Realistic cost of living at university

[leftitabitlate22]

I just wondered how much realistically a student needs per week/term to live comfortably (not in luxury!) at university.

DD not likely to be able to have a term time job alongside the degree but will be able to work in holidays.

She won't be eligible for full loans so we'll be topping up.

50 a week after rent is ridiculously low and is lower than the expected top up.

£20 a day for food, travel, socialising and other things like clubs etc is really not extravagant. It’s the norm amongst my DN and her friends and my BFs two older children plus other children of friends.

It isn't lower than the expected top up at all.

1st yr halls - vary widely but lets say £6k
2 months rent for July and August for shared house for Yr2 lets say £1K ( I realise this is more in a lot of places)

Leaves £2250 in round figures.
Divide that by 40 weeks from Sept to June and it is £56 week

So, if you get min loan, by the time you have topped up what is needed for the accommodation, and assuming you don't give them food / spending money over the Summer, those giving £50 pw are probably giving more than the expected top up if they also take and fetch their dc and you factor that in.

In terms of having £20 a day to spend on yourself, you must realise many working adults don't have anywhere near that ?

I mean, absolutely fine if you have loads of money - everyone should do what they want with their spare money, but I don't think parents who are on a more usual family budget should be frightened off by people saying it has to cost that sort of money, when clearly there are hundreds upon thousands of students who don't get anything like that sort of funding unless they choose to get a job.

My DD has about £80
per week to spend on herself. DD gets the minimum loan and we pay rent. DD works in the holidays to top up her income.

Basically £125 per week. Accommodation and bills all paid separately by us. We also fund a car as she is studying nursing and have to do placements up to 90 mins away for 2-3 months a year

£20 a day for food, travel, socialising and other things like clubs etc is really not extravagant. It’s the norm amongst my DN and her friends and my BFs two older children plus other children of friends.

I think it is extravagant. My dd spends nowhere near that on herself. And she shops at M&S as it's right next to her accommodation. 🙄

Her rent is £5600 which is £22 a night I think she worked out.

Issue at the moment is energy bills. Most students are putting the heating on for a few hours a day as that's all they can afford. It's still £50+ each a month. They don't get any of the low income funding. Mine are now home and saying our house is too warm - they are so used to freezing toilets and wearing 5 layers. Makes me sad.

But that was very much a thing when my siblings and I came home from University in the 70s and 80s. It isn't a 'this year' thing.
Students are younger and hardier and have more choices than older folk.

The Op sounds as if she is asking about a future student. Generally bills are included in Halls, and then, it isn't uncommon for them to be included in shared housing later.
Also, having the heating on for 'a few hours a day' is also the norm for loads of families. I'm not seeing what is odd about that.

Also, having the heating on for 'a few hours a day' is also the norm for loads of families. I'm not seeing what is odd about that.

Yes, my dc came home yesterday and is freezing here compared with her student accommodation.

Government worked it out for you already, when you get the student loan letter it will say how much you are expected to top up by. Wording has finally been changed to show it's the parents who are usually expected to top that up For London I think the total is about £12.5k so deduct whatever loan your child would be entitled to and that's your minimum expected contribution

Maintenance loan outside of London is 9706. Take off £6k leaves 3706. Divided by 40 is £92.65 a week. That’s the minimum a student is expected to have.

give your dc what you like but there will be lots of kids on full loan with nearly double what your dc has if you are only giving them £50 a week.

@Usee8789754 - you are forgetting to factor in the rent that needs to be paid over the Summer before the 2nd yr loan comes in

That’s part of second year cost - if it applies which it doesn’t for all second year accommodation

If a student has £50 a week that’s say £5 a day for food (which is very low for three meals with the cost of food now) plus £15. If they have travel costs of even a couple of quid a day that’s giving them a fiver a week to socialise. No wonder people drop out due to being miserable.

Thanks everyone, given us lots to think about and work out. Fingers crossed they get a place now!

We transfer (well standing order) dd £100 a week. This covers her food, bus fare to uni (which is £10 per week) and social outgoings. Lovely MIL also sends her £200 a month as she did with all her other grandchildren so essentially she has £150 per week. She gets the minimum loan which we put towards the accommodation and we pay the rest. She has a job when she’s at home and is very good at saving, her and some friends are planning a little trip abroad in January when it’s cheap before they are all back studying. She has said she would like to get a job in the new year just so she can continue to build up her savings.

DC1 is in London - we pay rent and bills and give £500pcm on top. They do a little work but it is carefully chosen - eg baby sitting where they can get on with some work or tuition which pays a generous hourly rate rather than minimum wage bar/supermarket work. They probably earn £200 pcm. Don't forget that in London they will probably need to pay transport between accommodation and uni. London halls are jolly expensive and the rental market at the moment is insane.

I think it's so wrong that maintainance loan is means tested. Parents are expected to 'top up' their children's loans regardless of their disposable income. My husband has a relatively good wage but we do have high goings .

Not including rent, I’d say I spend around £80 a week (around £1000 a term) on food shopping, socialising, public transport etc.
My loan covers just my rent but working like 30 hours a week in the holidays usually covers that extra £1000.

DS is in halls plus meal plan option at Birmingham. It costs £800 a month which we fund. He then works to pay for everything else.

DD goes to a uni that doesn't allow you to work during term time, and she has field visits in the vacs, including this coming summer.

We paid catered accommodation in first year which was just under £6k. The (minimum) loan was for everything else.

This year she is living out. Her rent is £585 a month plus bills, which we pay. She also gets £50 a week for food, toiletries etc. and the loan is up to her.

We can afford that at the moment. We saved for both DC while they were growing up so a lot comes from that. The food money is from current.

There are a lot of very wealthy students at DD's uni. Some are her friends. We didn't want her to feel that she couldn't join in for everyday stuff.

Household bills are about £65 per month in a shared house, depending on how frugal your housemates are with heating and tumble drying.

Rent is whatever rent is in your uni city - it varies enormously- choose wisely!

After these two are paid, DD has about £75/week to live on. I pay her monthly through the year like a salary so she has to learn to budget: when she's home for the holiday and I'm covering her food, she saves more for the term time.

She works in a local pub when she is home, to top herself up for holidays and entertainments. Doesn't work when she's away at Uni.

There are a lot of very wealthy students at DD's uni. Some are her friends. We didn't want her to feel that she couldn't join in for everyday stuff.

I think that’s the thing. We are not super wealthy, we have decently paid jobs but have to budget the same as everyone else. However when people come on saying that their kids live on £50 a week it makes people think that’s the norm. It really isn’t and IMO that’s really unfair on the DC. They will really be scrimping and saving and barely able to afford to join in at all.

im not saying the system is right - it isn’t. But this isn’t the 80s/90s when most parents went to university and you could buy a vodka and coke for 90p. If your child has only £50 a week for food, travel, clubs, sport and socialising they simply will not be eating healthily and joining in on the things going on. They will not be the same as most of the other kids on campus. £500ish a month is far more normal. Many wealthy kids will have more than that.

of course I fully appreciate that not everyone can afford £500 a month but if this is the case then it’s far far better that the DC takes a year out to work and earn money to pay for their living expenses than to be massively underfunded and not able to socialise.

I stand by my assertion that £50 a week is not the norm at all, neither is it fair IMO and it is about half of what the government expects students to have.

Plus those.students on full loans will have double what the £50 kids have. It isn't just super wealthy. It’s also the kids whose parents are not expected to contribute anything at all (and all the kids whose parents are topping up to the full loan as recommended)

Not everyone can. Cambridge for example does not allow students to have a job in term time.