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?

From my experience with student accommodation with private landlords, the parents have to provide a guarantee to the Landlord. If the parents are not resident in UK or if resident in UK but their income is not sufficient, then the student has to find a UK-resident guarantor whose income is sufficient or pay 6 months' of their share of rent in advance.

The Landlords can also request joint and several guarantees from all the parents. So effectively, the most wealthy parent will be guaranteeing the payment of rent of all the other flatmates not just their own kid. The potential exposure is much as 50-60,000 per year, possibly more. Guarantees are an issue at least in London where as Comeaaway says, there is a bidding war and lack of properties.

PS my dd would not be happy to share with strangers. She wanted to share with her friends so would not want to take up a place just for a place to stay. They looked for a house together. But that would be in the second year typically. The first year is generally be student accommodation that the uni provides or recommends.

My daughter was doing postgrad at an institution that didn't have their own accommodation so she had virtually no choice than go into an existing house share.

The only other alternative was a private halls that was very, very expensive at the time.

Yes, that makes sense. Glad she found something in the end. It is a worry to not have accommodation sorted. As she is postgrad, she is probably happier with the more sensible grad crowd, rather than the undergrad crowd.

Unfortunately the situation turned bad as even though all the housemates were still theatre students or graduates one of the replacement housemates had some severe mental health problems. The police were involved in the end but we were tied into the contract. It was a total shit show and dd never really got over everything that happened.

Comeaway, so sorry to hear that. Your poor dd :( Once her contract ends, does she have the option to become a lodger i.e. rent a room in someone's flat? That way, she has more control over who she shares with. I have not looked into how much rent lodgers pay so maybe that is not economic.

Renting in London is pretty stressful.

£575 pcm for a bedroom in a 4 bedroom house share ( Sidcup)

It happened a year ago. About 6 weeks before the fixed te ended due and 3 others felt so unsafe they left the house and they sofa surfed (not ideal when you are in the final weeks of your course.

she did then end up lodging with a couple she met on her course.

@LoudSnoringDog Sidcup isn’t near many unis is it? Barely London!

For those of you who are looking for flats/rooms/houses, it’s very very difficult. There’s Airbnb that have taken flats off the rental market. There’s working young people and students all wanting accommodation and many are priced out of the student areas. East London might be cheaper (Greenwich £725) but then there’s transport. You probably would not cyclecto UCL from there.

My flat was never my home. It happened to be near DDs uni. It was my “holiday” home I gave up so DDs could use it when at uni and doing professional courses. It worked for us. I didn’t charge them anything.

Did you factor in the fact that both UCL and KCL have campuses at Olympic Park....East London? In practice there is a great cycle route out to Greenwich from Central London and so very cycleable and flat. It does not take that long. In my experience, definitely quicker than driving.

Have you ever actually lived in London? Lots of people manage. It's fine. Indeed in my experience London is a brilliant place to live, especially as a student.

Not sure why we are talking about UCL. OP's daughter is doing musical theatre so I am guessing she would be looking at a different university.

OP, maybe you can tell us which uni. London is, erm, a big place and the location is a factor.

I believe there is a performing arts uni LMA in Here East, in the Olympic Park East London which Needmoresleep mentions. There are massive student accommodation blocks at Stratford One (Unite) and Eleanor Rosa House:

https://www.unitestudents.com/london/stratford-one
https://www.london.ac.uk/halls/eleanor-rosa-house

They are fairly new and would be a good choice for the first year. By the second year, the students usually move out as the accommodation gives priority to first years.

Well blueshoes, not sure why talking about accommodation at all 😁. From my understanding of op, op's daughter has already accommodation sorted. Op was just asking about how much money was needed on top of accommodation .
And with 2 DC in London (together 5 years) quite interesting to see what was suggested; varying from requiring £30/week for food to £1000/month...

@TizerorFizz It’s zone 5. Greater London. 30 mins to Charing Cross. 11 miles out if you need specifics.
I am not sure which University the OPs daughter is going to hence my only reason for posting in case it was one of the MT colleges. His college is affiliated to University of Greenwich.
thanks

Thats still a long commute to a uni in London. We are just over 30 mins out - not what most students at mainstream unis want.

So how much is the fare to CX? That would add a huge amount each month. It would be very expensive where I live and no night bus/tube either.

£600 should certainly be doable. As PP said, she should get a student Oyster- depending on where she lives she may also be able to walk to most places. Self-catering is no more expensive in London than elsewhere. Going out can cost more but she's likely to have a subsidised bar and her friends will be in the same boat and likely to want to go to student places- comparisons with young people working in London aren't really relevant. There's also a huge amount you can do for free here- great galleries and parks, for one thing.

I also think the remarks about international students aren't relevant as they assume you're rich Chinese or Americans paying international fees and that your DD will want to hang out with other rich international students. Presumably that is not the case.

There are lots of schemes for cheap tickets- Young ROH is a good one if she likes opera as well as Friday Rush. I imagine there will also be uni group trips going on at discounted rates. If she wants a job, theatre front of house work is popular with drama students and very flexible, as well as giving insight into life in a working theatre.

Sidcup is great for Bird or Rose Bruford students but not very good for the likes of Arts Ed.

My dd used to live in Ealing and when she was there she could cycle everywhere. When she moved to Croydon her accommodation was cheaper but travel was much more expensive. When you are working long hours (either at uni/college and performing arts courses are often 9-6pm minimum every day) plus part time jobs the extra travel on top can be exhausting.

