How much for a student living in London

[ChimneyPot]

DD will be doing a foundation course in musical theatre in London starting in September.
She will be in private student halls so will have no utility bills.
We are not from the U.K. so the advice about topping up student loans doesn’t apply.
I have read other threads and a few people seem to say they need £500 per month of self catering outside London.
How much would a student need self catering in London?

@ChimneyPot Food is not more expensive in London overall. Just find a big supermarket. Not a small local one as they tend to be more expensive.

She will need to factor in transport and going out. Socialising can be more expensive in London. She might also want to go to the theatre. She should be able to look for student performances or discounts. However this could be more frequent than elsewhere. It’s important to look at more then food. Students often meet for coffee and a meal out too. Plus she might want clothes and other events you need to pay for. There is so much on offer in London that money doesn’t go quite as far as elsewhere. Is she intending to socialise or lead a quiet life? I would have a chat.

I used to give dc1 and dc2 2 years ago around £450/ month excluding accommodation but inc bills. However coming year may increase this for dc2 to maybe £500/month. Not sure how much bills are but don't seem to be paying that much.
DCs accommodation is near uni so doesn't spend much on public transport.
But also give generous/money gifts on birthday, Xmas etc.

@TizerorFizz I don’t think she is intending to have a quiet life.
I know she will want to go to shows but she does have some birthday money which might fund those for a while.
I really don’t have a feel for costs. Are there weekly travel passes?

It would be useful for her to get an 18+ Student Oyster Card and a 16-25 Railcard - there are upfront costs for each, bur she can save quite a lot on fares. The Oyster card is only for journeys within the TfL area, but the 16-25 railcard gives a discount on rail fares nationally, subject to some minimum fare conditions.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/18-plus-student-oyster-photocard

https://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwlJimBhAsEiwA1hrp5uEncMhTPQD1FI-M8CmkNbcAIVYXi8p4seN1uHe3kddVsARyJ1H0KBoCmM8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

From the mother of a theatre obsessed DD.....

I assume your daughter is used to getting theatre tickets, but the cheap seats are generally brilliant. We always book the cheapest we can - I take DD to the theatre around 10-15 times a year in London, proper theatre, off Broadway, new shows etc and we haven't had a bad seat yet.

I object to paying over £30 a ticket.

Also some theatres have student/under 25 schemes.

Following as DD might want to go to a london uni..

Some theatres have stand by tickets at rock bottom prices, best of all is (well was, haven't been since covid) Covent Garden opera house which had £10 tickets

I think they'd struggle on £500 per month excluding accommodation. £800 by the time meals out/ some food factored in maybe.
theatre tickets aren't cheap so probably should make her aware that its not to be a regular thing.

all 3 of mine have gone to uni in London. they lived at home so accommodation and food at home are not included here, but they all are partiers so £800 might be ok to start with.

My DD is studying in Kensington and gets £500 pcm on top of rent/bills. We also pay phone and gym. It is plenty and she goes out a lot although the performances she goes to are usually free due to where she studies. It would be worth finding out if there is an arrangement with her college (Central?) as they may well offer free or heavily discounted tickets. £800 is way more than most get. SHe could also look at work eg singing tuition/piano lessons/GCSE drama or music tuition etc depending on her specialism. THis will be a lot more profitable than typical student jobs like bar work so wouldn't need to work as much. Mine teaches piano and gets £36 an hour.

@ChimneyPot If she doesn’t want to travel out of Greater London much (she’s not going home in the uk) I would not bother with the rail card for national travel to begin with. You can get to Heathrow on the underground. Look into student Oyster card for underground and bus. These do take you out into areas around London.

She possibly would not need £800 a month but we did zero budgeting. Started at zero and worked up. Being honest and realistic. We have friends whose DS earns around £26,000. His rent is £900 a month. So he has around £800 left for going out and paying bills. It’s doable but not easy!

we didn't do it on an allowance basis though so I can't say a figure to be exact. they had cards linked to ours and if the spending got out of control we had a word but to be fair they were all sensible, mostly!

mine dont go to shows or anything though so I'm not sure how much theatres cost, can't imagine its cheap.

