Weekly cost of student at Uni 2025/26

[harrogatemumofone]

So we will be paying the (8K- Manchester) accommodation whilst DD lives on the minimum finance (probably no job at Uni due to full on course). In your experience is that enough? We would fund trains home and big expenditure like coats, trainers, jeans etc. I'm purely thinking about food + socialising costs? Term ends mid June.

She's struggling to get a job post-A levels despite trying, so expecting no personal top up money in her bank account

GPs won't be contributing. Very small CTF (all our contributions - 18th in July) that we are hoping she doesn't need to use.

Of course it is

Very easily if you are only expecting it to last for term time.

If you are expecting it to last 12months then I'd say incentivising for sorting out a job at the very least during holidays.

if it’s approx 32 weeks and just under a 5k loan, that’s roughly £150 a week - that’s loads! Food can be done for £50, another 100 a week for going out and spending is plenty, especially seeing as she’s been given it and not earning herself. She’ll be fine.

How much is minimum finance? im not familiar with things in the UK though my granddaughter is an internatonal student there. She gets 600 pounds per month pocket money with her accommodation paid for her but some international student friends of hers get perhaps 300 per month plus their accommodation paid for. Flights home and getting to and from the airport would also be paid by parents and if my granddaughter was going to visit our family in the UK I give her something for her train fares. My granddaughter doesn’t struggle as far as I can see (she’s not much of a socialiser with regards to clubbing and she doesn’t drink) but her friend on 300 did because of her very busy social life so she got a part time job.

I think cooking for themselves really helps with making their money last and when my granddaughter went through a period of homesickness she was quite broke by the end of the month because she lived on takeaways she was so unhappy. Otherwise she cooks meals for herself everyday.

You don’t need to pay their full accommodation costs and let them live off the loan….thats about 13.5k. 12k will be fine and exceeds the full maintenance loan that some get. Either get them to take 1.5k less loan or give them 1.5k less yourself.

You should start with a figure and work backwards.

Those who pay for accommodation and say ‘live off the maintenance loan’ can be giving up to £15k in total, because in some places accommodation is £10k or more.

We pay accomodation and £140 per week. They don't take the maintenance loan. They seem to manage.

We do the pay accommodation and she lives off min loan - it’s just under £100 a week year round but she was only at university 8 months (and in reality only 6.5 months factoring in Christmas and Easter)
In addition we kitted her room out, some food shopping, train home, phone and contact lenses.
She’s been absolutely fine and I know has quite a bit left. She’s working abroad this summer.

That’s our plan. DS has a bit extra from a not massive CTF but I expect he’ll need to get a job in the summers, at the very least.

They will have pretty long summers, even if term finishes in June - so a good chance to get work experience.

We did the same and DD managed perfectly well. It's not enough to fund lots of pubs and clubs, but she could certainly spring to things like the odd takeaway and travel to see family/friends as well as some nights out.

If you're paying for travel and big ticket items, shouldn't be any issue at all.

DS just finished his first year. We paid accommodation, kitted out his room, and paid for phone and travel.

He’s just totted it up and his entire spending for the year, including socialising etc, was £3,300. So average of £75 per week.

It helps that he knows how to cook from ingredients, shops at Lidl (as did most of the students), and isn’t a big drinker. But he wasn’t short of anything, treated himself at the bookshop and the coffee shop, and had at least a couple of nights out per week.

@harrogatemumofone here Manchester Uni’s guidance in case you haven’t seen it.

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/student-life/experience/cost-of-living/

I’d say they are pretty generous - I’d think parents don’t need to be funding kids for £580 of takeaways each year!! And perhaps they’re not supporting relatives and if they bike don’t need so much for travel.

Our DC2 - not at Manchester but an equally priced city will have more like £12K for the year including accommodation. Ours do have casual jobs at home they’ve been able to come back to in the holidays to pay for travel etc. which helps.

Like PP says the key is to do a budget - so much depends on cost of accommodation. Also both my DC did loads of sport 10-12x per week. They needed to eat loads and the catered food was inadequate so food costs were higher. They often cooked double quantities in the evening and took it for lunch the next day.

It’s all very personal and much like real life will depend on the friends you keep whether you feel rich or poor!

My DD spent about £1250 last year. She is catered though. But that amount included train fare home, a weekend visiting mates in Liverpool, a few clothing purchases and all her personal toiletries, plus clubs and societies. I pay her phone. On these types of treads the amount above uncatered accommodation seems to range from £35-100/week. So the minimum loan of £4900 divided by a 40 week university year is £122/week. Plenty. If to last all year then it’s still £94/week and if they are at home with you paying for food they can save! My DD will be rolling over her money to next year (she has a paid internship this summer).
Her shared house rent starts on July 1 for full year so be aware costs may be higher second year depending on area - they have to pay it plus standing charges for utilities and broadband which is on 12 month contract.

