makeup and clothes 'essentials'. That also goes for dd1 who goes to university this September.

I mean, if you've got load of money, then give your dcs whatever you want, but, I suspect, the vast majority of parents don't have £100 or £150 a week 'spare' so their dc can live the life of riley.

AldiAisleOfCrap · 22/08/2017 22:23

Neither would I BackForGood , well not beyond the basics of clothes and make up, hence the inverted commas.
We didn't want her to struggle either though,and to be able to have a good social life.
It cost easily £100 a week to provide for a dc pre uni at home though.

PrettyLittleBrownEyedMe · 22/08/2017 22:45

We gave DS £150 a MONTH to live on! I'm surprised by some of the amounts mentioned by PPs. We made up the difference between his loan and his hall fees, paid his travel costs and his mobile phone bill. We felt that as his bills were obviously included in the hall fees, the money 'to live on' was literally just food and booze. We really thought that part of the life lessons of going to uni was to have to make some choices about brands, where to eat/shop, how often to do things etc, and deliberately left it a bit 'tight'. He was left the option to get a job if he wanted more spending money, or to choose to live within that amount if he didn't want to work during the term. He had had a summer job and built himself up a bit of a reserve to top our money up with. Obviously if he'd said he was struggling we would have had a rethink - but as it turned out he seems to have managed perfectly well on that figure and hasn't had to make many uncomfortable choices at all!

We'll be keeping it the same this year. I do believe that 'having to manage' is a worthwhile experience and that lots of spare money washing around for luxuries isn't necessarily a good thing (IMHO, obviously).

SuburbanRhonda · 22/08/2017 22:50

He was pretty proud of his Freecycle obtained huge TV screen.

Who paid for his TV licence?

BackforGood · 23/08/2017 00:05

Doesn't use it for live TV *Suburban. In fact, none of my dc ever watch live TV. Don't think that many young people do, other than live sports I suppose.

He used it for DVDs, or occasionally as a 2nd monitor for work or so he tried to claim. Grin

hellsbells99 · 23/08/2017 06:25

DD had approx £80 a week to live on last year living in self catered halls. We do pay for her phone too (Christmas present).