Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Supporting your child at university

17 replies

mutley1 · 06/09/2015 18:41

DD is about to go to university. She has a loan for her fees and a small subsistence loan. This doesn't even cover the cost of accomodation and we feel that we want to help her. Can anyone advise how much is reasonable for a student to live on(minus accomodation) per week

OP posts:
AndNowItsSeven · 06/09/2015 22:15

We have budgeted £65 a week for dd1.

Haffdonga · 06/09/2015 22:18

We're wondering this too.

Is your dd in catered or self catering Mutley ? (DS is going catered.)

Original poster
mutley1 · 07/09/2015 08:45

Thanks for your message AndNowItsSeven. Is your child going into catered or self catering accomodation

OP posts:
AndNowItsSeven · 07/09/2015 11:23

Mutely hopefully self catered, she is not starting until next year. We have worked out finances early as we are hoping to fund her out of our savings.

Savagebeauty · 07/09/2015 11:25

Ex h is giving her £80 a week and she gets a grant as I am on a low income.
She's got a week end job too

Seriouslyffs · 07/09/2015 11:29

DD is taking all the loans (no grant) and we're paying her hall fees (fully catered) she seems happy and I have a feeling we've been over generous...

bereal7 · 07/09/2015 11:31

My maintenance loan didn't even cover my rent and my parents helped out. I was given £2.5k at the start of the year so I could cover rent (£1k shortfall) and then budget the rest myself and find a job if need be.

I'd always had allowance so was quite good with budgeting. They would send me some more money when they were feeling generous but I didn't need this.

I was going well until the end of the year (I had a job by then) when deposit, admin fee and three months rent is needed all at once. For me this was about £1.5k needed at one go. I was very stressed but after talking to my mum (on advice of MN), they helped me out.

Just my experience - I think this was a great way as it helped me budget my own money instead of getting allowances.

bereal7 · 07/09/2015 11:32

Seriously I would have loved that ! Very generous of you :)

Katymac · 07/09/2015 11:34

DD has £25 for food (paid by us) & £20 for spending from her earnings this summer

BackforGood · 07/09/2015 11:44

I haven't really been looking this year, but last year, there were LOADS of conversations like this over in Higher Education - might be worth a search for more info Smile

My twopennyworth however (ds is just starting his second year):

  • it varies HUGELY wherever you are in the country.... his girlfriend (in London) was paying £101 MORE PER WEEK for her room than ds was for his (and they reckoned his was nicer).
  • it depends on their earning power. My ds has worked regularly since starting 6th form and isn't shy of working, but he wasn't able to get a job in his first year - partly due to the location of where he was, compared with the towns / possible work, etc.
  • depends on what they've 'been used to' growing up - I often see posters saying their dc "need" £10 a week for coffees, etc..... that just wouldn't be a consideration in other dcs budgets, same for stuff like make up or clothes. People I know don't actually need to buy clothes every month, but others see it as a necessity.
-depends on their culinary skills / willingness to eat anything
  • depends if they want to join societies / gym / swimming etc which add up

My ds's maintenance loan just covered his (non-catered) halls. He managed well on £30 a week from Sept-end of May. He had some money in the bank from when he had worked through the Summer before he went, as his 'spending money', but had no problem managing his supplies on that.

hellsbells99 · 07/09/2015 11:49

We are in this situation too but for this year! DD is going in less than 2 weeks and we still haven't decided on the best solution. We will either pay for her accommodation and she uses her minimum loan to live off (with some savings too), or she gives us the loan towards the accommodation and we give her a monthly allowance.

mayhew · 07/09/2015 17:11

If you are going to pay an allowance, try what I did. I did a regular transfer every Monday. That way there is never more month than money.

Shodan · 07/09/2015 17:19

We have been giving ds1 £45 per week, paid (like mayhew) weekly. Additionally, we have paid 3 months' rent this year (£1000, moving into student house rather than last year's Halls).

Last year his maintenance loan didn't cover his Halls cost, so we topped that up (couple of hundred for the year) too.

Then random amounts for clothing throughout the year, and if I went to visit I took him for a food shop.

We figured £45 was enough to feed himself well, but not enough to do endless partying- he was supposed to get a job for that. He didn't, but he had a rough start to uni life so we cut him the slack. This year, though, he has been told that he must get a job, especially as he will be paying utilities etc so will need to budget better.

emsiewill · 08/09/2015 22:33

I'm interested in this, as dd is about to go off to uni. We're covering the shortfall between her loan and (self catering) accommodation (shortfall is about ??600 for the year) and then giving her ??50 per week. We'll also fund most of her supplies for going away (kitchen stuff, bedding etc).

She's just been called in for an interview for a job in the city she's going to uni in, so she will be able to supplement what we're giving her by working. She's also been working over the summer so has some savings.

Frankly we can't afford to give her any more, so that will have to be enough.

I'm trying not to think about 2 years from now when dd2 is about to start. Me & dh will have to eat on alternate days...

bigbluebus · 09/09/2015 15:48

DS is lucky as his Student Loan covers his self catered halls with about ??400 left over. We will give him about ??100pw in term time and he will have to pay for everything - including his travel home out of this. If he is frugal - he can fly home. If he drinks it all away he will have an 8hr ferry crossing to get home and I wouldn't like to say how rough the sea might be in December Grin

He didn't work through 6th form so we are used to paying his dinner money, bus fare and for his music lessons and with the amount of food he eats at home and the electricity he uses, I don't think we will be any worse off.

Pammie70 · 11/09/2015 19:09

DD is just starting her 2nd year at Uni in London. Last year after rent she had £55 per week after covering rent and she did seem to be able to go to Nando's on a regular basis. I did take her for a 'big shop' on 3/4 occasions when she came home though.

ExConstance · 20/09/2015 17:36

DS2 is at uni in Leeds, but on a work placement this year ( unpaid )
I send him £450 per term and pay for his phone, DH sends £200 pcm for the months he is away ( 9 months a year). We re-inburse his train fares when he comes home. There are strange additions, that I don't fully understand the origins of. We each pay for one pair of shoes a year, and I pay for his socks and underwear. He has a loan for fees and for maintenance and it just about covers his accommodation.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread