How much does maintenance cost each year (assuming your child is not living at home)?

[FrydayFish]

I'm trying to get a feel for how much it will cost when the first of our two kids goes to uni in a couple of years.
Obviously the fees will probably be 9k per year but how much per year does it cost for accommodation,food, travel, socializing etc.
I would like to think that my kids will get part time jobs while they are in uni so what is a ballpark figure for how much I will have to subsidise them per year?
6k, 8k, 10k, 12k?

I know loans for maintenance are also available but for now I'd just like to get a rough feel for the numbers.
Thanks

Depends on your household income. If over £65k pa, then they'll only be eligible for the basic maintenance loan which is just over £4k a year. The expectation is that parents top that up to the full loan which is £9k a year and available to those with household income under £25k. So £500 a month or so is the most (assuming outside London).

Fees are paid from loan direct from loan company to uni - parents/students don't get involved in that bit at all.

Sorry @titchy, I'm not interested in what loans are available or who earns what.

I'm just looking for a rough idea of the net costs per year of a student who's living away from home,
ie spendings - any income from part time job etc.

I don’t think anyone can tell you that. Depends on where they go and how much they are likely to spend!
The full maintenance loan for 22/23 outside London is £9706. So the government thinks that a student can live on that outside London I guess. How much you have to contribute towards that £9706 depends on your household income . Of course, if you can afford it ( and you wanted to) you could give more .. or your Dc could borrow nothing and you could pay for everything

I think people whose children have been to uni recently could give me a rough idea of how much it cost them, that's all I'm asking for.

I probably should have said that we are in London so I'm looking for figures for outside of London cos' if they go to uni in London (yes please) they will live at home.

Currently tuition fees are £9250 per year. Everyone can get a loan for the full amount regardless of household income.

Maintenance costs vary a lot depending on where you are at university, the main cost is accommodation. It would be worth having a look at a few university websites to get an idea.

In theory, the maintenance cost is £9488 this year (£9.7k next year I think) - this is what parents are expected to contribute to if the student doesn't get a full loan. This is where household income is assessed. London figures are higher.

My D1 manages fine on this, but she also gets the Oxford bursary and travel grants plus book grants from her departments. She doesn't have time for a part time job during term time. Accommodation costs are not too bad as her terms are short and food in hall is subsidised.

@FrydayFish

Sorry *@titchy*, I'm not interested in what loans are available or who earns what.

I'm just looking for a rough idea of the net costs per year of a student who's living away from home,
ie spendings - any income from part time job etc.

Well if you'd read my post properly you'd have seen that I said quite clearly that the suggested amount is what the full maintenance loan is, which is just over £9k a year. So there's your answer.

And yes this is a manageable amount.

Well Ds year 2 Nottingham pays £120 in rent per week. Then you need to factor in food and going out costs. He is in quite low rent accommodation so you could double that for other areas. Also other posters are correct that what you need to top up depends of the level of loan they get. We also give £40 per week for food and ds works. He also runs a car and we pay insurance for that as well as his phone.

My DS received the minimum maintenance loan of around £4k which he used to live on (food, social life, etc) and we paid his rent as it was a fixed cost. He went to Liverpool and we paid £5 - £6k per year.

Accommodation costs vary wildly. Did is at Durham where self catered or catered is a set amount with slight variations for ensuite or shared. He is in an en-suite so is paying £6335 for this year. Next year he is moving into another en-suite which will cost about £1k more. He spends £30 a week at the supermarket. Then add in socialising, travel home which again can very massively. Some courses will have books to buy others not.

I should add as you asked ds works 2 shifts a week at minimum wage, so about 15 hours a week as his income in a pub.

My son gets the minimum maintainence loan which is just over £4,000. His accommodation is £7000. We cover the cost of his accommodation and he lives off the loan. That easily gives him £100 a week to live off term time and he can earn extra if he wants to.

My DS worked at McDonalds during the holidays to top up his loan

DSS is at uni first year, loan paid for a bit of accom, £1500 deficit. New MacBook book £1500.
Phone bill monthly £40, £150 given as spends a month on food etc. has savings from working summer before uni. All these costs split between us and his mum.
Loan pays for tuition fees.

Costs vary according to university and lifestyles. Most universities publish a cost estimate for students. You need to check on the websites of the Universities your DC are considering.

Here is one example

www.ox.ac.uk/students/fees-funding/living-costs

…….and another

www.dur.ac.uk/student.finance/current/costs/

It will very much depend on which uni they go to and whether they have a true choice of accommodation or whether the uni allocates halls. DS in Bristol has rent of £8k per annum for his allocated halls. His 2nd year house is going ro be £650 per month excluding bills. DS who went to QUB had rent of £4k a year.

So as a starting point you may want to look at the accommodation pages of the unis they may wish to go to.

Dd attends Imperial, in her third year.
In the first year she stayed in Beit Hall which was about £230pw, that was for a single en suite.
Second year and this year she's sharing a flat with uni pals, that costs around £280pw excluding bills.
We could only pay for it as my DF had set aside money to pay for her school fees and uni costs.
She gets the tuition loan but we cover everything else (within reason!)

We give our kids £1100 a month to cover rent and spends
Pay their phones and contact lenses
Also do big shopping at start of each term

As the first poster said the loan is 9k, that’s what is considered reasonable to live on. However some uni’s accommodation is 7-8k so that doesn’t leave much. But that’s most peoples starting point, they top up to 9k, or if not taking a loan start at 9k. I’d say about 10k per year for accommodation & living costs. Fee’s are 9k per year. So you’re looking at 19k a year

The first response was correct - that the state expects children to manage on the maximum maintenance loan so if you get the minimum you top up to the maximum. If you don't take the loan then that maximum is the average sum they need about 10k a year (or £6k top up over minimum loan).

In my case I pay the children £150 a week and they have no loans plus when they were living at university I paid their full rent too. Halls of residence could be £7k - £8k a year year. So in my case rent plus that allowance is about £15k a year and paid £9250 fees a year so a total of around £25k per year per twin (which is still what it is costing me this year as this year's post grad fees are about £16k a year.

However lots of people have less and I earn reasonable amounts and can afford the above. Lots of people they know have a lot less.

@FrydayFishira irrelevant what you are interested in. Morally you need to pay the defence between the minimum and maximum loan and funnily enough that’s how much students need.

@titchy had it, she/he explained it well.

We’ve paid accommodation and let the three live on the min loan. Frankly I’d suggest that £4.4K which is about the min outside London should be more than adequate if accommodation already covered.

However accommodation costs can vary widely.

DS1 went to Cambridge, very old, central and wealthy college. Everything heavily subsidised or free. Accommodation around 4K excl. food. He only had en-suite in y1, but other years same massive room, fireplace, separate sleeping area shared bathroom with two other rooms. He had a 10x6 rug which tbh looked lost.

DS2 and 3 in y3 and y1 at different regional unis. Both had the full en-suite yr 1 halls, just over 6k for DS2, although that same hall this academic year would be over 7k. DS3’s accom probably higher spec again, certainly bigger room but costs 5.5k. Both were / are self catered.

DS2 second year house just under £400 per month plus bills. Same but with bills for the flat DS3 is due into in y2. Although he’ll be in a seafront apartment with the beach across the road. DS2’s house this year much less around £200 per month plus bills , seriously nice but a bit further out of the city.

So this year for two of them not too much over £8k accommodation wise.

We do pay for phone contracts, although not huge figs, and they have access to Spotify, Netflix etc. DS3 is a 6hr+ drive away so any visit will be for a few days with hotel costs to factor in.