Going to university - how much can we expect to pay?

[Botherthatcatt]

Our eldest is going to uni next year 2026. We don’t know which uni yet as it’s a bit of a way off. However it will come quickly and we want to be prepared.

How much on average do parents pay for a child at uni - fees and accommodation, and general living costs? London and not London. 150k pa before tax

Is it true that all students are eligible for a tuition fee loan (approx 10k per year)?

I think we’d rather pay as much of it as we can, so as little debt as possible.

Thank you!

See https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-england-plan-5/

1. The amount you borrow isn't the key factor as Plan 5 loans work more like a graduate tax

This bit is really important to understand, as once you get it, it makes lots of personal finance choices about your loan easier to understand. So take your time. What you repay each month depends SOLELY on what you earn.

DD got a loan for fees and maintenance and we paid for her accommodation.

MSE as above can tell you all.

Also to think about, how much do you trust DC to stay out of debt? They can take the student loan and the credit card, you won't know.

Friends ds did exactly this, no one would ever have though it of him but since all his uni mates were running up debts and not worrying about it he thought he may as well.

My DD gets min maintenance loan (about £4750 a year) so we pay her rent (about £8500 a year). Gets loan for her fees.

Have one going this year and another next year. Will get minimum maintenance due to DH salary, so plan is to take the loan for fees, the loan for maintenance which DCs will live on (@6500) and we will pay for accommodation (@£10-11kpa in London). They both have about £4-5k savings each, and my understanding is that students need to have some sort of work experience during uni to impress potential employers so we’ll encourage a PT job to top up money, even if its just 3hrs a week on the SU desk!

ETA… plan is to pay of their loans in their twenties when we downsize!

You generally check what the highest loan is you could get if you had really low earnings and make it up to that, that is the minimum you are expected to do.

If the £150K pa is your household income then your dc will get the minimum loan (about £4700 - the link above will give it you precisely).

There's not many places in the country that will cover their accommodation.

The theoretical expectation is that parents will make contributions to top up to a 'full loan' (around £10K).

there is no "average". If you look on the Higher Ed board this question comes up over and over again (as it does in various facebook groups) and you'll get families that can't afford to top up the £5Kish they are 'expected' to and you'll find students that end up with ££££ from different family members.

London is hugely more expensive but does at least come with a higher loan.
Bristol accommodation is also very expensive and doesn't.

Fees are covered by student loan regardless of where the student goes.

As has been said above - the repayment each month works more like a tax than a loan as it is a % of income rather than a repayment based on amount of loan.

Thanks everyone, that’s all very helpful information! x

The Martin Lewis site excellent thanks @cestlavielife

Still not sure what to do the idea of debt gives me the heebie jeebies, but perhaps @CautiousLurker01 we’d do something similar. Although downsizing comes with its own £££.

Oh no. That’s the thing isn’t it - young people taking out this seemingly free money, running up debt before they’ve even started real life. Then it comes back to bite them - or not. Maybe a lot think they’ll never earn enough to start paying back. It’s not a good model for young people imo. But what do I know 🙈. Not sure what a better approach would be.

We’re getting ours to take the maintenance and fees loans so they feel ‘loaded’ with debt, hopefully this will make them think more carefully about credit cards etc Similar to a PP we plan to clear it when we downsize in a few years.

DS gets min maintenance loan and we pay his accommodation- £920/month first year uni halls, self catering, not London. DD goes in September and we’ll do the same for her.