London University Costs Help

[Tiredbutstillgoing]

Hi does anyone know how much roughly their young person spends at uni in London/ what they budget - we are just trying to work it out my daughter has a place (grades pending) at KCL from Sep, we only qualify for the minimum London level student loan and trying to work out roughly how much we need to be able to help support as she is unlikely to be able to work during term time (she is putting in every hour possible now and during school holidays and we have been saving for years for her but its getting close and I am getting nervous!)

Thanks in advance

A friend has a child at KCL and they are paying £15k for accommodation (university supplied). And the child uses the maintenance loan (I think it's £7k for living in London) to 'live' (food, travel, books etc).

@Tiredbutstillgoing The loan is clearly defined for London as £6853 for this year 25/26. So expect circa that.

The bad news is that it’s not enough for accommodation. However there are rooms from £170 per week if you are prepared to travel and nearer campus it’s £270 pw and towards. 40 weeks though so not £15,000. You need to check out Kings web site for details. However you do need to find the difference for accommodation costs and then food, going out, etc etc. You need to agree with dc what you will pay for. Eg phone? Travel home? Clothes? Then agree a reasonable budget based on reality.

I've been looking at this too, my stepdaughter is a few years behind yours but it seems like it's around £2k a month.

Considering she's only going to be getting around £600 a month that's a big bill for you.

SD's Mum doesn't earn much so she'll get more than that but even then, and even splitting costs 50/50 with her Mum, there's just no way we can pay £400-500 a month out so I'm trying to gently steer her away from the London unis and towards Northern cities.

It's quite sad to see that even on the maximum loan (around £870), with monthly costs of £1500+, an Oxbridge student is going to be £600-700 a month out of pocket, and considering the intensity of the course and difficulty working alongside, top achieving students from poor backgrounds are effectively barred.

Thanks its KCL that she has been accepted at and I was desperately hoping for better news re accommodation we have found some halls that are cheaper but further out bur we also have no idea where she could be on placements so I guess just lots of uncertainty.

if it helps, the parents are 'optimistic' that for y2, it'll cost £12k...?!

Thanks she is sensible and working like crazy at the moment so I am less worried about her spending the budget on going out and alike its the not being able to work whilst studying and the length of the year for her course which has me nervous along side where the placements could be and their times along side year 4/5 being NHS bursary which is less. I am hoping they will send her an offer holder day date soon as the other ones that are further north have which seem a lot more affordable but she has fallen in love with KCL

She has offers from York, Leeds, Birmingham and St Andrews as well so I am also trying to steer North at the moment but she has her heart set on KCL we have offer holder places booked for York, Leeds and Birmingham and I am hoping she will suddenly decide they are the right fit for her but we have visited them all previously and its KCL she wants. I am just unsure how families like mine are meant to work and I wouldn't class us as low income just a standard family trying to make it happen for her :)

3k is 3k lol - its just our luck the placements will be further out and we will end up with higher transport costs 😂

is it for medicine? If so, congrats!

I think you might need to tell her what you can afford and let her do the maths. If she can't afford to study in London then she'll have to choose somewhere else. She might be upset to start with but she'll have a great time wherever she goes.

I think of the others, perhaps the other 3 in England would be cheaper for sure...We are in the same boat - we will only qualify for the min loan, and DS has an offer at Queen Mary. I'm just looking at accommodation now.... (driven by your post!)...

I’ve got one in KCL and one in York and on the same allowance one is quite comfortable and the other is stretched. One of the issues with KCL is the international students with large allowances and a higher proportion of well off students so it feels worse than it is.
if you live further out the travel costs are very high.
drinking and entertainment is much more expensive in London than York

Some of the accomodation blocks near the med school are a bit cheaper - I think Wolfson starts at about £8k and Iris is about £10k? KCL usually offer 40 week contracts as well as 48 if she doesn't mind having to clear her room out each vacation.

Yes. I looked at Iris and you can get 40 weeks. The first two years should be fairly static I would have thought. I think either dc want what London offers, or they are ok with less and cheaper living.

Yes, there will be a lot of international students but most people on a modest budget are friends with similar budgets and not everyone is rich!

KCL accommodation is particularly expensive - costs have increased massively in only the past few years - and a lot of it is a long way out, which of course implies travel costs.

Most of it isn’t a long way out. The very cheapest is. The majority are not far at all.

Angel Lane? Atlas? Canada Water? All insanely expensive, all require taking public transport, all very unpopular.

So it’s the course she is after and happy to scrimp on everything else she is working so hard to try and save every penny at the moment and her part time job is taking her back full time over the summer it just seems so much harder than it should be. I think we are looking at Wolfson so the cheapest possible and close but there’s only 274 rooms and 5 room types so everything crossed for space and a cheap one.

DD at UAL. Accommodation alone this year was £14k in UAL halls but this was for a larger room as she is taking a practical art course and found the small room she had last year was not really suitable for working on larger projects. Studio space for working is hit and miss at St Martins.
Food is pretty standard, approx £60 a week on a supermarket delivery.
TFL costs are less this year as she is closer to her college but I top up her student oyster to the value of approx £100 a month.
Last year she spent a fortune (from her savings) on socialising. This year she has been much more circumspect! There is a lot to do for free/cheap in London, but agree it can be difficult being surrounded by international students with big budgets.

I steered DS away from London unis.

He's at Warwick and his first year halls are £5k.

@Woollyguru Hardly the life you get in London though! Some people would see Warwick as a prison. There’s also one hall at that price. One. Only 3 are under £150 a week.

Can't you just tell your DD to forget about London as it's too expensive?

The life you get in London without money is worse than prison. At least prisons are heated and you get fed.

Why anyone would see Warwick as a prison is beyond me.

DS certainly doesn't see it as prison. He loves it, is absolutely thriving and in the top 5% of his maths degree cohort.

I think it's good for him to take the opportunity to experience life outside London. We live in London and he'll be back for the holidays so it's the best of both worlds.