Uni budget - can students really live on £40 a week!

[scattysue]

My friend recommended I join a Facebook group called What I want to know about university. I have done and it has really made me think because so many posters on there say their kids live on £35-£50 a week at uni (excluding rent and utilities). This strikes me as VERY low - my eldest DS budgets £60 on a Sainsbury’s shop each week (including alcohol for pres and lots of meat protein) and then, as I want him to socialise and have fun too, I fund two nights out a week (£25 each time) plus gym (£8 a week), laundry (£9 a week - 2 loads of washing and drying as he does so much sport) and then £13 for miscellaneous . So I give him £140 a week. That struck me as fair but now I am wondering if I am too generous! What do u think? DS does work 20 hours a week in hols but he uses that money to fund his car/clothes/holidays - not uni. He gets minimum maintenance loan, pays it to us and we pay rent and, as I say, give him £140 a week during uni terms. Am I out of touch? Or is this uni Facebook group I joined overly frugal and unrealistic?

As above https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/university-living-costs-calculator/guide/
They have less in loans because their parents earn more and were asked about this on the loan contract. The above link shows what parents should be expecting to pay depending on income.

Whilst you're correct, this thread isn't really about what parents "should" pay, but what students need to live on (which will come from various sources including parents, loans and jobs)

If I gave my DC what that calculator suggests and she took out the maximum loan available to her but had no other sources of income, she'd be living on £37.50 a week (based on 40 weeks at university and no expenditure during the summer holiday). Which I think most people on this thread have acknowledged, is at the "just about surviving" level of the spectrum rather than something that would be ideal.

It may well be her choice and that's up to you and her. But it's not a standard that most parents want for their children, and therefore it's not appropriate for parents to base their children's food budget/money available on them eating instant noodles and soy sauce for lunch each day.

A healthy balanced diet and a well balanced life including socialising, exercise, hobbies and necessities costs more than £40/50 a week. That is all.

We paid our DD £50 a month when she was at uni (2019). We also paid her mobile, car insurance, car tax. She seemed to manage ok on that, wasn't a big drinker. But things have gone up since then. We did send the occasional food shop or food/drink on the wetherspoons app.

Well if you think the average student is spending their money on 'fresh, healthy nutritious food' then you're deluding yourself.

But they are home in the summer, no?
I do think it seems low but also that I don't want my dd to feel that when she starts work and gets her wages dissected by utilities etc that she was better off at Uni. I think half of the fun of being in your 20s is aiming for a better lifestyle after a few years "roughing it"? Maybe that was just me.

How long is a piece of string? I’ve got a reasonable income - but I can’t afford gym membership, 2 nights out a week, a meat heavy diet, unlimited laundry and a sainsburys shop full of booze. Consequently I don’t fund those for my adult dc who are studying.
I give my dc (2 at uni atm) a top up to max loan. This puts me in the hook for just over £1k a month between them (one in London, one out, with the London one getting more). I don’t tell them how to spend it or work out what I think they should have and fund it - they decide the balance and offset accommodation/food/entertainment/clothes/gym/laundry just like everyone else does. They are free to work for extra. One was unlucky in 1st year and got expensive uni accommodation after applying for one of the cheapest but chose to not try to switch out of it.
The London one took a year out to save as it’s very difficult to manage in London on max loan. I’m already giving her over £20k in the 3 years she’ll be studying and I imagine she would feel like a bit of dick asking for money for extra alcohol knowing that her dad and I are working 5 jobs between us to support them all and barely have any leisure money for ourselves, Other people are much better off and have fewer kids though - it’s all relative. Even if I had a ton of money though I think I’d rather say “this is what I’ve decided to give you. You decide how you spend it” than “this is your laundry money fir 3 loads, this is your going out money for 2 nights”
I think it’s doable to survive on £40 if you don’t have transport costs and are good at cooking and meal planning but it’s hard. If you don’t have more than £40 to give then what do you do? Also, some kids choose to go to very expensive cities like Bath, Edinburgh, London knowing full well that after their mum has topped up their rent then she won’t be willing/able to give more than £40 a week and go for it anyway. You’ve got to be pretty spoiled to say “mum, I’ve picked £9k accommodation, I’ll pay £4.5k with my loan so you need to pay the other £4.5k plus give me another £7k to fund my nights out and gym.”

Depends what they eat and how much they spend. My DDs were in Uni from 2020-2023 so the prices of food were lower than now. One was in Wales and the other in Liverpool.

The one in Liverpool was surprised with prices, about 50% lower than in the SW and her sister’s shopping in Wales.

