University 2020 :8: Use the CAGs, don’t use the CAGs...

[MillicentMartha]

...if you can use the mocks, then use the mocks but not if they're higher than the CAGs.

And hopefully on to university!

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3993327-University-2020-7-Results-tombola-roll-up-roll-up-pick-a-prize?pg=39

@Swarskid2184

Have others DC’s worked out their weekly ‘living’ budget? DD thinks she needs £100/week for everything (her halls rent includes gym membership) - she is self-catering.

Dd1 works on about £45 a week. Dd2 refuses to discuss it. Hundred seems a lot.

I am planning on giving ds about £75 per week term time and that's self catered. He has some savings for luxuries and has been luck enough to be able to keep his part time job in the holidays.

On finances we did same as a lot of friends/Mumsnet and paid for accom, leaving minimum loan for everything else. That works out at £100/week without any payments over the summer holiday. That seems quite a lot to me, but does seem to be about normal.

Monkey , we did that with ds1 but he was self catered. Finding it much more difficult with ds3 who is fully catered and really doesn’t need as much

We (DD and myself combined) can only afford about £100 a month to send to Dgd and she's going to London! ,(KCL).

We worked out £30 a week for food ( self-catered). It's quite possible even in London. It will mean some cooking in bulk like cook a curry for 4 people split into 4 portions and freeze. Can do same with spag bog. Lasagne, stew, soup, blah blah.

Sost, I remember seeing other posts of yours. i am glad your granddaughter got into KCL. It is a very good one. My daughter had it on her list of 5 (but went to Bristol as we live in outer London anyway). That sounds a good amount and actually parents can only pay what they can afford anyway and the young people tend to work around what they are given. My son does lots of cooking from scratch with vegetables and beans (he is vegan) and it is very cheap.

Beyond a basic amount, I agree that most will spend what they're given. Unfortunately, it's easy to see it as not real money and with thousands of pounds of debt from day one, there's a danger of developing an attitude of "what does another hundred here or there matter?". It can soon add up.
I think £25-30 a week is perfectly adequate and £45 is comfortable. It depends on savings and how much eating out they see as normal and how they choose to socialise. I'm sure London is trickier in some ways but offers more choice in others and as @Sostenueto and @Xenia say it's important to learn to work to your budget and make the best of it.

Sost as your DGD is going to get the full loans & bursaries, you mustn't feel guilty about topping her up financially. She may well have more more available than many DC through her student finance, as a significant number of students may not get the expected parental contributions if they receive less than the maximum loan. Don't forget that most of those posting about topping up have DC who will be receiving a maintenance loan of under £5k.

Dd1/2 get about £25 a month each from me. Both had wages and have been furloughed in the summer so did better than me as I’ve had nothing since March!
Neither are big drinkers so that helps as dd1 reckons some of her friends will spend £50 easily on a night out.

Xenia Bristol was dgds insurance! She also got Manchester and Nottingham all for Msc.

xenia London seduced Dgd! We wanted her to go to Bristol but we aren't the ones going😁and Kings us second only to Oxbridge for her course in the country anyway.

Oh yes forgot hog

I mentioned above that the fairly common arrangement of minimum loan to live on and parents pay accommodation works out around £100/week in term time. I agree that is a lot for day to day stuff, but it also needs to cover gym membership, new clothes, laundry, visits to GF (who will be 300 miles away for DS) and there will be no extra money in the summer, so he will have to work or save term time money to fund summer plans. A friend who had a DS in self catered and a DD in catered did the same for both. I think catered people generally miss a few meals in hall most weeks due to other commitments.

Gym membership?!!

Dgd planning on joining swimming and water polo club so that's £120 a year😮
She was too late for activities in fresher's week that are not on line. Because of Covid restrictions only 30% capacity and they all sold out within a half hour and expensive too.
She also wants to start up a club of her own. A taskmasters one and a tea tasting one. 🤔

Helpful to see the conversation on budgets. I think DS will do quite well with a relatively large maintenence loan but it will be more expensive for him in London than it has been for DD in Swansea. I hope he gets a good feel for what he can afford, possibly thinks through a budget for things, and doesn't get too carried away on nights out. He might be able to go back to his fruit picking job on local farm next summer too which would be handy.
First morning of course today!
I wonder how it's going with some kind of online check in with tutors and possibly an online lecture or two.
I'll have to call him later!

King's is very good. She has done very well. My granddaughter started school today (if I have the right day) so has a long way to go to be at university stage. My son's school friend has been at LSE (just finished) and loved being in London.

Thanks Xenia x

DS has drawn up a budget and on paper will be fine (especially with the restrictions on going out). I'm paying his rent, and he'll live off the min maintenance loan.

Think I've got the better end of the deal as his allocated hall is cheaper than the one he wanted!

Same here @ShaunaTheSheep. Three grand cheaper

I’m completely stumped as to what to give to DD - she‘s our first to go to uni and our youngest child. She’s in London and accommodation is likely to be about £8500. Imperial has a generous bursary up to £5000 and she’s due to get loan of about £9k. Can anyone suggest a reasonable amount for us to give her on top of that, so that she can survive?

@seedybird she should not need any top up. Rent covered by loan with £5.5k to live on is more than any students I know. As long as she does not have an expensive commute she should be fine.

Most people say rent plus minimum loan £4k, which is just over £100/week in term time, is adequate. The reason London students get more is mainly because of the high rent. Of course you will probably want to get the of shop for her and may want to continue to cover her mobile phone, but she really should be fine.

get the odd shop for her

I agree with Monkey. DD will have the min loan to live on, we'll pay her accommodation, but we expect her to budget to pay for her breakfast & dinner each day. I'll still pay for her phone, Spotify, Netflix, tennis club etc on top.