how much does your uni student spend per week/month?

[breezehead]

Trying to work out what is a reasonable amount for a first-year student to live on per week for for food, local transportation, entertainment, etc. Not including rent & utilities. Living away from home, not in London. Please let me know how you and your dc managed it! Thanks.

Accommodation and bills are £450 a month. Then, only about £30 a week after that. Student is at the more frugal end of students!

25 years ago… my parents gave me £70 a week 😳

Dd was quite spendy when she first started -buying lunch out most days for example

She learnt her lesson and is now much better at managing her costs -spends around £60 a week which includes transport to her work placement (vocational degree) and some socialising

She eats very cheaply most of the time and I do her a pantry shop at the start of each term for around £75

I'm actually quite impressed with her as she actually eats quite healthily using frozen fruit and veg and watching out for yellow stickers!

I’ve had 3 kids at / going through / soon to start uni. none take loans, so this is it for spending money.

In 2016 I gave £400 pcm for first year (after accommodation in halls was paid) and that was about right for DD1 in Sheffield. In 2020 that went up to £500 for DS1 in first year in Birmingham. However it was covid and so he didn’t spend it all as there was nowhere to go socialise for much of the year. By 2023 I gave £600 for ds2 in Plymouth and that’s been fine but Plymouth is pretty cheap too. DD4 is having a gap before going to Exeter in 2025 and I’m assuming she will need at least another £50 on top.

DC budget £125 a week / £500 a month.
That's for food, gym and society memberships, travel, socialising.

We were thinking £450 pcm to start with. I think it was £100 per week for DS, but DD spends more and prices are higher now.

DS is going into second year in Manchester. He will have £9,700 to live on for the year (£5,200 maintenance loan, £1,500 from me and DH and £3,000 of his own savings).

He had a similar amount last year and managed. He doesnt drink and is pretty frugal. If its not enough he will get a job.

My DD is sent £300 a month though we do pay for sports membership and take her food shopping when we visit about once a month.

It depends on their rent, because that is what really varies from uni to uni. I have one in Cardiff one in York. £90 per week in Cardiff for a nice room in a shared house. In York, omg! It’s double, £195! Their food travel and social cost are roughly the same £60 per week

@Lordofmyflies do you pay accommodation on top of that?

Yep. Rent is additional. Dc is no longer in Halls though so the £125 a week has to cover bus to/from uni too.

Thanks for all of these, so helpful! What about over the Xmas/Easter breaks (when maybe there's not enough time to get a job?). Does the £xxx-or-whatever a week/month continue for the holiday periods?

Rental is generally paid from September until July. Some contracts are for 12 months though. 1st year uni accommodation is different and dependant upon the uni. I don’t stop giving mine money over Easter or Xmas, they’re often revising for exams anyway, but they always get holiday jobs if they can. They definitely work over the summer

DD gets £200 a month plus she has savings from her summer work. We pay her pre- prescription, and travel home. She gets a gift card for favorite shop maybe £100 per term so it’s for years. - and we give her things like new bedding or whatever. Big shop in September to replace freezer stuff, herbs spices, sauces etc, toiletries etc.

She does well to sort her money out we pay basics and she pays fun money.

Oh, and Xmas and birthday pressies tend to be things like necessities. So decent jeans, bag , coat etc….

We pay Dd £1000 per month (£7k from us £5k loan), and out of that £485 is budgeted for accommodation. We just sat down together yesterday to do a monthly budget. I have suggested using Moneyhub for her to keep track of her spending categories. She is going into 2nd year and not in halls, so it is a step up in terms of managing money.

GP also give her £250 a month although that is supposed to be going into a LISA.

We're aiming at £500 per month when DC starts in September. For food, travel, fun and Art supplies/books etc. We're paying for accommodation.

We pay rent/phone/insurance/medication/books/travel home.

Son pays daily living which is food and what he want of fin. He spends around £50 on food. No lunch out. He has two student jobs.
He does fine.

I know grandparents give him money each month but not the amount. Granddad takes care of computerstuff.

He often brings bags of food and stuff from his auntie and uncle then he visits them.

Clothes, shoes and stuff like that are often gifts at Xmas and birthday.

For the year just finished (year 2 for dd), her loan covered her accommodation. We paid bills, her phone, gym membership and car insurance (she bought the car herself) and we gave her £60 a week in term time. She also has a job, working 7-10 hours a week. She's a very spendy girl and she's managed ok on that! I guess with earnings too, she had around £130 a week, but she's also managed to book several cheap holidays abroad over the summer and she still has a buffer, so she's doing ok. When she's at home I don't pay her the £60 (but her additional food requirements do add up!). This summer I've given her £60 for the weeks where she's been away.