Thats still a long commute to a uni in London. We are just over 30 mins out - not what most students at mainstream unis want.

Its a choice all Londoners make, and indeed presumably people in other cities. As I said upthread DS chose to share an ex-council flat 10-15 minutes walk from his University. The downside was no living room, but he used the 24 hour library instead. Others will pay less on rent, put up with a commute and live somewhere more comfortable. DD planned to live at home and cycle to Imperial, though lockdown put paid to the need to commute further than the kitchen from her bedroom.

London kids are used to commuting. DD had a 40 minute journey to school which was pretty standard. They are also adept at getting home from parties. ("Mum where is Erith?") It will have been very different for your daughters, who boarded so will have had everything on site. To them 30 minutes presumably would have been quite a shock.

Other Universities are no better. Bristol's student accommodation at Stoke Bishop is some way from the University with few of the shop/restaurant/transport options available in London. It is hilly so cycling is difficult and the University warned students not to walk home over the downs at night. Richer students will use taxis but this is not an option for all.

There is a real MN downer on London, despite other posters regularly contributing to say that their DC are really enjoying being in the city, have been able to make it work, and were receiving a world class education. I think the point is that your DC may have been unhappy, despite the advantage of the use of mummy and daddy's flat, but this does not mean all London students struggle. Going back a long time, but my own experience was that experience of student life in London and the resilience it required, was a huge advantage when starting work.

Thanks everyone for all the advice and suggestions. Especially about cheap tickets because I can imagine her spending all her money on shows and not having enough left for minor details like food!
And giving extra money for the first month so she can do fresher stuff.

DD is going to Mountview in Peckham. She has a place in halls about 15 minute walk away. She had been looking at shared houses with a group of others that were about £800 per month with the living room used as a bedroom and only one bathroom between 5 girls who would be dancing 4 hours per day but was offered halls before they had signed up for a house.

She won’t be the type to go bulk shopping and meal plan because she will totally forget about food and mealtimes and end up living on bagels, yoghurt and pasta.

I was thinking of getting her to try out one gusto/hello fresh/gastrostudent meal box things for a few weeks. She can cook but food is unimportant to her so she probably needs the planning done for her.

My current thoughts are that I will go with her to help her move in and set up her room, get bedding, kitchen stuff and everything else she needs. Stock up her fridge and freezer.

London public transport is a mystery to us but I am sure she will figure it out.

The other thing she will need is a doctor as she has a long term medical condition.

Great news on the hall. For future years there will be areas accessible to Peckham which are reasonably cheap. Students will know where the students in the year above live.

On food she may need to learn the hard way. DS lived on pot noodles and the occasional cheap meal in Chinatown for most of his first year. He then realised he did not have the energy he wanted. Using all the common sense a 19 year old had at his disposal, he planned a balanced packed lunch, which included learning to like tomatoes, which he could take into college each day. Protein like ham or cheese, some carbs, then tomatoes, grapes or other vitamins, all of which he could buy at the start of the week. In the evening they seem to have done quite a lot of group cooking, led by the overseas students, and he came home proficient in a number of Asian dishes. A musical theatre student will need to have energy, but all you can do is advise and perhaps give her some practice and a good cookbook.

Dd found it incredibly difficult to get registered with a GP in London, none seemed to have space.

She ended up registering with Babylon which although it is an online GP service it ended up being far better than her previous GP. Really easy to get both online and face to face appointments although at the moment they too are only accepting registrations from North West London residents.

@ChimneyPot DD1 went on a cooking for uni course! Didn’t really need to as she was catered as it turned out. Useful for y2 onwards though. Also DD2 did Leiths at school. Just a few tips are useful. Lots of Dc don’t seem to know how to follow a recipe and do like the deliveries with everything included. Expensive though. She will undoubtedly work it out for herself. Don’t worry.

Great news on the hall. For future years there will be areas accessible to Peckham which are reasonably cheap. Students will know where the students in the year above live.

OP's dd is on Foundation which means they will have to re-apply from scratch for a place on the normal degree course.

@ChimneyPot Does Mountview have a subsidised bar for students? I’m glad your DD has halls. Commuting longer distances in subsequent years might add up. It can also split friendship groups up in terms of who can afford what. I have two DDs who studied in London and certainly food costs are no higher. Going out has so many wonderful options, not spending more tends to be difficult. But she will find her feet. Probably few Asians doing musical theatre, but I might be wrong!

@ChimneyPot - if your dd is in Peckham £500 a month will be plenty as it is not as expensive an area (although nowadays quite arty) as Bloomsbury or Greenwich. A lot of inexpensive restaurants (a wide range of cuisines & can easily eat out for £15 a head), a decent sized Lidl and Morrisons which are also a little cheaper than Sainsburys and Tescos plus lots of little ethnic grocery stores that are usually very good value. It should also be easier to find a GP than in the big studenty areas further in to town (most students in Peckham will be UAL from Camberwell). Its also possible to register with the NHS online GP instead of a physical practice.

Chimneypot, if her accommodation is in Southwark she might look at the Nexus Health Care group. https://nexushealthgroup.nhs.uk/

Slightly controversial in that it is a group of nine NHS practices, one in Peckham, owned, as I understand, by an American health care group. Because of critical mass they are able to provide a number of specialist services. I did some Covid vaccine volunteering for them, and they emptied out a whole practice and turned it into a vaccine centre. Their GPs then did shifts there. I met several of them. They were all quite impressive.