If you're helping out your uni student kids financially, how much is it costing you per month?

[ToofFairy]

Trying to get a rough idea of how much it will cost to put the kids through uni. I don't expect they will get much more than the basic student loan. Not London prices.

My step daughter only had 16 hours' contact time and a further 10 hours of private study time recommended. Plenty of time left to get a part time job that funded her social life, including occasional day trips with uni friends. We gave a small contribution (to cover travel home) and paid for one off expenses like new glasses etc.

We’ll be topping DD’s loan up by the maximum amount. Never fails to baffle me that the amount a student can BORROW (not like this is free bloody money!!) is based on the amount their parents earn and yet absolutely no context is taken into account. It’s a stupid system.

Son gets the minimum loan and we pay £500 rent, mobile and car insurance. He has to pay for Petrol for his drive to placement. He also has a Saturday job but hopefully will pick up more shifts in Easter and the summer holidays. Grandparents send the occasional £50.

Ds1 gets the minimum loan. His loan just about covers rent minus £50. We pay him £100 a week for living costs and also for his phone.

We are fortunate he can be in halls for the first 3 years of his 4 year degree so costs for accommodation are fairly fixed. DS1 is doing an engineering degree so no real scope for part time work.

Ds2 will also be going to university this year and we plan to do the same. I suspect ds2 will struggle more with budgeting but he thinks he can get a part time job.

About £600 a month.

We pay £300 a month for my dd1s rent (Glasgow - she lives in a cheap area). She's quite local to us so gets trips to Asda etc as well, and we buy her academic supplies (she's at Glasgow School of Art and goes through a lot, especially Pritt sticks and double-sided tape!). Pay her phone. So it's probably £500 a month. She worked for the first 2 years but it was too much with her studio time so we pay the rent now. She gets minimum loan but of course her fees are paid.

Her brother starts nursing in September and as we're in Scotland he'll get a bursary, so we hope he'll pay for his own halls. Placements will make having a job more difficult.

Dd2 is at college doing an HND and has a job in her sector. She's currently planning on moving out but not sure when. We pay her phone and any course related supplies.

Just thinking DD starting uni will tie in just bloody perfectly with the energy bills rise in October 😐

We’re really struggling with knowing how much spare cash we will actually have to give her.

I pay my ds' accommodation which is about £1700 a term.

And £10 a month mobile phone.

He has savings to live on.

I find these threads terrifying. I'm gently steering mine into modern day apprenticeships

A very good idea, but they need to be very talented to get a degree apprenticeship, as well as knowing already what they want to do with their lives. It's easier to get a degree course place, and you still have many jobs open to you regardless of what you study.

Just thinking DD starting uni will tie in just bloody perfectly with the energy bills rise in October

my son's rent includes bills next year but I bet it won't in the 3rd year. I think I will suggest he tries to get back into university accommodation as it will probably be a bit more affordable.

DD1 gets minimum loan of 4200.
Her rent is £5600 this year. We top that up each term. Then she is given £300 a month to live on. We might have to give her more soon as food and transport costs have risen. We've done the odd food shop for her already.

I still pay for DDs mobile contract and contact lenses. She also has some savings if she wants to go out now or buy clothes. I am hoping she will get 4 months work in the summer to replenish those.

[quote TizerorFizz]@Pinkbendyman
How does he join in with socialising and drinks? Or does he not drink? I’m not in favour of drinking a lot but part of uni is socialising.[/quote]
For my postgraduate I studied in a city at the other end of the country. A lot of my course mates were older than me and had returned home to return to postgraduate study. They were all within a bus or train ride of the city and used to travelling in to socialise so it was easy enough. Or else they would sleep on the floors of the few of us living in halls around the city after a night out.

We give ours £400 per month for food and general expenses. We pay for his phone, and extras like train fare home etc. Maintenance loan doesn't quite cover his rent, so we pay the difference there.

Ds is due to start in September

If he was eligible for the full loan then we would not be giving him anything but as it is he will probably get the minimum. He finds it difficult to get past the application stage of p/t jobs due to his autism.

We will therefore be making his loan up to the full amount which I calculate will probably be £431 per month

In a sense we have a similar principle to the 1980s when I went - children of middle class children only obtaining about £4300 minimum and parents not legally obliged to top it up to the maximum of £9500 today or whatever it is and amount based on what parents have but parents might contribute nothing.

I think it is Baroness Helena Kennedy who last week was calling for a legal obligation on parents to support children to age 21 being introduced (which is may be the case in Scotland already but definitely not in England). I don't however support that possible change. I read that somewhere but not sure where now..

