If you "top up" to the maximum student loan and your DC is in catered halls....

[Africa2go]

is that enough?

Catered halls seem to be about £8,500 - If we did top up to the max loan (and not much more, so about £10k) they'd have £1500 left (after £8,500 hall bill) - over 39 weeks thats about £40 a week. Think catered halls are breakfast, lunch and dinner during the week but nothing at weekends.

Still considering options - uni says it tries to accommodate choices, but can't guarantee it. DC undecided about catered and self catered - just because perception is catered would be more social (and for lots of reasons, what would suit DC).

Would £40 (or maybe push it to £50) a week be enough?

I know DC can get job / use some savings if it isn't enough but just interested in views from parents with children in catered halls.

@Changeau we have tested the waters with DC buying and cooking for themselves with a budget of £35 for the week and they did it, with planning, (admittedly with a few home store cupboard ingredients) quite comfortably (and that was healthy, quick meals, plus all snacks etc. I wouldn't be expecting that week in, week out but £65 seems alot.

I can't speak to the social side of catered halls. My anecdote; DD is in a 5-person house this year (first year), and didn't really make friends there (partly because the others don't stick to the cleaning rota!) She is on a teeny-tiny course, and all of her "gang" are from the course (or in one case an "adjacent" one). They hang out together in each other's rooms, or around the city (which has dozens of cheap cafes, parks, museums, and galleries), and go to the same student societies. So catered halls are one way among many of meeting people.

Yes I was probably a bit more profligate. But her kitchen is tiny with no storage space or freezer space which make sit much harder to budget

But university spending is not just on food is it? It would be a monk like existence if it was. It also keeps them as children if they don’t have money for other things such as sport, clubs (at the university) and nights out as well as clothes and having some fun. Just eating isn’t what most do. MN DC are such a fun averse set of DC. I’ve never met any students who didn’t like a good time at some stage in y1 or subsequently,

I do think there’s a difference between a fully catered hall with set times and a cafe style arrangement that’s open nearly all day.

DD was a yr1 student in 2020-21 so I suspect the whole "social side" of catered halls passed her by. Not once can I recall an anecdote about her social life, set during the meal times. From sneaking into each other's rooms, however, that was good fun seemingly.

Absolutely true. So the budget and advice really does depend on the DC. My DD's idea of a great day out involves free art galleries or a long riverside walk, a picnic in a park, and then hanging out with friends until the small hours eating fancy bread (!!! they call themselves "the bread club") and working on craft projects or sharing favourite TV shows together. Plus a couple of evenings playing D&D. She is the happiest she's ever been, having found her tribe at last. She's stayed down at uni this week despite being on holiday, so she can use the studios and see more of her friends.

Other people's experience will doubtless be very different. (My experience at uni involved much more booze, for a start, and catered meals, although I didn't make friends through that.) We've been giving her more money than she spends (on the "top up to full loan" approach), and she'll sometimes go raiding charity shops or to the cinema or similar. But all we can do on threads like these is provide our own experience of how DC cope and what they spend, and hopefully OP will find something that's helpful.

Totally agree.

I'm sorry, but going for walks and eating bread is not something any of my dcs and their peers would find fun. It's the kind of thing I'd do and I'm 57. Obviously it takes all sorts but the vast majority of uni students will be needing money to go out drinking at least once a week.

I think everyone's comments are valid and why I asked for opinions to start with on a forum like this which is different to asking friends in real life where generally speaking their DC at uni are relatively similar. Thats the beauty of MN.

Thank you everyone.

@Changeau Absolutely! It's why my DD has always, up until now, felt the "odd one out" but the joy of uni is that you can normally find like-minded people (in her case, they're all at the art-school, so there might be some correlations?) My DS (Y11) is a little more mainstream and will doubtless have a very different uni experience. OP asked for general opinions on budgets, and her DC could be completely different from mine.

I'm genuinely not sure what the figures are, but my feeling is that far far fewer young people drink (or indeed smoke) today, compared to back in the day.

You're very welcome, and I hope that you've found the range of opinions about budgets a useful one. The "cooking on a budget" experiment was a great idea. Good luck to you, and to your DC!

I think most of the kids drink unless religious reasons tbh. Vaping also popular.

"Most" is probably true, but maybe not "the vast majority"? Don't know how reliable this graph is, but for what it's worth...

https://www.statista.com/statistics/370011/individuals-who-do-not-drink-alcohol-by-gender-and-age-in-england/

I think there's a false "bubble" perception both ways. The kids who drink/club tend to hang out with each other, and so do the non-drinkers/clubbers. So my ideas are probably skewed by that!

