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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

How much do you give your Uni student child for food each week?

67 replies

papayasareyum · 03/11/2018 15:55

Daughter is first year of Uni. Her maintenance loan doesn’t cover her accommodation, we have to pay £2,100 towards this. We pay the difference. Our daughter feels that we’re being stingy, so I’m just wondering, for those of you who do something similar to us, how much do you give them for food each week?

OP posts:

RomanyRoots · 03/11/2018 18:39

This is making my eyes water, there's no way I could fund mine through uni, they are on their own.
Interesting to see how much they need though and how much they need to earn.

Fairenuff · 03/11/2018 18:40

Nothing. They both have jobs.

jmh740 · 03/11/2018 18:41

I don't give ds a set amount he's in London he has a part time job I send him a food shop if he's really desperate my mum gives him £50 a week which she does for my nephew too.

SeaViewBliss · 03/11/2018 18:42

Nothing. DD has 2 jobs and manages fine.

I but her treats and sometimes pick stuff up for her when I’m shopping but nothing regular.

SureIusedtobetaller · 03/11/2018 18:43

Top up maintenance- she gets minimum so it doesn’t cover rent. Then £200 a month for food etc. I pay for her phone and bung her extra when I can or for odd bits. She works evey holiday as loves to spendso she has some to fall back on.

Doobydoo · 03/11/2018 18:45

Ds started with around 2k .he is niw in 2nd year. He had a uni payment of I think 1k this year and 1k last year he applied for. We used to give around 400 a month but now £150 a month.He has always said it is too much and dosent need it. He would never dream of saying we are stingy....he knows how hard we work.

captainoftheshipwreck · 03/11/2018 19:38

DD manages fine supporting herself- takes a bit of managing but if you earn it yourself it means you tend to think more about how you spend it

RomanyRoots · 03/11/2018 19:43

Can I ask what sort of job fits in with their studies and what subjects they are studying.
We have quite a way to go yet but I know weekend work would be out of the question in mines case.

Shitlandpony · 03/11/2018 19:45

We pay for the accommodation and they have the maintenance loan for everything else. I think it works out about £90 a week, plus they work in the summer to top it up.

Alex3101 · 03/11/2018 19:53

DS gets £250 a month and I top up with £2k before he goes back to cover some of the accommodation and give him money for things he needs

noeffingidea · 03/11/2018 19:57

I don't give my son anything. He has student loans that he arranged himself (I have no idea how much they are), he also works full time during the summer holiday and has a part time job at the moment.
If I had to pay for his food I'd probably give him about £15 a week. Thats enough for a single person, imo. It's what I'd spend if I lived on my own.

ChilliHobnobs · 03/11/2018 20:00

£450 a month.

katienana · 03/11/2018 20:01

I was at uni 2002-2005 and had £60 per week in first year to cover lunch, 2 meals on sat/sun (rest of meals catered) toiletries, phone, books, clothes, social life. When not catered I had £100 per week. This covered shared bills plus all off the above in a house share. I think the rent was about £10 per week cheaper than my halls. I saved up the extra £40 myself by working all summer holidays. I didn't go on holiday until after I'd graduated. My rent was paid out of my loan and parents paid tuition fees for me which was about £1000.

PUGaLUGS · 03/11/2018 20:01

DS1 graduated in the summer, but we had to top up the maintenance loan which went to pay for his accommodation, we then gave him £65 a week for food. We paid any train fare if he came home, we also paid his monthly phone bill. Also if we went up to see him, I would take homecooked food for his freezer and top him up with toiletries/toilet rolls/laundry stuff.

flossietoot · 03/11/2018 20:02

I am a bit baffled by all these students unable to have part time jobs- I did law and worked part time doing various things- hospitality, retail, promotions. All my friends worked too.

MyBrexitIsIll · 03/11/2018 20:02

Have a look the other way around. How much do you spend per week per person?
We spend about £30 a week per person for food. That’s wo really looking at how much we spend iyswim.

£50doesnt sound bad to me but it will depend what else she is going to pay from that amount (going out, books, clothes etc etc)

Shitlandpony · 03/11/2018 20:02

noeffingidea did you not have to send your income to student finance for his loan calculation? We had to.

Ethel80 · 03/11/2018 20:23

I'm a student and I've watched some of the younger ones really struggle financially if their parents can't help out.

Most of them couldn't even cover self catering halls from their maintenance loans so needed top ups from parents. That leaves them with nothing for food, bills, books etc

Some are working ridiculous hours to make ends meet and their studies are suffering as a result.
It depends on the course how much you can work. Some have almost full time contact time. First and second for me was 3 days a week and 2 in third year.

