London vs non-London uni cost

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Hi. DD will hopefully start uni next autumn and I'm trying to figure out how much the parental contribution should be. She's just applied to medical school - three courses outside of London and one in London - and wants to do an intercalated year as well, so that's 6 years total.

Bit of background: I'm a single parent, currently getting child support on an informal agreement from DD's dad. She lives with me and sees him regularly. This will end next summer, as DD turns 18 and should be starting uni Sep 2026. Because of my household income, DD will only qualify for the minimum maintenance loan. My partner has moved in very recently and we share living costs (except child-related).

I discussed with DD's father and we agreed to try and help her out with the living costs in full, so that she avoids getting the maintenance loan. However, if she gets a place at a uni in London, DD will likely need to get the maintenance loan, as the cost of living in London is way too high (roughly £6-7K higher each year, compared to outside of London). Minimum maintenance loan in London, away from home: £6,853/year in years 1-4 and £4,485/year in years 5-6.

She will get the tuition loan in any scenario, as we can't afford to pay that unfortunately. That's four years of tuition, as years 5 and 6 are paid by the NHS bursary.

Are these yearly costs realistic? I calculated for 12 months (except accomodation, which is for the academic year only).

• accomodation: £8,500 (or £13,000 in London)
• regular expenses/bills: £1,200 (mobile phone, Netflix, Spotify, contact lenses, gym membership, dental insurance)
• public transport, train, travel to placements: £1,200 (or £1,700 Oyster London)
• daily living (food, fun, clothes, toiletries, supplies etc.): £6,000 (or £7,200 in London)
• holidays & gifts - not included

This brings the total monthly parental contribution to the figures below (which her dad and I would split 50:50):

• £1,400 if she goes to uni outside of London (OR if she goes to uni in London, but gets the maintenance loan)
• £2,000 if she goes to uni in London and does NOT get the maintenance loan. (I very much doubt we can afford this... especially in years 5-6 when maintenance loan amount gets reduced)

This seems insane and a bit of a shock if I'm honest, as it's much higher than expected and what I read online on various sites. My friends with kids in indie schools are laughing at me, as they say uni is cheaper than independent school. But, we've never paid school fees, as DD went to a state school, her local mixed comprehensive, for both primary and secondary.

DD is willing to get jobs while at uni, to supplement her income, but I'm not sure how much a med student can work during the academic year due to workload... so it will likely be more like summer jobs or one offs?

Have I over-estimated the expenses? Am I missing something? Is it really a good idea not to get the maintenance loan at all? Or is it better to take the maintenance loan in any scenario, and maybe save those money that we would have given to her, and give it to get as a lump sum when she graduates?

Apologies for the length of the message. Any suggestions, opinions about the various financial options and considerations are welcome. Thank you.

@clary Don’t forget some dc want to be very close to university and will only accept higher end properties. So they are prepared to pay this. You can get a room in London for less than this and £12,000 a year isn’t necessary anywhere and only the well off do this or people who want the best available!

It’s private accommodation halls as she didn’t get into uni halls. She actually managed to get a nine month contract which is unusual as it was still being built.

she looked at shared houses though and everything seemed to be £700 a month plus, for a 12 month contract, not including bills, laundry or gym, 20 min bus ride away and at the lower price points looking a bit grim. So yes, she could have a bit cheaper but still not at the 5.5k a year that halls in my home city costs

@bumbaloo first 2 years (sometimes 3) medical students get same holidays as everyone else. So easy to get a job for 3 months. Many work as HCAs.

We need to see how it pans out. There was a strong lobby asking the Government to allow specific fixed term "student tenancies", but the Government rejected the idea.

The issue will be with around the "joint and several" (ie where the whole property is let to a group of sharers rather than a traditional HMOs where rooms are rented individually.) If one member of a house decided to drop out in February, they can end the tenancy. The others then have to find someone else, pay more rent or start looking for a new property.

Landlord concern was around vacant possession. If a group of students say in the autumn that they will not want to renew the Landlord starts looking for a new group and signs a contract with them. Like at present. But now the landlord cannot issue a S21 two months before the end on the fixed term, to ensure the property is available for the next set of tenants. If the first set decide in, say June, that they don't want to move, and would prefer to stay where they are, there is nothing the landlord can do. Who knows what his obligations are to the new tenants.

I can see the idea of a student market starting to disappear. Properties are only put up for rent when current tenants give their one month's notice (I think it will not be a month) and are let to whoever offers for it, whether students or not. More likely not if the void does not coincide with the start of the University year.

Also many students sit exams in May. If at least some of the house want to leave then, rather than July they can give notice early and save on rent. The landlord again, rather than fund a three month void, may well relet to non-students.

The general rule is that if risks increase, rent increases. Its not always the landlord. Landlord insurers have got a lot more fussy. And some Local Authorities are insisting on Landlord insurance being in place even for smaller additional and selective HMOs with 2 or three sharers.