Can I ask how you are managing to afford student accommodation?

[coldchipsfortea]

Hi all

Just looking for people's experiences on this as it can be a bit awkward asking friends what they do without sounding like I'm nosing into their finances...

DD will be going to uni in Autumn - Hall fees look to be around £6.5k for the year. If she got a room in a flat it would be around £600 a month. We have money that we saved for her from when she was tiny which would cover some (but not all) of this. I'd prefer to leave that money if possible - but perhaps I'm being naive on that front? I don't casually have 6 grand lying around - nor can we shell out £600 a month for the next few years without really struggling. We do have savings but the hall fees would wipe them out if we paid upfront, and we are also saving for some fairly necessary house maintenance, so they're not really available.

We've also got a younger DD who might be heading to uni too in a couple of years (providing she actually passes some exams...), so I can't even think about paying for two sets of rent!

What do other folk do generally? Do you use the student loan for accommodation plus top up a bit yourself and expect students to get jobs? I'm keen for my DD to get a part time job as even a little bit extra could really help I think.

I know there's no right or wrong way to do this - it just depends on circumstance, but it would be good to hear from folk just to get a sense of what others do. I'm aware that thousands of families do manage this every year so I am probably freaking out over nothing. I used to think I was good at financial planning, but clearly I'm not!

@coldchipsfortea do you know if your dd is getting the maximum or minimum maintenance loan?
I would suggest joining the WIWIKAU Facebook page, this subject is covered by posts everyday and often you can view the varying costs of different unis.

Most places have cheaper options than that - where's she going?

We pay 6k towards accommodation which just about covers it - DS put in a small contribution at the beginning of the year.

Next year he's going into private student let with his friends, we will still offer 6k, but he'll need to fund more than this year, mainly due to the contract being longer than this year. I think it works out about 1k. He's hoping to work full time over the summer to help cover it

The WIWIKAU page is great for questions like this (or any Uni question actually!)

You're right - she could get a shared room for £4300 but she really doesn't want to share, which I understand.

She will be getting the minimum maintenance loan which is £5100 I think. Which covers much of the accommodation - but then we've got to find money for her to live on.

I know I'll be able to find a way to sort out the money - it would be good to find out what other do.

I should have said that I am someone who really hates getting into debt (other than a mortgage I have never had a loan for anything, and I don't use credit cards) which is a RIDICULOUS view to have when it comes to student finance. I know that, and I admit it.

We are fortunate that we live in Scotland and she's going to a Scottish uni so fees will be paid.

Most people do one of three things.

a. Parents pay the accommodation and the loan is used for living expenses.
b. The loan pays the accommodation, parents will probably have to top this up and they also pay the living expenses.
c. The loan pays the accommodation and the child gets a job to cover the rest.

the amount of loan makes a big difference too.

We went for option b because we had three at Uni at the same time, so giving them money weekly or monthly was easier in terms of cash flow. We give £100 per week, which covers food & travel if they want a social life they get a job.

Some of dcs friends have had the full loan and they can usually manage to cover all costs, but if your on the minimum loan or something in between parents are expected to make up the difference.

it also depends on where the University is, cost of living is higher in the South.

Could she work over summer and bank some money?

If you are struggling you need to have an honest and frank discussion with your DD. Options are to take a gap year, work and she would be able to self fund or she goes to uni with the intention of getting a job.

We match the cost of the maximum loan because we saved up for it. My son has an agreed £100 per week for spending. He buys supermarket food at around £35 per week; he loves to cook and eats meat. Laundry around £7 ish for wash and tumble, first year tumble drying was free, I miss that. That leaves him £58 for everything else, per week. He doesn't spend it all he banks it.

It depends on their expectations of what their uni life will be and the friends they have at uni. Ds tends to meet up with people at their houses and they drink there or lots don't even drink since the facts about alcohol have been publicised. He isn't a coffee drinker so gets the occasional hot chocolate when out. He doesn't really eat out because the cost of one meal is the 1/3 of his food shop. He is sensible.

There is a saying about cut your coat according to your cloth, if she can't afford something she either goes without or saves up for it. Stop feeling bad about it. Lots of students work during uni time and over holidays, my niece does. Ds doesn't because his course is too heavy workload wise.

She needs a job. She's massively fortunate already that she won't pay fees. Use the loan to cover accommodation (if it's halls I'm guessing that gas, electric, WiFi are included?). Help her with an amount per month that you can afford and she needs to work to earn the rest of what she wants / needs. She can work full time over the summer to build up savings too.