I think so. I'm guessing Manchester is a relatively cheap place to eat and socialise. My DD was at Bath and would pay a premium for just a coffee out. Manchester has so many students - establishments must be competing for the student pound.

Just be aware, as a student, they tend to spend the most money between September and Christmas during their first year - so factor that in. Either give a bit more for first term or realise that it will even out over the year if she overspends in the first few months.

Is she doing a STEM degree? Could she supplement her income with some online tutoring?

My DS had £12.25k for his first year. It was fully catered halls costing £10k - 3 meals a day provided. He had £800 per term spending money on top.

He has come home with £700 remaining.

He joined several societies, paid JCR fees on £150, went to 2 balls and several formal dinners. He went out a lot, and did drink but isn’t a big drinker. He often had nights out for les than £10 which he wouldn’t manage at home but college bars had v cheap drinks. He won’t have spent much on clothes etc. He did fund the £500 deposit for 2nd yr house, although we’d have paid that if needed.

I think some students buy a lot of clothes and shoes and a lot of takeaways.

That £700 left over is funding a holiday with friends and giving him 2 or 3 hundred spending money for summer.

He will work 3 weeks of this summer and earn around £1-£1.5k which will give him a buffer.

BUT worth knowing - we have given him half of his 2nd year funds today-and that’s because his 2nd year rent starts on 1 July. Do he will have paid 3 months, plus the standing order elements of bills before he goes back. It was fine for us to give him that ….very difficult for anyone fully relying on a 100% maintenance loan that won’t arrive until Oct.

We pay £1100 a month all year round to cover rent and spending money
Also pay legacy stuff eg phones ,contact lenses
We buy essential clothing eg boots,winter jacket
They get 500 a term from grandparents

im a uni student and live off 70 a week and that’s v generous.

My son has just done his first year at Manchester- Unsworth Park.

We paid for rent and all set up costs ( pots pans, few new clothes etc, phone) and he has lived off maintenance loan.

his grandparents give him £100 a month and he has a job in holidays.

he pays for all food drink etc. when we visit we top the food up and sometimes I send vouchers for food.

he Also pays for his bus pass and gym membership.

(The bus pass was brilliant as buses run all night but it was quite a hefty cost each month)

you will find they will spend more in terms one and two and less in the third term as MCU go back after Easter, do exams and very little else.

he moans he is broke but has survived year one, drank and ate loads, paid for a city break and a proper holiday in that time so I think he has done ok!

Sorry, should have said the minimum maintenance loan.

some students work at Manchester but he didn’t. He says he will get a job in year 2!

Sorry one final thing. You say term ends in June and I know Easter was late this year but they literally go back after Easter to revise, especially the STEM subjects. No big nights out (and my son is a party animal) so less needed for that term.

It's sounds fine seeing as you are funding clothes, travel etc separately. Ours gets minimum loan, we send £300 a month pocket money and pay accommodation, phone, car insurance etc. She can have a good night out for about once or twice a month. (Students get savvy about promotion nights, pre drinks etc). She is desperate for a holiday job, but has sadly been conned by people using students as free labour under the guise of trial shifts.

Ours has just finished. Accommodation also £8k. On top of that we gave her £600 per month. She found that enough but tight but doesn’t drink or smoke. Other that did sacrificed decent food etc. we didn’t lay it in summer holidays as she worked. We also had a to fund a car as was a medical degree and they have to travel some silly distances. Basically the loans just are not enough. We also paid stuff on top like clothes at times.

@Timeforaglassofwine DS has done several trial shifts in his Uni city, none have materialised in a job, so demoralising for them, he comes with great credentials and references from a job he can come back to anytime in our home town, which he’s had to do having not secured any work in Uni city, he wanted to stay there for summer to make most of his 2nd year house share (tenancy started 1st July). These businesses using students for trial shifts need to be highlighted, I’m going to ask DS if there is a student page where students can put where they’ve been offered/done trial shifts as ones to avoid. In answer to OP, we pay rent, and DS lives off min loan, topped up by working in his home town during holidays.

Loads, my DD’s have both graduated now but they lived off the equivalent of the full loan, dd2 got extra bursary from her now employer but dd1 actually didn’t even spend her £9500 and that included rent!

It’s more than my two get.

dd is a bit older & so classed as independent. She gets max loan plus what she managed to save from working full full time the previous year. She gets £500 per year bursary from her uni too. She manages to run a car on that (though her grandparents pay her insurance.

ds gets min loan. We top it up to max and after rent he has about £60-70 per week to live on. His travel, phone etc come out if that. He does work alongside as well.

both also buy their own clothes etc. sometimes they will ask first a coat, trainers, converse etc for Christmas.

Depends how much minimum finance she will get. She'll also have photocopy and printing costs too plus any books she needs to buy. Tell her to split money by 40 then see how sh manages on what she has each week. She can tell you If she can't manage. Some universities include gym membership in cost of halls but others don't.