How much do you give your child at uni?

[Martyjake]

My son is hopefully starting university in Wales in September. His maintenance loan will just cover the cost of his accommodation and we were thinking of giving him £100 a week for everything else. Is that too much/ too little? He doesn’t have a part time job so all the money he will get is from us.

My son is in his last year at uni and the maintenance grant just about covers accommodation too. I think some of it will depend on your son 😀. My son isnt a drinker or big on going out, he makes the most of a weekly bus ticket or walks to campus so he has money left over every month from the £300 we give him. Out of that he also pays for train fares home and back to uni if and when he decides to come and see us. Mine may be the exception though

We paid the accommodation, and they lived off the loan, plus they had PT jobs and worked the holidays. Plus we paid for their phone, and one had a car so we maintained/tax/insured that.

We pay accommodation, they live off the loan.

We also pay accommodation costs, she lives off her minimum loan (about £4750). Her rent is £8500 for the year.

Don’t underestimate how much money they will need. Aside from travel, clothes, footwear, club and societies, stationery/technology and socialising - don’t forget that food is quite expensive now too. My children are not extravagant at all but even the bare minimum for uni is not cheap.

We pay accommodation costs so they/we know that's covered. They have the minimum student loan which they use to budget for food/shopping and they have part time jobs (one works at uni, one in the holidays) to fund the fun stuff.
Working well for us/them and is helping them learn how to budget properly and how much groceries cost in the real world.

We paid for the accommodation and they lived off the loan and part-time holiday work.
Having the full loan at the start of the term taught them very quickly how to budget, and not blow it all at the start. Didn’t want to give them money weekly or monthly for this reason.

Ds maintenance loan pays for accommodation and we give him £100 a week plus we pay for his phone. This is in London and he’s looking for a part time job to top that up.

We give £140 a week and the odd £50 for train tickets, unexpected extras. She also has some occasional bar work to top up. She’s not great at budgeting, I suspect, but she’s having a good time. We gave less to DS five years ago, but things are much more expensive now.

I gave mine enough (imo) for food. They used their loans and got jobs very quickly.

DS3 graduated from a Uni in Wales last year. Like several others we paid accommodation and he lived off the minimum loan. Compared to many unis accommodation costs were much more reasonable - even for the all singing and dancing yr1 self-catered halls - at just above and the just below 5k each year.

My DD’s loan plus bursary cover her accommodation and expenses and this year she is catered. I did a rough calculation of her non food needs (I pay her phone so personal hygiene, train fare home, socialising etc) and she has averaged £325/term - £36/week as nine week terms, but she spent £130 on a weekend away so some weeks she spends nothing. Next year in shared house so figure £100/week above rent will be needed to pay for above and food/utilities. She’s pretty frugal and has a paid internship this summer which will cover most of her ongoing expenses.
They may need a bit more initially for societies, gym membership etc.

Loan covers accommodation. We send him £400 a month. Grandparents (both sides) send him "pocket money" which totals about £80 a month.
Everything is walkable so no transport costs, and he's not a big drinker or into partying.
He is in north midlands and seems to have plenty to live on.

We pay his accommodation and he lives off his loan which is about £100pw, so effectively the same outcome as you’re thinking OP. He has money for food, a couple of beers down the union bar, and he’s saved £500 since September. He’s in Norwich for price comparison.

£500 a month. That pays for her accommodation and she lives off the minimum loan.

Oh, and I pay for her phone and we either pick her up when she wants to come home of I pay for her train. She walks to university so no transport costs.

Mine I give £600/mo but she pays her own expenses

• prescrption prepayment certifucate
• food & transport
• lab supplies and fees
• society fees
• vision & dental costs
• phone

Plus I expect her to save some every month so she has a nest egg 🥚 for graduation to cover travel to interviews moving to a new city, rent deposit and etc. Or towards costs for a masters degree.

Shes 2nd year and has £2,600 saved so far. This break, I’ve helped her open a high yield cash ISA. So my plan to give her more than she needs to train her to budget for bills and to save a decent amount every month seems to be off to a good start. Hopefully saving will be a habit by the time it’s a pay cheque instead of an allowance.

DD gets the minimum loan so we make it up to the max. She is in Catered but has the facilities to make basic food in her room as well.
I also pay for her phone, her travel home and anything course related (books, lab coat). She has a credit card we pay for as well that she can use if needed, she is actually very good and doesn't abuse it. She generally gets The Tram or walks with friends but we never wanted her to be in an unsafe situation due to lack of money.
When she is in a shared house next year we will pay the rent and give her a few hundred £ per month for food

I’ve calculated my DD has spent £350/term, but she is catered. Next year shared house and I reckon after rent will budget £100/week for bills plus food, personal hygiene, socialising, train fare home etc. Her loan plus bursary plus her paid internship this summer will cover it.
Be aware that there may be a few extra costs initially for societies, gym etc, so maybe a bit extra then but do £100/ week see how it goes!

Like quite a few pp here we are going to pay accommodation costs (will be between £7.5 - £10k self-catered/catered depending on which college he is allocated😯) We think he'll manage fine on the minimum maintenance loan but if he ends up self catered then he can add his stuff on my weekly shop.
I think £100 pw 'fun' money is enough but if he wants more then he'll need to find a part-time job

Thanks all for sharing, so helpful. Can any parents of medics advise about additional costs for equipment etc? Just trying to get a rough idea.

We top up the loan to cover uncatered accommodation, them give £250 a month, so pretty low compared to lots here, but I book any trains home and pay for phone. She has savings from holiday jobs and uses that to cover things like club fees. She's managing well and spends the whole £250 every month. She knows I will send her more if she needs it.

@ramonaqueenbee Equipment costs vary hugely by course. Art students need a lot, Humanities less so. Obviously a laptop is a must whichever course, but computer science will need a higher spec than a humanity@

We give DS £400 per month. We also pay for his phone. He has a part time job too. He walks everywhere but gets free bus travel if needed. His laptops, clothes etc are covered by Christmas and birthday gifts.

We're abroad and loans don't really exist. I pay tuition - about 800 euros a year - and rent/bills/phone/any medical or dentist expenses. I also have a lunch voucher card which dd has - about 150 euros a month - which she uses for food shopping. She has a couple of part time jobs to cover her spending money and works normally on kids holiday camps over the summer holidays. It's a lot more common here for kids to stay at home and go to the local uni. Even those in halls etc tend to go home at the weekend with their washing....