@TizerorFizz

He’s not a big drinker/party goer so it doesn’t bother him at all.

I would support the change!

If a student is deemed to be given a minimum loan then the parts should pay to top it up to the maximum to give the student a decent footing.

Poorer students get the full loan
Higher earns get nothing or a reduced load
.
I know too many students living in poverty while parents throw money at siblings.

DD1. Minimum loan. We pay accommodation + £100 per week for food and going out during term time. Also pay phone contract, travel expenses and quite a lot of clothes.

DD2 starts in September, so at least a year overlap of paying out twice.

My parents were generous to me when I went to university. I would hate their experience to be limited by lack of cash, so although it's a stretch, I'm happy to pay.

I'll join in, Ds gets the minimum loan of £4422 so we will top him up by £5066 for the year to equal the maximum loan amount of £9488.

His accommodation is £6335 so if we take that off the maximum £9488 it leaves approximately £105 per week of the 30 weeks he is at uni. He pays all of his maintenance loan into his student bank account, we top up the rest needed for his accommodation which is paid in 3 instalments. Then he has another bank account that he uses for his day to day which I transfer £100 into weekly and I top up his laundry card with £7 every week.

His food is around £30 per week. Any money left over sees him through the holidays, meeting his mates etc. He is very good with money, budgets really well so we don't have any worries on that front. He likes the weekly money rather than a lump sum.

Financial support is variable though. Ds is at Durham where there is a fixed rate for self catered with additional costs for things like en-suite or a reduction for sharing a room. But expensive, not as expensive as others. Whereas at other universities like Manchester or Warwick you can choose much cheaper accommodation.

Sorry, can I ask how the fees are paid?

So most courses are £9000
Plus accommodation £6000
Plus parent contribution of £3500 - taken as a weekly allowance?

Plus extras - travel big shop occasional trays etc?

Is that right?

Sorry, can I ask how the fees are paid?

You don't see the course fees. The money goes direct to the University.
The student gets approx 1/3 of the loan they are able to have each term. It isn't exactly 1/3, it depends on the number of weeks, but it in the same proportion as the accommodation.

The student then pays the halls for the term on the day the loan comes in, or the day after. (Usually they will have had to pay a deposit once accommodation is confirmed, for the most part that is shortly after results day in August an will generally be about 4 weeks rent). In many cases, parents will have to send their student a top up, to be able to pay for the halls - in others, student uses their earning from the Summer, or they go into their overdraft.

Then it is up to the parents how they send money across - in one termly amount, or monthly or weekly. Or only sending enough for what they need weekly and holding on to the money they are going to need for the deposit and advance rent for their 2nd year accommodation. There are people that believe one way or a different way is the best way for their student or for their own finances, and others that think a different way is best. Some parents don't give the student their 'expected contribution'. Some give more, some give part of it. Varies wildly, for lots of different reasons.

Then some students pay for their train fares or drive their own cars, many others get collected and dropped by parents. Some of course have a mixture. Some hop on the megabus. Some get a lift with a friend / share petrol costs. SOme live locally and commute anyway.

Blue - agree with Kite other than where parents pay the fees as I do the parent pays that direct to the university.

Does anyone know why there is such a small difference between the loan for living away from home outside London and the loan for living at home? It’s less than £1000 if they just qualify for the minimum. Which probably doesn’t even cover 2 months in halls.

It has always puzzled me too. You almost feel it ought to be 50% less if you live at home.

@BluebellsGreenbells when your child fills in their finance form online it asks if you if you wish to borrow the tuition fees, asks you how much do you want to borrow and if you are to fund any of it yourself. The vast majority of students take out the loan. Obviously, as demonstrated, the lovely Xenia has paid for all of her children's tuition fees and living costs. I admire her greatly for her incredible success and hard work.

It then asks if you wish to take out the maintenance loan. The minimum is always given but it asks if you wish to apply for more whereby you provide proof of your household earnings.

Ds gets the minimum of £4422, his payments have been approximately £1460 per term so far. And yes, I have a finances spreadsheet for his money. His rent dates were 1st Dec, 1st Feb and 1st June. That is Durham.

As Kite says every family works it differently in terms of what they pay for etc. There is the cost of the initial set up of bedding, towels, kitchen items, tech such as laptops etc depending on their course. Then it is up to the student and parents to decide who pays for any additional stuff, parents or from their loan money or job.