If she will be a student course books are very expensive. I'd give her whatever the Halls cost plus £1k month but it would have to include everything so food, travel, clothes, books, socialising, any societies subscriptions she wishes to join, internet, mobile contract, haircuts, dentist, any 1-1 specialist tuition she wants and any theatre tickets she wants to buy.

Mine didn't bother with oyster cards as living in zone 1. Dd will use the Santander bikes.
Both did have jobs that paid decent (dd £25/hour).
Both in humanity course, no books bought🙂)

Wow. £800-1000 per month is definitely more than I expected.
I was hoping £500-600 would be sufficient but it sounds like she would struggle in that in London.

I just mentioned to DD and she said "wow" when I mentioned 800-1000/month.
But as mentioned she walks or cycles most places.

DD and I attended an open day at LSE recently, they suggested £1300 per month including accommodation.

Lots of theatres have cheap tickets for young people. DS is in university in Birmingham and he gets TikTok £10 tickets for RSC performances at Stratford, I'm sure London theatres have something similar.

OP the student loan is what the government 'thinks' a student needs to live on. So whether you're form the UK or not is irrelevant.
The max maintenance loan for a student living in London is 13,022, divided by 9 month academic year that's about 1.5K a month.

There's plenty of information online if you google 'London living expenses' but really it's a matter of how far you go. A PP mentioned students meeting for 'lunches and coffees' - not really, if you're skint. London has plenty of free things to do anyway. People load up on pre-drinks before going out, so they have to spend less.

I don't know where you're from but food in the U.K is very cheap, £30 -£40 a week is enough. London is full of Asian restaurants with big portions. I used to get a main then make rice, that was enough for 3 days. Clothes etc are really cheap especially if you're savvy with charity shops.

I also worked as casual staff, we got fed and sometimes got food to take home too :) so that kept costs down! I got tips and stuff so that would good. But as PP mentioned tutoring, or working at the uni itself pays more.

There are also student discount apps like Save the Student, Unidays for example.

@ChimneyPot She really would be well off on £1000 per month! Better off than many young people who are working! London is not that expensive for students! I’m assuming you are already paying around £800-1000a month (or more) for accommodation. So just look at term 1 to begin with and start at £500. If it’s not enough, talk to DD and up it! It’s not as if you have to stay at the initial figure is it? However put a max figure on what you can afford. Therefore the £1300 a month suggested by LSE for accommodation and living is light in my view unless you only look at the cheapest halls. Very many are over £200 per week. Plus cycling can be utterly scary!

I’ve no idea if students from abroad can get much work now but she can look into it.

Budget 900-1,000 pm for student accommodation.

Add another 500 pm for food, drinks (at bars, with pre-drinks), transport within London. Many students take buses rather than tube to keep transport costs down.

Then add whatever is the cost of theatre tickets per month (I don't know much about this). Maybe she can get a pt job to finance these extras.

@ChimneyPot You do not find many international students scrimping. The odd lunch out or coffee is normal. Being given food with a job is quite unusual and obviously would be a catering type job. £30 a week for food? Not a chance with price inflation!

By the way, I suggested theatre because of what she’s studying. It’s not vital! Sad to
miss out though.

DD is a London student
£1050/month rent (sharing 2 bed flat with 1 other)
£100 for all utilities, I suppose
We pay her music, phone subs (another £10/month)
£52/week for 'other costs' (like food)

• she works for fun money

We are Irish so she pays “home” fees rather than international ones and has no visa issues and can work if needed.
She has 36 contact hours a week and quite a chunk of that is dancing so I think it would be difficult to work much. I wouldn’t push her to work for the first term anyway. It is something to consider though if she wants to have a more expensive social life.

Starting off at the lower end of the estimates and reviewing regularly might be the way to go

Which college is she going to? my DS2 is just going into his third year of doing musical theatre and professional dance. For year 1 he was in halls and we used his student loan to cover his halls fees and £1000 college fee ( for contributions to shows/ costumes etc). we also gave him £80 per week for food / travel/ socialising ( we agreed no job in the first year so he could concentrate on settling in). we also pay his phone bill

year 2 his rent is £575 pcm and bills £115 and we give him £30 a week for shopping and still pay his phone. He has a little part time job that gives him about £70-£90 a week. we also pay the £1000 a year college fund
for year 3 his rent has gone up to £600.

when he comes home ( Easter/ summer / Xmas) we cover his travel costs which are generally about £30/40