I have no idea how much money to give my DD every week.

[TitaniasAss]

Hopefully going to UEA in September. She will get the minimum maintenance loan which will be used for half the accommodation and we will pay the other half and her living costs. It's the living costs I am unsure of. I expect her to get a job and help herself, but when I have looked online at info on what parents are contributing towards their DCs, the range is huge. I saw someone give their child £150 a week for food/going out etc and we just can't afford that.

This is all new to me, can anyone give me any pointers?

[Loubelle70]

Are you low income? She may get a bursary etc

[TitaniasAss]

Not on a low income, she will receive the minimum maintenance loan. However, we have other children and an elderly relative to care for too, so still need to budget carefully.

[Chewbecca]

Can you top up to maximum maintenance loan? That's the amount many YP will be living on.

[DustyLee123]

We paid the accommodation and they got PT jobs.

[DragonFly98]

Approximately £100 a week. Having a job in term time is not a good idea but she should get one in the holidays and save. Your dd needs to be the priority financially above the elderly relative.

[Littlefish]

We pay the accommodation costs, and my dd has the lowest maintenance grant for her living expenses. I think it works out at about £120 ish per week.

[Loubelle70]

https://www.thescholarshiphub.org.uk/what-do-when-your-student-maintenance-loan-not-enough/

[ItsNotAPoolBasedHoliday]

My dd gets the minimum loan too and we give her what she would have got for a loan had she received the maximum loan.

We also still have her on the family mobile plan and I take her and collect her each term.

[Fireyflies]

Ours all ended up with about £150/week spending money, which seemed to be roughly what their friends had. (And nothing expect free bed and board at home in the holidays, so they had to self fund them).
But if it can't afford that, then you can only give her what you can afford and if it's significantly less then she'll need to get part time job, or else work in the holidays and save up. Many students do have part time jobs in bars, deliveroo, etc.

[Bartholomewphilipswasrobbed]

We're budgeting for £500 per month when they go.

[titchy]

Why don't you think the maintenance loan will cover accommodation? Single room halls with a shared bathroom are £108 a week at UEA. £4k a year for a 38 week contract - ie less than the loan

[EmmaStone]

DD also on minimum maintenance, we make it up to full, which just about then covers her (catered) accommodation. We tend to give her £50 per week termtime and she's expected to work in the holidays to supplement that. We usually pay for her travel home.

[beeswain]

My ds manages on £300 a month for the months that he is at uni- he's not a big party goer or drinker. He has had summer jobs/internships to top this up.

[Scarletttulips]

You are supposed to top up the min loan to make the next loan

So loan value £4000 - max loan is £9000 you pay £5000

Or they work.

DD wins all Sumer and Easter Christmas and makes about £4000 to take with her - she has enough for X3 holidays this year - so get a job.

[Xylophonics]

About £100 pw
Both had savings from a summer job.

[TitaniasAss]

@titchy

Why don't you think the maintenance loan will cover accommodation? Single room halls with a shared bathroom are £108 a week at UEA. £4k a year for a 38 week contract - ie less than the loan

She has various health issues, so a shared bathroom would not work for her at all. Cheapest en-suite will be £168 a week next year.

[TitaniasAss]

@Scarletttulips

You are supposed to top up the min loan to make the next loan

So loan value £4000 - max loan is £9000 you pay £5000

Or they work.

DD wins all Sumer and Easter Christmas and makes about £4000 to take with her - she has enough for X3 holidays this year - so get a job.

If you read my OP, you'll see that I expect her to get a job.

[mondaytosunday]

Tipping to max only works if the accommodation is cheaper! The max loan will not cover the accommodation where my DD is looking.
It depends how frugal and what they can earn. I'd say £50-100/week is probably normal, with you paying for the train trips home.

[Fireyflies]

I wouldn't start from the point of what the accommodation must be. Work out what you're prepared to pay, help her work out what things cost and and then let her make decisions about whether to get a job, have an ensuite, etc.

[titchy]

Ok so you may have to top up by £2k a year. Don't forget she won't have a 52 week contract though.

Also - if her need for her own bathroom is due to a health issue, then it's worth applying for disabled student allowance - you might find that pays for the extra cost.

To answer your question we have ours £400 a month for 10 months (nothing over the summer). They could have managed reasonably well on less though.

[TitaniasAss]

@titchy

Ok so you may have to top up by £2k a year. Don't forget she won't have a 52 week contract though.

Also - if her need for her own bathroom is due to a health issue, then it's worth applying for disabled student allowance - you might find that pays for the extra cost.

To answer your question we have ours £400 a month for 10 months (nothing over the summer). They could have managed reasonably well on less though.

Yes, she's going to apply for DSA and we have a letter from her consultant too. It's very new to us, so we don't really know what we're doing. A friend has suggested that we pay for the accommodation and she lives off the maintenance loan, plus get a part-time job.

[Loubelle70]

@TitaniasAss

She has various health issues, so a shared bathroom would not work for her at all. Cheapest en-suite will be £168 a week next year.

If she has health issues then she can apply for disabled grants from uni

[QualityDog]

If she has health issues then she can apply for disabled grants from uni

Yes, and there are disabled rooms.

My dd has anaphylaxis and I was worried about her sharing a kitchen but it was completely fine. Her flatmates were beyond considerate. I honestly think if my dd had said that she had issues with the shared bathroom then they would have all made allowances for that too.

As an aside my dd loved the shared bathroom as students in halls with a shared bathroom had a cleaner but those with an ensuite didnt.

[RobinPigeonBlackbirdTit]

Definitely look into disability assistance and reductions on accommodation costs due to needing an en-suite etc. We gave Dc £100 a week which included food. They said they spent around £35-£39 a week on their food shop as sometimes they needed toilet roll or washing tabs. This was only for their term time as at home we are feeding them. However, they also had a grandparent gift them £50 a month every month. They paid all of their loan toward their accommodation and we topped that up to cover it. Then the £100 on top but we had saved up for this.

Things to consider, will she need to buy things for her course ie books?

Laundry and how much it costs. Usually Circuit laundry so around £3.70 ish for a wash and around £1.75 for tumble drying but check. Think about how much clothing she will go through in a week also how often she will wash her bedding and towels.

Subscriptions like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, phone contract. All these things add up. Some parents will pay for the accommodation in full and the child lives off their minimum maintenance loan. This is incredibly generous in terms of their disposable income especially if the use it over the course of term time only around 30 weeks as opposed to 52.

When Dc first went to uni we as parents and they as a child played it by ear. We had open and honest discussions about the spending. It can depend on their friends too and what they like to do for fun, whether they have brunch every weekend etc.

[MarchingFrogs]

A friend has suggested that we pay for the accommodation and she lives off the maintenance loan, plus get a part-time job.

We did it that way as well in first year, then from second year topped them up to the maximum loan level and they sorted ot all their expenses themselves, apart from still being on our phone contracts. Fortunately, private rents in Birmingham and Norwich were / are quite resonable.