How much did you spent kitting your DCs out for Uni?

[MintyCedric]

I mean the essentials...and any little extras to make halls a bit cosier for them?

DD won't be going until 2023, all going well but I'm a single parent and currently full time carer for my mum so want to start shuffling a bit away each month ASAP. Unfortunately can't rely on her dad for any meaningful contribution 🙄.

Fortunately she should get full loan and a part-time job she loves who have already said they'd be happy to keep her on remotely, but would like to set her up so she has as few outgoings as possible for the first term at least.

Not much at all, like others DS took old/charity shop bargains/spare stuff from home ... you really, really don't need to go mad spending ... most of it came home unused / unpacked at the end of the year .

Above all make sure your DD can cook. If she can whip up something using rice or pasta put with whatever might be in the fridge, she will save a lot. Ditto a portable coffee mug. Either make at home, or a cafe might have a £1 for coffee if you bring your own mug, deal.

I don’t plan on spending much for dd. I’m a single parent too and a carer to her younger sibling. I will be buying her a sandwich toaster as it’s the only thing she can really cook (she doesn’t like pasta, rice etc…) 🤣. I am hoping she will go into catered halls as she has dyspraxia and Aspergers, she struggles with cooking. She already has loads of bedding and nice fluffy blankets which she can take with her, obviously she will need a duvet and pillows and some bits to make her room homely but I don’t plan on it costing too much.

Right so...

• I'm going to stick to my budget.

• prioritise stuff for her room/personal use rather than cooking equipment.

• discourage the purchase of generic white items!

• give her first dibs on anything she wants to take from home before shopping.

I'm so glad I started this thread and really appreciate the comments. I wasn't expecting much response as it's not really the 'right' time of year iykwim?

I just really want her to be comfortable and have everything she needs so she can focus on her studies and making new friends in the first few months.

She's an amazing kid and we've had a rough few years so she really deserves whatever support I can give her.

Not gonna lie, also living vicariously a bit as I didn't go to uni and always regretted it.

@Needmoresleep

She can cook OK...and we've got a while to fine tune her skills. She certainly wouldn't starve but would probably live on pasta, rice, eggs and baked oats.

You can buy really nice crockery in charity shops for very little. I'd start keeping an eye out now for bargains.

One of the problems with kicthen stuff in shared halls kitchens if that everyone uses your stiff and then refuses to wash it because it’s not theirs.

DD started off at the end of the year letting everyone use her stuff. She didn’t mind because she came by car whereas most were overseas students who obviously didn’t pack for crockery in their suitcases.

By Christmas she was fed up and by January she was keeping most of her kitchen equipment in a box under her bed.

Other tips - for us the biggest outlay was a decent laptop with a good battery life.

Other things we spend very little. Halls at very hot so they only need a thin duvet. Duvet covers are very cheap £15 ish so they can have a couple. No point in paying a lot because they get fed up with the style.

I just really want her to be comfortable and have everything she needs so she can focus on her studies and making new friends in the first few months.

In truth those trips off to the shops and sorting things out together in the first couple of weeks in a shared kitchen are quite bonding

Halls at very hot so they only need a thin duvet.

Depends very much on the actual room / building. DS2 got his dream choice of residence this year at UEA, but was mindful of the comment from a friend who was in the same accommodation last year that one of the most useful things she had was the thick 'faux rabbit fur' throw I got her as a going away present. So I got him one, too. I think they were the most expensive single items I had ever bought from The Range.

Wilko is good for bedding; we got a 10.5 tog single duvet for £7.50 in one of their 'events' in the summer.

@Kite22

I just really want her to be comfortable and have everything she needs so she can focus on her studies and making new friends in the first few months.

In truth those trips off to the shops and sorting things out together in the first couple of weeks in a shared kitchen are quite bonding

Yeah, I'll definitely fo minimalist on the kitchen stuff.

I'm sure she'll find plenty of excuse for shopping once let loose in London .

@MintyCedric
Do ask relatives and friends if they want to help. We gave DN crockery, glasses, mugs, a couple of saucepans, a frying pan, a couple of tea towels, utensils, and pillows plus a duvet, towels and bed linen. We didn’t need this quite old stuff and were pleased to get rid. She was delighted to have it. If DDs fussy then this won’t work but lots of students don’t have new of everything.

Printing can be expensive and most students need a decent lap top. Don’t forget you can always shop when you get there. If there’s no loo brush or spatula, you can go and shop for them! DN had stuff from us that our DDs had had at uni and the saucepans and crockery were bought by me when I left home in the 70s. So it’s done the rounds!

As an aside, one of my favourite and most unexpected sights on Moving In Day, was a student arriving with their anxious parents in the car (like me on the day I was leaving my first at Uni)...stepping out looking really relaxed...and draped in their duvet from home across their shoulders

Made me feel a bit more relaxed about things after that.

Of course you can take a duvet from home. Just take it back when you need it again!

I didn't spend much on DS2. For a lot of things we 'shopped our home' (towels, lamp, bedside trolley, fake plants). DS2 is Autistic, so actually preferred to have familiar rather than new things, and in particular his bedding, pillow, etc. One of the mugs he chose from home was the very first mug I ever bought for myself in about 1980! He liked having that connection.

