What's a reasonable amount for a uni student to live on after rent?

[MrsMaverick]

Having some differences of opinion here on what is a reasonable amount for food/going out/travel costs etc after rent and bills are paid.
I'd be interested please in how much your dcs have to spend (irrespective of whether it's from maintenance loan or parents contribution) and whether they are in London or elsewhere.
Thanks.

@Greensleeves

Not a huge difference though? Maybe £1k, possibly £1.5k??

I think these conversations can be confusing tbh. It depends whether your dc are in catered or self-catered accommodation, have shared or ensuite rooms etc

Dd lived on about £40-50in the North West but bills were included in halls.

She struggled on that in London mainly due to increased travel costs, bills not being included and the absence of cheaper food shops in her area. I reckon she’d need £80 minimum

We give our DC £1100 to cover rent and living expenses
Rent around £600 a month

@Greensleeves In my experience colleges also vary significantly @valbyruta . DC1's rent for his college owned flat for 2nd year is £5,700 excluding utilities because they have to pay rent for 40 weeks. Same arrangement for 3rd year
For DC2 you are "In College" all three years and only pays for 27 weeks so significantly less at ~£5k next year including utilities. DC2 can "buy" up to extra 14 days accommodation a year. Swings and roundabouts, DC1 is very settled and is staying in college much of the vacations - while we miss him we are delighted he is making the most of his time at Uni.

It seems there are so many different circumstances around different unis as well and within unis e.g. depending on whether you choose up market halls or cheaper options and similarly with private renting choices.

With regard money for food huge variations as well; DC1 is 6'5" and was training for his sport 16 times a week last year - his food bill was enormous 5-7,000 calories a day required at one stage but college charged per hash brown so it got very costly and being a northern lad seemed to end up lots at Gregs...

£500 a month. It seems to be a fairly typical amount from conversations I've had with friends who also have DC at university.

We "top up" to maximum loan value, and explained to DD how her living-costs budget would depend on the rent of the room she found/chose. This year (uni accommodation) she ends up with £100 per week after rent/bills, and has been saving from that. Next year (room in an HMO) she will have £40 per week after rent/bills and is prepared to budget accordingly. We'll see how that works out! (She doesn't drink or go clubbing, which helps.)

DS gets medium loan, around £7K, which I top up to the maximum grant. This gives him £57/week to live on after accommodation. He earned over summer and Christmas and seems to be managing ok. I help out with his transport home, and bigger costs like his deposit for next year.

I feel uneasy seeing so many of the contributions above where his peers are clearly getting so much more. But I'm doing what I can as a single mum, and have said we should have a chat if it feels very difficult.

My dniece and dnephew have £50 a week after accommodation and utilities are paid. They both work in the holidays but not in term time. Dniece can save from that. Dnephew needs an occasional top up. My two eldest went to the local university and lived at home but Ds3 is is planning to go away so I’ve got all this to look forward to.

£250/month. This does not include bills and I pay for travel home ( very infrequent!) They both a part time job, and one has managed to save £1.5k!!

Some of these figures seem very high indeed!

DC, a 1st year, in non-catered halls in a major city has £65pw. Rent, bills, text books, phone and Spotify are already paid, campus is a walk away so no travel costs unless paying for a (railcard-reduced) train to visit a friend a couple of times a month. I sent a supermarket delivery at the beginning and a couple of times since with some essentials, plus £50 for Christmas shopping. No job so far to concentrate on studies, but will work in the summer. I have replaced a couple of broken things or bought something essential if asked - worn out clothes or shoes, for example - and if I think it couldn't reasonably be covered by the £65. The £65 covers all food and socialising at uni. I provide food on home visits, cover family holiday costs and paid for a more expensive concert ticket.

I hear from DC that some people in the halls do have a lot more, which can be difficult and divisive at times, and that most of them spend it on drugs, more alcohol, frequent takeaways and tatt.

So realistically if you are giving £65 per week but then replacing clothes and shoes and doing supermarket shops and an extra £50 here and there and paying for phone and Spotify you aren’t really giving him £65 Pw. It’s probably more like £90+ Pw, you just maintain more control over what is spent.
No criticism, just to make that clear to others reading this thread and looking for guidance. I think £90-120 a week is more of a usual range and probably more realistic than £65, if that is affordable. But if course parents can only give what they can afford.

Having commented about dd earlier, Ds is now at uni but not in London.

After his halls fees are paid he has £68.50 per week left over. Out of that he pays food, travel, phone, clothes (we did buy him a coat) everything.

I don't think the extras come to £25+pw from me. Phone and Spotify work out at a total of £5pw, for example, Christmas £1pw and everything else has been few and far between. Plenty of people we know give in the region of £50-£75pw. Some could definitely afford more but think that's quite enough for a young adult for food and socialising, especially when the rent/bills are already taking such a huge chunk of money. Accommodation on the whole is so much better than my generation had to put up with as students but unfortunately that is reflected in the eyewatering price!

They don't need takeaways, excessive clothes, gym, personal trainer, nails etc. If they want those things they need to get a job.

London, after initial expenses isn't any more expensive than anywhere else. Tesco and Sainsbury's cost the same, and they are likely to make savings by walking everywhere and having free access to culture. There are some brilliant charities shops for clothes and nik-naks.

My DS lived on about £25 a week when he was at UCL.

Mine has £120 a week and I pay for his phone and usually give him some petrol money every so often.

Bloody hell. I went to uni in 2009, admittedly uni fees were 3x cheaper then but maintenance loans were lower. I'm not sure if it's still based on parental income? Never found that fair at all.
Anyway, my rent for a room was around 280 a month including bills.
My parents gave me the odd £20 here and there to help out, but I paid for everything myself out of my loan and a Saturday job.
I can't imagine my parents paying for me to have a personal trainer at 18!!

Midlands Uni DD sitting alongside me. She can live easily on £50 per week after rent/bills. She receives a small amount of loan plus £4k per year from us. She pays for her own phone - SIM only, we bought the handset - and clothes. However, if you want a really good social life, she thinks you need more. She knows all the places for happy hours, student discounts etc, self caters & eats a veggie diet when at uni.

We give DS £50 a week. He's at a northern uni and doesn't have a maintenance loan. We pay for his phone and for the occasional top up food shop a couple of times a term plus we pay his rent for halls which has bills included. He has a lot of contact hours per week on his course and a very heavy work load so I can't see how he could take on any paid work. He seems to manage on £50 a week but he doesn't drink much and is fairly frugal.

My dd went to uni many years ago now. We paid accommodation and course fees and gave her £50 per week to live on. This was over 10 years ago. She worked in the holidays. Today I suppose we'd be giving her £80 per week.

We also took her to do massive shop every 6 weeks which we paid for and she bought lots of tins, toiletries etc.