Both mine spend about 25-30 a week on food. and DD has to have gluten free stuff which is much more expensive!

Its funny isn't it, shows we all have different experiences - DC (and friends) do drink, but vast majority of peers are really anti-vaping / smoking - think most of them are v sporty which has something to do with it.

Well I have no idea how she does it then, unless she eats one bowl of porridge and one bowl of gf pasta a day.

Yes none of mine vape but but it's pretty clear that lots do.

Ds is in catered halls. It works on a swipe system so if he misses breakfast, he still has 3 swipes so he can have 2 lunches and a dinner if that makes sense. Catered option is by far the best for him and me. He has maximum loan and 2 bursaries. I don't top up and he doesn't have a job. He has money left from the loan and still goes out as he needs to.

If dc isn't a drinker £40 a week catered is fine imo.

Second year he'll get a job but not because he has to. He's going back into catered halls.

My DC less short of money than I expected given cost of living. But self catering and is a cheapskate who likes cooking and rarely drinks.

My DC chose catered halls (for different reasons - one because she thought it would be more sociable and one because it was one less thing to worry about on leaving home).
DC2's halls do not provide dinner at the weekends. However, the kitchen facilities are tiny and they only have a toaster and microwave. Actually, same is true of the other DC's halls, but the kitchen is at least bigger with room to sit down. So i would not assume that there will be proper cooking facilities even if they do not provide all meals.

As to whether it is more sociable, i think it can depend on the set up. At DC1's uni, all the catered accomodation is on one site and there is a single dining room but because it is huge it would be hard to get to know other people well, but great if you already know people in the other halls.
In DC2's case, the dining room is just for her halls. Her view is that is is more sociable in one way because the dining room is sufficiently small that you do get to know lots of people over time. However, because the kitchens are tiny there is really no where to gather in the evenings, so they cant have flat parties etc. In the self catered halls, if you don't get on with your flatmates it is hard to get to know people in other flats, but if you do get on with them it is very sociable as there are large kitchens (and in some halls evening a sitting room) to gather in, have flat parties etc.

DS is in catered halls. He wanted self-catered but didn't get a place. He's now chosen to go into catered halls next year too because he's discovered he likes this option.

It works by credit being loaded on to his catering account. He usually eats at the cafeteria at his halls but can choose other cafeterias if he wants. It includes weekends too. He can also use the credit on his account in some shops on campus. There is a shared kitchen on his corridor in halls which is smallish but perfectly functional. He does buy some food on top - mostly breakfast and few snacks.

He manages with about £35 a week top up from us. He goes out around once a week. We pay for his phone, and buy other bits and pieces as he needs them.

A sporty Dc won’t manage on pot noodles and not paying sports fees. Plus socialising afterwards. I agree there’s the “do nothing” type of Dc and the “do everything” DC with expensive tastes. You find most dc sit in the middle. Therefore work up from £0 and be honest. If bread and picnics doesn’t appeal then budget for what does.

My DS is at Loughborough, he chose self catered after considering both options.
It's been a really great decision, the halls flat he was in had a superb kitchen and was ideal for socialising with his flatmates. But for me the best outcome was the improvement in his cooking skills, shopping and budgeting - he even got a Tesco clubcard and a nectar card! - which I think are great life skills. It was also quite a bit cheaper which really helped him.
Now in his second year and being self sufficient is second nature.

My DD was self sufficient in years 2/4. She was only just 18 when she started at university. You spend the rest of your life cooking. Delaying a year doesn’t matter at all.

My dd doesn't spend that much, and she eats well. She is sporty and trains and plays matches for 2 different sports.

OP my dd has £40pw from us, and is self catered. So £40pw if they are only having to feed themselves at weekends, is masses.

As people have said, of course if they have expensive tastes in life generally, it will never be enough, but if they are sensible with money it will be more than enough.
It also depends if you are talking about it being enough for their "needs" rather than their "wants".
For us, our dc understand that if they want to blow £££ on clubbing / drinking / shopping / gym / nails / trainers / clothes / holidays / whatever their treat is, then they have to go out and earn that money first.

Some parents prefer to just give that money to their young adults and have them miss the part of "learning to adult" that includes cutting your cloth to suit your purse.

It is different ways of parenting which are both equally valid, but do then tend to bring out the "HOW much" and the "They can't possibly eat well on that" extremes of comments. It really depends on what you consider it reasonable or sensible to pay for.