How much for university?

[silverfridge21]

I'm wondering how much you'd ideally want put aside for a university fund? One dc

Appreciate the answer is probably ££ but wanting to get a realistic feel re living costs

And then some contribution towards maybe not taking the full loan- or take the loan but could be used towards a house deposit?

Not sure what financial planning I should be doing!

There is no need to be so rude

Agree on the Wow on the £1500 a month. That’s equivalent to a pretax income of about £23k a year.

We will get the lowest loan as just earn too much looking at topping up by £250 a month or so. Cheap uni city. Anymore will need a job.

I don't want mine to have loans or work in term time

I pay accommodation and phone contract he has the minimum loan and lives on that would love to be able to fully pay but shelling out £750 a month is as much as I can afford right now!

Do they have any special reason why they can't work, at least in the long holiday? I don't think learning to budget has done my dcs any harm whatsoever! Quite the opposite! Some people are clueless about money. Of course you can do what you like, but you must realise that 1500 a month for a student is unrealistic for most people and the OP does NOT have to budget this absurd amount. Students do not have to run around like celebrities splashing cash all over the place. Will they get high paying jobs when they graduate?

Folks that have put their children thru independent prob breath a sigh of relief when they get to uni because it is less ... but those that went to state are likely to be shocked by the cost.

Depending on your financial circumstances the loan for living costs your offspring will receive goes up or down ... so whilst offspring from less well off families may be better off during their time at uni, the offspring will have a bigger debt.

We qualify for the min loan and watch out for it going down in the final year, but you likely still have to pay rent ... you can find out all the details on student finance website. So we pay whatever the rent is, which in the first year in the Halls is more expensive than the 2nd year when in the little shared houses ... unless you are in London of course. We top up with £350 per month but from that they are expected to pay everything to do with their car, mobile, laptop, clothes, going out, holidays ... but other families do pay more or give them additional q large lump sums from grandparents at Christmas. Occasionally, if there is a crisis, I will transfer a little money into their account £20 or so. During esp the summer they have little pt jobs and we keep the allow going.

So this doubles etc the more children you have in uni.

@user1487194234 up to you but as the Loans aren’t really loans they’re more of a tax on future income and only paid in full by less than 20% of students it’s up to you, your money but may well be paying 10000s you don’t need to.

For me working and taking responsibility for some my DDs money has proven that they don’t piss it up the wall in the same way.

My DD receives just over £4K a year maintenance loan, her accommodation fees are £6K - me and DH pay the difference.

Her grandparents give her £200 a month, so she has £50 a week to budget for food, going out etc and she seems to be managing well. I do send the odd online Tesco delivery or pay for a takeaway once a month.

We pay our teenagers accommodation which is around £600 a month. Then give them £150 a month to top up their minimum maintenance loan.

If she needed more she would need to get a job, she is currently in lectures for 12 hours a week so plenty of time to work around that and independent studying.

The 350 a month that I give to dd for living expenses is too much while she's in halls on campus! 300 would have been plenty.

DD graduated last July and received the £9k tuition loan per year plus maintenance £8k first year as I wasn't working (sole parent, zero maintenance) and less the other years which I made up. She had saved up a significant amount during the preceding years and said she didn't need all her maintenance loan in any year. She had part time jobs over summer holidays but travelled a fair amount too. She had a good social life and didn't go without anything as far as I know - and has always paid her own phone contract.

I feel really mean having read some of the above. In my defence I worked out a budgeting spreadsheet with her before her first term, which she said was helpful, and she's always been good with money. I also imagine that York is a lot cheaper than London.

No need to feel mean lobster, your dd has and had enough.

Some people on here seem to be setting their kids up to struggle on normal incomes unless they get a high paying job. Maybe it's the old boys network at work here, so that they are almost guaranteed that high paying job, who knows?

My oldest won't go uni but my youngest may so budgeting for 300-400 per month would be about right to give them them future help if they get full maintenance loan. If they got half of the full loan or less, then a parent helping out for £600-700 per month would be about the norm.

I used to work in student finance years ago and this level of topping up seemed the average, when taking maintenance loans into consideration.

We pay ds's rent which is £120 per week plus his phone which is a tenner. Everything else he pays for using his maintenance loan plus he works when he can.

I said I didn't want them working during term time
In the long holiday they do work but I encourage relevant experience type of jobs
and jobs involving travel
In no way I am judging other people's choices
Don't really see why I can't have the same courtesy

DD got minimum because of our ratings, it was less than minimum actually because she did an NHS degree which at the time had no fees 2015-2018. She actually only got about 2700 a year maintenance loan and a £100 a month bursary. We topped it up by about £500 a month to pay for rent, food and a bit of a social life as she couldn’t get a job due to the amount of placement and travel she had to do.

Earnings not ratings doh!

In no way I am judging other people's choices.Don't really see why I can't have the same courtesy
Because giving your dcs 18k a year to live on is crazy.

Fair enough,that's your opinion,won't change mine

We top up dds to match the full loan, so about 4.5k a year. She works in the summer but can't work during term time due to uni rules and heavy workload.

I give DS £300 a month and pay for his phone contract. It covers his rent as he is in a private let.

I am on a really low wage though and have 2 other DC's to support, so cant afford any more.

I am wondering if @user1487194234 could adopt me. I earn a little less than £18k working full time.

It does seem a bit mad giving your kids more that they're likely to earn when they graduate!

OP full loan (for outside London) is about £8.5k a year, basic maintenance loan £4K, so budget on giving them the difference. If you household income is less than £60k your dc will get more than the basic loan so the expected parental top up will obvs be less.

I have 2 DC at uni. They get loans for the fees and the minimum amount for living. This is how we budget.
They give me their loans (not the ones for fees)
I pay their rent
I give them £80 per week term time only and £10 per week in the holidays.
I pay for hobbies, uni trips, big travel , bus passes, gym, 2/3 of clothes, 3/4 of haircuts. Money for things such as balls if they ask for it.
It costs my DH and I just over £1000 a month for 12 months of the year.
Both DC have rented nice houses in a good location.

My ds gets minimum loan - £1300 a term approx. His rent was just over £1800 so we paid the extra. He also has about £300 a month to live on which is plenty.