For courses with placements, it's almost impossible to do a full time placement, keep up with uni work and have a job too and it's actually unsafe to do so in some cases.

I really don't know how parents manage to fund this for their kids.

canihaveanap · 03/11/2018 20:26

I can't believe she thinks you are being stingy.
I was expected to get a job and provide for myself at uni which seemed to be the norm (less than ten years ago).
My mum direct debited me a tenner a week.

seven201 · 03/11/2018 20:45

You are not being stingy!! Why doesn't she get a job? I worked in the student union and also did events waitressing when at uni. Plenty of students won't be given anything. I'd stop paying her phone bill and Spotify if she's being so ungrateful!

LynetteScavo · 03/11/2018 21:24

I have the opposite issue to most people - My DS won't spend money, he just wants to hoard it. This makes it really difficult to know how much to give him. I've paid for all clothes and books etc this term I loaded him up with food at the beginning of term, and this weekend. He says he spends an average of £15 a week on food, and doesn't really drink.He seems to have enough money to have bought a stash of vinyl at some vinyl fayre. He hasn't washed any clothes in a washing machine, even though I'm happy to top up his laundry card...he won't give me the log in details, and says the four sets of duvet covers I left him with in September will last until Christmas.

So basically we're giving him very little. He has about £60 cash PW he's at uni. My plan is to back off next year and give him the cash and let him walk around in threadbare clothes if he chooses.

choirmumoftwo · 03/11/2018 22:31

Shitlandpony We didn't have to send any proof of income as we earn over the amount where DS would qualify for anything other than the minimum maintenance loan. Presumably noeffingidea is the same?

BackforGood · 03/11/2018 23:35

This is making my eyes water, there's no way I could fund mine through uni, they are on their own.
Interesting to see how much they need though and how much they need to earn.

I wouldn't take MN as a representative reflection of how much the "need". I'm always one of the lowest on these threads, and my dc (2nd one going through university at the moment) have always said their money is fine. Whenever I read these threads (and even more so the pocket money threads) I am stunned at the amounts of 'spending money' some young people seem to have.
Both my dcs' experiences are that some students have more than them and some have less. Obviously costs are higher if you study / live in London - and there is probably a sliding scale in terms of a few other major cities - and then some halls are walkable to everything and othes need bus passes etc., but there is a big difference IMo between 'need' and 'want'.

Can I ask what sort of job fits in with their studies and what subjects they are studying.

100s of jobs. Shops, bars, clubs, cafes, signing up with agencies for office work, stuff like inputting data overnight, lifeguarding, babysitting, work at tourist attractions, cleaning, care work, tutoring, climbing instructor, front of house in theatres, cinemas, work at stadiums for football / rugby matches, work at arenas for concerts, gigs, working for firms like Compass who cater at big sporting events (test matches or big racing meets), refereeing sports fixtures, delivery drivers, fruit picking.

We have quite a way to go yet but I know weekend work would be out of the question in mines case.

If this is due to sporting fixtures, all my dc work around them. A huge number of jobs these days don't involve working at a set time each week, or as 'Saturday jobs' - they work around their timetables, and on different days / different shifts to fit round other commitments.

If students are doing Nursing or Medicine then I agree working isn't that practical, but most other students can fit it in if need be. Even if they can't find work at University, don't forget they get about 18 weeks holiday a year from the end of June after A-levels - that ought to be enough to do some serious earning to create a cushion.

MarchingFrogs · 04/11/2018 08:51

did you not have to send your income to student finance for his loan calculation? We had to.

If you have already calculated that your DC will not qualify for anything above the minimum maintenance loan, then there is no need to go through the means testing process. Students have to opt in to that part (i.e. to involve parents in submitting proof of income etc); everyone eligible for a maintenamnce loan through SFE is eligible for the basic loan.

Fifthtimelucky · 04/11/2018 13:01

This is all very interesting as we haven't entirely decided what to do about my daughter who is in her first year. With the older one, we paid for accommodation and food (she was in catered accommodation) and her phone. Her minimum student loan covered everything else.

We're trying to be consistent with the younger one but she is self catering. We pay for her accommodation, plus her phone and so far have been reimbursing her when she goes food shopping (plus paid for a big food shop when I took her). Next term I want to give her a set amount, so that she can budget. Based on current expenditure, it will probably be £25-30 a week.

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