Should have said the way we worked it, minimum maintenance loan, plus our parental contribution to match the maximum maintenance loan, minus accommodation cost which was pretty much what you are paying. The remaining amount was divided over the number of weeks they are in uni which was 31 for freshers and worked out at £105pwk. This year he is in private halls, we swallowed the extra eye watering accommodation cost and he gets £100 per week this year.

It was an ongoing discussion to make sure it was working for him.

My son is on a year out and working in Tescos. He’s already saved £4,000 since October, so he should have at least £8k by September.
He will carry on working one shift a week - that will give him around £90 a week.

1st year just white knuckled it and got through paying it all ( extortionate as in London) for the second she will work to help and also she's working over the summer to build up a social fund . It's not easy but she's super grateful and doesn't waste the money so that makes it a lot easier .. feels like a real team . We are honest about the plan ahead and give the figures up front. It would be a lot lot harder to justify all of this if we were paying for her to party but she is very careful .

We pay their rent, and they have to live off the minimum loan, and work if they want extra spending money.

I have a buffer of savings which makes it possible to shell out the termly or quarterly rents, and save madly in between for the next payment.

Mine (I also have 3 at uni) understand the costs involved and are able to manage quite well, and have a good work ethic.

A very common thing to do (which is what we're doing) is to work out the difference between Maximum Loan and what the student actually receives, and to pay that as a top-up. DD is currently in first year, in a reasonably priced room; next year, accommodation is more expensive so she'll have less to spend on other things each month.

We decided to pay her "top up" over the whole year, so she lives cheaply and when she's home she builds up a bit of a buffer.

Dd2's was £5200, dd1's (went older) was £4790 (last year) it's worth checking if there's cheaper room at the university.

They paid for most with their loan, we then topped off out of savings we set aside from birth onwards

Exactly same
student loan pays accommodation and we give £100 a week to live on
he also has a part time job

Just to add, we pay the rent as it varies from city to city. This way they all have the same amount to live on.

I’m a strong supporter of them being in halls in the first year a flat can be very isolating.

The max student loan is 9250. Parents are expected to make up rhe difference, so that’s 115 a week for 36 weeks she’s rhere. We paid from personal finances.

Also remember op you have a cost saving as you won’t be paying for her food etc at home.

the halls seem very expensive, there are usually different room types and food options, from self catering, to catered, to shared bathroom, own bathroom etc. have you looked at them all?

What simply because you did?

Thank you all - this is really useful. @CharlotteSometimes1 that's a really good way of breaking it down. I'm realising that DD will probably have to get the loan and then we'll top up much as you do. It's genuinely helpful to me to know that's what others do.

She does plan to try and get a job too, which I'm going to really push for. £100 a week to live on is doable for us.

She's going to be studying in Edinburgh, which is massively expensive for accommodation - both halls provided by the unis and private rentals.

She does plan to try and get a job too, which I'm going to really push for. £100 a week to live on is doable for us

if it’s doable don’t really push, a job can depend on the degree she’s doing and how she’s coping.

I think it’s best not to make these sort of pushy decisions until you understand how she’s coping.

I’d reiterate what others said about how much you save by them no longer being at home. Lunch money, school bus etc and that’s before groceries. We really notice how much more our food bill is when they’re all at home, even daft things like loo roll.

Dd's will cost £6500 a year, (on campus) but it includes 10 meals per week as it's a catered accommodation. She could go to a private rent for less, but she'd have costs on top including bus to get to Uni and a share of internet/utilities and she'd have to buy more food.
It works out cheaper to go with the £6500 a year for us. If she went for the self catered uni accommodations it's only about £400 less but cover a few more weeks per year. (5 or 6 I think it was)
We are paying for this as our share, she needs more she'll need to get a part time job like her brother did.

Dd gets minimum loan and we top up the loan to pay her rent at the start of term and then send her £100 a week to live on.
She’s at Bristol, didn’t get allocated her accommodation of choice in halls on campus and instead was allocated halls in the city centre. It’s crazy expensive but it was so oversubscribed she was lucky to get offered anything.
She’s in her first year and Dd2 may be going when dd1 is in her final year. We will manage it but it’s a lot of money.
Student finance look at your income and think ‘yep, they can afford to run a second home’ without looking at your outgoings!!