Managing money at university

[postitnot]

DD is trying to work out how she'll manage her money in September. When the maintainance loan arrives does it come in 3 even amounts?

Do parents usually take it then pay it over in weekly/monthly amounts? I'd quite like to give her a set amount for the term so she can budget, and she will need a job to top up but that seems a lot in her current account!

Are there any savings accounts that you can set up a standing order from to a current account?

Thanks!

Parents do not normally take it.

rent for halls etc is often by the term so the three amounts work quite well with that.

No I don’t budget it for them. They get the loan paid in 3 instalments, their rent is usually due for the semester straight away so talk to them about paying that first, then work out how much they have left each week and what that means for food, clothes and going out.

If you are topping up the loan, it’s up to you whether you top up weekly, monthly, each semester or just when they ask for money, which is the way some parents seem to work.

My DC works over the Summer and Christmas so that tops up their loan.

You might want to talk to them working. Some Employers like Asda, MacDonalds and Wetherspoons will let you transfer your job back and forth between home and Uni town.

Both mine had two accounts. Loan was paid into one and then they transferred a weekly amount into their 'spending' account. This amount was worked out in advance - slightly less than just dividing the total by the number if weeks it was to cover, so they had a bit spare for emergencies.

It is her money not yours. Being at University is a safe environment to learn how to budget.

DD will get the minimum loan, I've told DD to use it for accomodation (with us topping it up) and then she'll get a monthly allowance from us. She'll also have wages saved from her PT job and a bursary so will start the year with a big pile of cash so will be interesting to see how she manages it.

Dd has 2 accounts. She transfers her grant straight out of her current account into her savings account when it arrives each term.

She then works out how many weeks she needs the money to last for and transfers that amount each week into her current account.

We pay her rent, so the lowest rate of grant is what she gets per annum. I think it’s about £4.5k ish?

She works in the holidays to give herself a bit extra.

She’s about to finish her 3rd year and has stayed within her budget for the entirety of her course.

DS does this but usually sticks a chunk into premium bonds and transfers back as needed. I think that they’re hoping for the £1m

They normally get a student account when they move away so having two accounts means that they can move it weekly or monthly if they choose to. No, parents don’t take the loan and put it in their account. It’s not really about what you would like, it’s about what your daughter is going to do.

No, parents don't take it. The payments won't be precisely equal either, I think it's to do with how many weeks are in the term.
Both my dc received the minimum maintenance loan and we paid the rent.
It was up to them to divide the amount paid by the number of weeks to the next payment and then budget themselves, they both managed it successfully and were usually in credit at the end of term.

The loan is paid in 2 equal amounts and one slightly higher to cover summer, so 33%, 33% and 34% of whatever they get. This changes in year 3 as they get slightly less loan.

How we worked it as a family for both children going through uni. Mine get minimum maintenance loan which this year was £4915 broken down into £1621.95 for term 1, same for term 2 and £1671.10 for term 3. That lands in a student bank account each term which pays their accommodation by direct debit straight to the uni or their private halls of residence.

Their accommodation is £8772 so we pay the top up amount needed to cover the direct debit amount into their student bank account. We have a shared spreadsheet so they can see everything but all this was discussed with them when Ds1 went to uni.

Separately we pay a weekly allowance into their Monzo account. They get a set amount every week for the 10 weeks of term. We frontload an additional week to cover Fresher's as there are extra costs such as club entry and tickets.

My two sons are very careful with money so will not touch any money in their student account which is for their accommodation and use Monzo pots to allocate money to supermarket shopping etc.

Some as above will pay the accommodation and the student uses the maintenance loan for living expenses. Per term this works out at £163 a week or £94 if over a year. That is a lot of money in my opinion for a student, not everyone will save money a lot will just blow everything you give them.

Paid direct to student and they have to budget.

I have nothing to do with it. My DD managed it herself and I don’t give her any extra as she gets almost full maintenance plus a bursary from the uni and she worked last summer and is doing a paid internship starting next month. She manages it very well. (She’s tight as anything too - won’t even take the bus - £1 - to the train station with her heavy suitcase).

For another point of view, I do ‘take’ the student loan, then pay accommodation with it, making up the sizeable gap in accommodation costs (min loan, exp uni town) and then I pay bills directly and living costs - the latter direct to my daughter weekly. Seems to work fine.

She has a job (ft during hols and then a zero hrs hospitality contract during uni) for her holiday fund.

Our DD uses it towards accomodation, we don't get involved in that. We them send a monthly allowance for her to live on.

DD starting in Sept (gap year currently). As she get the minimum loan, we will pay for her accommodation and she will get the loan to manage herself. She will have a weekly budget which she will move from her savings accounts into her current account.

Just to add - she is very good with money and I trust her completely not to overspend. If it was DS (now much better with money at 24) the agreement would have been a bit more different, ensuring he would not spend all his money in week one.

We do the reverse of that. Our contribution is the rent so we pay the termly rent charge direct. DS then lives on the loan and might top up with earnings or savings but we don't get involved with that.

My DC would have hated a weekly amount. It’s a bit old school to be paid weekly! Also what if you have some early big purchases? Club fees etc? Do you borrow from your money for next week? Monthly is a lot more grown up and more like work and real life. Yes, they learnt how to budget!