How much for driving lessons & university??

[Mistyblossom]

My only DD has just turned 16.

I have been a single mum for most of her life. But means I have been late to the party financially to be able to save for such things.

How much do I need to save for driving lessons, car, insurance etc?

And how much for university, a helpful monthly payment, how much are people giving their uni children a month etc?

I am now in a financial position to be able to save a reasonable amount towards these things but want first had advice about it how much this all costs etc

Thank you!

No need to be a dick. I hope that little dig gave you the confidence boost you were clearly needing.

Some people insist on going and living near a uni miles away instead of going to the uni not far from where they live and paying rent in an extortionate area, throw in drinking every weekend and cocaine.
Then complain the loan isn’t enough.
I haven’t been yet no but have looked into it a lot as I plan on going soon

Uni I have no idea about as mine won't be going but WRT to driving - I am teaching him. He's had 6 hours of lessons at £65 per 2 hours and once he's closer to being ready he will have another block to get test ready.
Insurance is cheap while they are learners and he will get a car when he turns 18 with a mix of birthday money and his child trust fund (thanks Tony Blair)
Insurance and running costs will be all him. I don't know why you would be paying that? It's a real incentive to get a job over and above the odd bits he does now with his dad to pay for his Nando's and PlayStation habit. The cheapest quote we found was about £130 a month paying monthly for a 17 year old recently passed boy.

I pay about £5500 a year towards her university accommodation and she paid for her own driving lessons.

It cost around 1k for DS to learn to drive, inc all lessons, test, theory etc. He’s not going to university but would assume you need to work out how much he’ll get for his loan and go from there

lol, you clearly have no idea … just big opinions which are both unfounded and wrong 🙄

Driving lessons around here are £80 for a double lesson and I’m told to expect around 35. Ds cannot learn in my car as it’s automatic and he want a manual.

We’re assuming a uni top up of around £500 a month for dd. But also expecting her to get a job in the 6th form (they have paid jobs at school) and save up.

Unfounded?
Theres plenty of young adults who treat student loans and uni as a big jolly and move miles away to pay expensive rent while shoving coke up their nose and drinking every weekend. Then they complain their loan wasn’t enough

Obviously not everyone but a fair few are like this

Lots of money in total. How much in practice depends on where and your child.

Driving. About £100 on the tests. These have a long wait unless you get a cancellation. Plus about £50 i think it was for provisional license. Can get that before they are 17 and book the theory. Cant book practical until they have provisional. Insurance with a provisional licence is around £35 a month. Lessons here are about £50 an hour. Given how long it takes to get a test date, I've probably paid for 15x2 hour lessons. Insurance once they have passed is £££££££

University. Depends how much loan they can get, how much their accommodation costs are. Living rurally means part time jobs are hard to find. Ours only got work once the eldest could drive them all.

Tuition fee. They can all get this to cover tuition costs. If you want to pay, nearly £10k per year. Hall fees seem to be around £5-10k a year, bit more in some cities and more in London. If catered, reckon around £100 a month extra for living. