How much will your DC have to live on per week in first year at university?

[Bouledeneige]

My DD is off in September to a vibrant northern city. We have applied for student finance for a tuition loan and the minimum maintenance grant because of our earnings. Her Dad and I (divorced) plan to split paying the self catering accommodation rent which also includes utilities and insurance but not food, and she will live on the maintenance grant - £4,168 (which over 52 weeks would be £80 per week though I would expect her to get work in holidays and possibly part time during the course). We also pay her mobile phone bill.

I have checked the Save the Student website which says all in the average student spends £770 per month but that includes rent and bills. When you subtract those that comes to about £82 a week for food, travel, social life, books etc.

What are you expecting your DC to live on per week after bill and rent?

I'd paid the rent for year 1, since then they have been self supporting with the maximum maintenance loan.

The costs are frightening!

How can it be right that student accommodation costs as much as many mortgages per month?

NewModelArmy the rent includes bills and utilities so it's not the same as a mortgage. I agree the rents are very high though.

I live in a very expensive city. Some student accommodation was built a few years ago and I went and looked round. The rooms were nice and not a bad size but they were £950 pcm inc.

EmmaGrundyForPM oh, I'd not thought of the utilities aspect of the rental charges. But still. And who has £950 pcm to pay on accommodation???

Yet remember many students will not pay any of this and the tax payer i.e. I and many others are picking up the cost as the maintenance loan can often be as high as £8k and will cover this rent so the student gets to live rent free (if they never earn enough to pay back the loan which is the case for plenty) and tax payers pick up the tab in effect including those tax payers who never got a chance to go to university.

Ds1 doesn’t have a maintenance loan

And although I completely agree with xenias post I'm hoping that he will be a tax payer at some point

Not taking a maintenance loan but taking one for fees is the worst of both worlds. Really not worth doing. Personally I am optimistic that the Government will see sense and implement the 1.2x amount (excl inflation) pay back.

Not taking a maintenance loan but taking one for fees is the worst of both worlds. Really not worth doing

Can you explain why please?

Because once you reach the threshold income you pay the same per month whether you owe £10K or £100K. Read Martin Lewis on the subject. It's actually a graduate tax, in effect.

Although if you earn a lot (eg my London lawyer daughters where £100k a year is not unusual in those kinds of jobs) 9% x £100k - £25k = £6750 a year student loan repayment it may make a difference to have a smaller sum owed as those people probably do get to pay it all off because they earn a lot (eg that person would pay about £33,750 over 5 years - not sure if that would be mostly interest or some capital )

NewModel my dd is renting in a house share for her second year, that's £450 a month for the smallest room in the house but then there's utilities on top. It should still be cheaper than halls where her en-suite room was £160 a week. But her halls accommodation not only included utilities but a full access bus pass around the city so it wasn't too bad value.

She's been extremely frugal with food shopping, virtually everything made from scratch because she's vegetarian. And as someone else said, we're not paying for a three year piss up.

Laundry costs are very expensive though so you're better off buying them enough pants and socks etc to get them through two weeks to reduce the costs because £5 to wash and dry is a lot. She's managed fine doing this and has learnt a valuable lesson in budgeting.

I have been buying packs of pants and socks when I go to Tesco, I will be buying plain t-shirts next so that will see ds through weeks-enough to properly fill one of the washing machines! How much are launderette prices these days,are they comparable?

My oldest pays 155 a week for a small en suite at Southampton, includes all bills and an annual bus pass. From July he will be in a shared house with 6 others for 100 a week but it's 52 weeks and bills are not included.

My younger child will be paying 148 for a large en-suite at Northampton from Sept. included in that are all bills, a laptop, and all sports club memberships.

I went to an old and fairly affluent University about 20 years ago and my parents paid £80 a week in year 1 for fully inclusive halls (3 meals a day). As my course had me on campus for long days I ended up making sandwiches too. I met sensible friends and moved out in Y2 and we cooked for ourselves and had lower costs afterwards as the cost was crazy.

My DD is a young teen, but I have already taught her some skills that I hope will help when she has to make financial decisions. For example, the basics of batch cooking and freezing meat and budgeting in terms of prioritising and saving for treats. It is a shame forecast budgeting isn't taught at schools as it would be useful at University and in general.

DD lived opposite Primark in her first year & I'm horrified to say that she sometimes decided that it was cheaper to buy new clothes (particularly pants & socks) than to pay for a wash.

Mustbetime Our DDs may well have been in the same halls. Was it a grey and yellow building?

I think it probably was. With a Tesco at the bottom?

Mustbetimeforachange I can hardly blame her!