Do you live in England but have DC at Welsh uni? Finance advice please!

[Mumof2lads]

DS1 is going to Swansea uni this September and will only get minimum maintenance loan from Student Finance England (SFE). We had planned to top up to maximum amount awarded by SFE but a friend with a DD at Cardiff says that will mean DS being significantly poorer than Welsh students at Swansea (of whom there will be many) as they get maintenance loan/grant of over £12k! So do I need to top up to that amount, rather than the amount recommended by SFE?

Yes the funding is different for students applying from Wales. You give what you can afford and dc work. Swansea is not an expensive student city and fab by the sea. They will find work which will help.

My English son is at Swansea. I pay for his accommodation and he lives off minimum maintenance loan. Swansea much cheaper than most places in England.

Does your son work a job in term time @blackpear or is living off the minimum maintenance loan sufficient? DS has applied to cheapest halls on Singleton as he hopes that he won’t then need to get a job in term time

He doesn’t work. Minimum maintenance loan is fine ( but I pay his accommodation).

I live in Swansea, a much cheaper city than many others. Welsh students get better subsidies because the Welsh Government has made this a priority. Not sure this is a question anyone can answer - piece of string - as we don’t know how much you can afford or how much your child will need to subsist on. Maybe start off where you intended to and see if you need to top it up later? He can also get a job here, plenty of places for students to work. Hope he’s very happy here, it’s a nice little city by the sea with a gorgeous beach and lots of quirky, fun places to explore, as well as being a base to explore more of this gorgeous country. I’m having a wine by the marina as we speak - glorious.

Dd has just finished at Swansea, (we are in Gloucestershire) we paid her rent, minimum loan paid for living expenses.

Other Dd was at Bath at the same time, we did the same for her (and there were a lot more significantly richer students there)

Welsh students get £12k because the gov have decided to base the student finance on the living wage (apparently). Every student gets the same final amount. Those with lower household incomes have a greater part of the £12k as a grant that is not repayable. And those with higher incomes have a minimum of £1k grant.

So they are better off, but end with a much higher debt level at the end.

@Arlanymor cheers! DS is very much enamoured with Swansea and so excited to start!

I hope he enjoys it here. I’m also in Swansea and live near Singleton. It’s a great city. When the sun is out I genuinely wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. Sadly it rains a lot!

Is he into sport? If so he’s going to love Varsity.

Tell him to take care at Singleton. I was in Mary Williams, as it was, in the late 80s. Met a lovely lad in the room next door. It's our 30th wedding anniversary this summer.

It's not pricey. He'll have a ball.

Minimum grant has been fine for dc to live on in Swansea... We have paid for annual bus pass as well as accommodation..

Different Welsh Uni but rather like @blackpear we have paid DS accommodation each year, averaged just £5k over each of the three years - he’s just finished his final year. He has lived on the min maintenance loan which with accommodation paid is more than sufficient. So each year was less than £10k combined cost.

in England the max loan is probably now around £2k short of where it should be. Though to be clear that is down to the Department for Education (and Treasury) not SFE - they just administer and have to follow whatever policy direction is set by government.

just over half of UK undergrads at Swansea are from England, so your DC certainly won’t be alone finance provision wise. Interestingly both Cardiff and Aber have a much larger proportion of undergrads from England, both at nearer 65%. Although that’s only interesting for anyone actually interested in that kind of thing of course.😀

Similar experience here, albeit with North Wales. Accommodation costs pretty reasonable and as DS doesn't drink his living costs were low.

NC’ed.
My dd is at Cardiff Uni. We pay her accommodation and bills and she gets the minimum maintenance loan to live on. It’s more than enough, but she does come back and work during holidays and she is very sensible with money.
Regarding other Welsh students getting more, it doesn’t bother her as most of her friends are English anyway. That’s not through choice btw, she just seems to have met mostly English students most of whom seem to be from pretty wealthy families. So she does feel a bit povvo sometimes (god knows why because she gets more than enough 🙄) but not because of all the Welsh students having endless pots of money 😆.

We are paying rent and DS is living on minimum loan which affords him plenty of beer money tbh. Don’t think he’s met any rich Welsh students that he’s aware of so probably won’t be an issue. He doesn’t work as where he is students massively outnumber the jobs available and he’s a tad lazy so not really tried. He’s surviving and having a ball though.

Same experience here - dc in Wales easily managed on English amount of funding. Wasn't really an issue that Welsh students got more.

I shall top up to the SFE amount then! Thanks MNetters x

Make sure you visit him if he's here in the summer, it's beautiful today! Bring your flip-flops!

Great Uni, one of my DS went there. Cheap to live (rents lower than many other cities). The market is good for food shopping. Great beach (post exam BBQs on the beach!). You DC will be fine on an English max loan level of income.

DS is also in a Welsh uni, definitely been fine on a minimum loan while we pay the accommodation (£5.5k). He saved enough to have a few days in a European city over Easter and is having a weekend away before he starts his summer job.

He’s loved his first year and next year will live with a range of mates: some English first language, some Welsh first language. It’s a beautiful place to be.

Just came on here to say I met my husband there 30 years ago when we were students. Fabulous place to study. We take our teens back there regularly for hols ( we live 4 hours away). We both did really well career wise after. Very underrated part of the world. Hope he has a brilliant time!