Top tip I picked up from somewhere: give them a washing-up bowl, so they can still wash their stuff up when the sink is full of others' days-old unwashed stuff (including bits of food, yuk). Just put the bowl on the counter and use the kettle for hot water if you can't even get near the hot tap!

I did give him a box of tinned/packet foodstuffs to keep under his bed for when he forgets to shop, and did a basic food shop for him when we got there to start him off (and to familiarise him with his local Lidl).

Totally agree with having random coloured/patterned crockery, not the ubiquitous white plates. So much easier to spot as 'yours'.

£130 if I remember correctly plus raided kitchen

Unfortunately we don't really have much family to speak of, and most of my friends will be sending their DDs off to uni at the same time.

My mum is quite generous but she's 82 so have to consider her future care needs which is a very grey area currently. She was also not very encouraging of my plans to go to uni and is showing signs of being similar with DD so would prefer to keep her out of the equation tbh.

Hopefully XH will surprise me. He is very much in favour of her going to uni so you never know.

If DDs fussy then this won’t work

I have to admit she is a bit picky. Not in the sense that she'd want really pricey or labels, but she'd prefer to choose her own things. I think she'll probably take a fair bit of bedroom stuff from home though.

That said she works hard and is quite content to chip in for stuff over and above the basics. She worked two jobs over the summer so she could have the prom dress she wanted as it was more than I'd budgeted for.

She already saves about 20% of her monthly pay and is anticipating buying her own tech for uni as she has her heart set on a new iPad.

OP … Come over to this sparkling new board:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mature_students

‘Mature study and retraining’.

Nothing in the world has made me more proud than my DM going off to university while I was an undergraduate …

Spent very little but grandparents bought the laptop. Wilkos for any essentials.
Saw you’re expecting full loan. Do check this will be enough for living. Daughter would be rich in some places and struggle in others. I work at. London uni and not sure anyone can survive on the loan as accommodation is outrageously expensive. Just do the research as the cost of pans pale into insignificance.
Good luck

Thanks @DebIr.

She's hoping to go to KCL, but also applying to QM, one other London uni tbh and either Nottingham or Cardiff.

The accommodation is eye-watering. Last time I looked into it the loan would cover accommodation and food but everything else will need to be supplemented.

DD will definitely work whilst she's at uni and in the holidays which will help, and I'm hoping to be back at work at least part-time by the time she goes.

@LiterallyKnowsBest awww that's lovely, and definitely something I'd like to do at some point. Unfortunately with so many support services closed down I have my hands full with my mum atm. It's very difficult to do anything that requires bouts of long term focus .

She should ask about bursaries.

London Universities can be very generous. They want to see a diversity amongst their students that includes the less well off from the rest of the UK. I think they can also help with access to their more affordable accommodation.

Oddly after accommodation, London can be relatively inexpensive. There is a lot of free stuff going on, and transport is good, plus you can walk/cycle to a lot of places, and get direct coaches home to just about anywhere. Jobs, whether part time or during vacations, are also easy to come by.

Worth planning in advance...as you are doing.

I strongly advise her to do the sums of considering London. We told ours it simply wasn't an option, they only get £4k each maintenance (would have been £7k in London) so with 2 there's already a lot of shortfall. Cardiff or Nottingham are both good universities and accommodation in the second year will be higher quality and much cheaper. Dd pays £105 a week in Cardiff incl of bills

I spent very little. They took bedding and towels from the back of the linen cupboard, their own duvets and old crocks and pots from our kitchen or a DGP kitchen. I do remember using a trip to Ikea to pick up some cheap basics where we had no spares.

Surviving items went to the dump after serving one or more DC.

I definitely wouldn't be buying mattress toppers and the like on the assumption that they are needed. Let her go with spares and basics and work out if there is anything else she actually needs.

I’m sorry, but I would be appalled to hear that a prospective undergraduate was forced to avoid particular universities because of accommodation costs. There are always ways to make university affordable (assuming the basic requirement of British citizenship, without which things can be complicated).

Application choices should always be made according to relative quality of course and reputation of university, and then whether the student would like to live in the place.

@LiterallyKnowsBest

I’m sorry, but I would be appalled to hear that a prospective undergraduate was forced to avoid particular universities because of accommodation costs. There are always ways to make university affordable (assuming the basic requirement of British citizenship, without which things can be complicated).

Application choices should always be made according to relative quality of course and reputation of university, and then whether the student would like to live in the place.

I'm afraid in the real world, I advised my dc to avoid London due to cost.

ds get full loan. He got a job at dominoes after he discovered how expensive hiw social life is

Literally...I agree.

I think it is down to an assumption that all students want a typical student experience, clubbing etc, and that is cheaper elsewhere. Being a student in London is different but there are loads of students and big variety of cheaper options. And some enjoy the bigger emphasis on course and a chance to get away from the social pressures that can exist elsewhere.

And job prospects for many courses at London's RH Universities are good, with lots of chances to attend employer sessions and find local internships.

You might find London accommodation means ex Council, albeit in a mainly private block, and you might have to forego a living room, but rental prices have risen so sharply elsewhere that we have not noticed a big difference. (Bristol vs London)

As I suggested, planning is key.