I send my dd £50 a week as that’s all I can afford. She works part time in a bar to fund the extras. I pay her car loan and phone. Rent (inc all bills) is paid for by student loan and she has some left after that too.
it’s definitely doable. She can easily live off £40 for food as she bulks meat dishes out with lentils etc, buys meat etc in bulk and freezes in portions, buys yellow sticker items when she can, makes most things from scratch etc - learned from a skint mother! She also buys milk, washing up liquid etc with flatmates so they don’t overbuy things they all use and need. They all use about the same amount so share the cost.

I have 2 student children. One absolutely does, and one not so much. Too many frozen pizzas and fish fingers for that one. But still plenty of fresh fruit and veg. The healthy eating one actually spends less on food than the mixed eater. They're also female and short, so probably eat less overall than their 6'2" brother.

But my point stands. Most parents want their children to have enough so that they can afford to eat a healthy diet and live a balanced life, participating fully in University life. £40/50 per week after rent and bills doesn't give that (except in fully catered halls).

You live on what you earn. Why does he only work in the holidays?

At medical school I worked throughout - no option if you don’t have rich parents - and lived off what I earned. Like most others this didn’t include large amounts of meat, regular alcohol or gym membership.

There was a very very noticeable difference between those who’d worked for a living before and those who had not when we started as interns.

My daughter only works in the holidays because she cannot find a job in term time. There are 200 applicants for every job and employers want complete flexibility. She is not work shy having worked for three years fulltime before going to university.

Clearly I've hit a nerve with you. You're being uneccesarily exceptionally rude and insulting.

You are also completely missing my point, which is that this thread is about what amount students need to reasonably live on. No parent wants to cut their child's budget to the point that they're living on instant noodles and soy sauce. So saying your child survives on a lower sum because she eats like that is irrelevant.

We're discussing the correct budget that enables a healthy diet, a balanced life and all reasonable needs met. Not the smallest amount that could be lived on if a student decides to live off the cheapest unhealthy food or never go out etc.

A student with plenty of money might choose to live on instant noodles, sure. But no parent aspires to give their child so little that they have to for financial reasons.

The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club.
But seriously, I think you can report a thread that insults you and it will likely be deleted.

Times have changed. There are more students that want job than there are jobs in most university towns these days.

Unless you are prepared to work 3 days a week, and miss whatever you should have been doing at uni.

@WombatChocolate Students often buy AND sell clothes. It’s fairly standard now and a bit of a non issue. Money spent and money regained. I don’t think it’s very costly and better than buying Primark tat.

I already said this. It's £35 per year at dd's uni. (my dd is studying sport and was previously an elite dancer). But people are talking about having to budget for monthly memberships. That IS a luxury.

I pay £20/m for my DDs student gym membership. Its not really a luxury? It's a cheap way to do something healthy and a social activity too. Its half the price it would cost me to get my nails done once a month and I'm happy to pay it and consider it money well spent.

I think people are imagining £100/m health clubs or something!

You see I come from a background where £20 a month gym membership and getting your nails done would be seen as a luxury. I guess it's a case of what you are used to. I am well off now, but only in recent years. Throughout my kids upbringing those are things I could never, ever have afforded and I would not expect a student to be able to afford them either.

But £20 a month student membership astonishes me. It is making sport just as elitist as performing arts. Guess dd is lucky she goes to a university with a traditionally lower income demographic and so they price accordingly.

Incidentally is normal gym membership really £100 per month? I;d been thinking about joining one now I have more disposable income but no way can I afford to if that's the case.

I think getting nails done is a pointless luxury, but I think £20 gym membership is good value!

In our home town (not DDs Uni town) the local leisure centre gym (including pool) is £55 p month, the (lovely) Health Club is £110 p month, and the basic gym (unmanned, just a room of machines etc) is £40 p month. So £20/m in Uni town seems a bargain!

That said, at DS uni, the Uni gym is free to all students.

£100 a month would be a luxury gym. £20 a month is budget gym (and I don't think you find that unless it was off peak only - I'm in the south east).

Exercise classes etc are generally around £6-8, so if you use that as your point of comparison, it's pretty good value. If you join sports clubs (even social ones) there's generally a membership fee as well. The era of being able to do everything for free/cheap at university has long gone (when I was at university it was £5 a year for access to all sports clubs and facilities).

If they have that low of a budget then they can’t afford to go imo. £35 would be a horrendous experience.

for gym costs it depends on the uni, at Warwick it’s a 1 off cost of £327 for the uni year for the gym and pool on campus or getting a bus to a nearby town and joining a gym chain.

Wow, LJMU's £35 per year (there is a reciprocal agreement with Uni of for the use of their pool too) sounds an absolute bargain in comparison.

I have to admit I assumed all uni gyms were a similar cost.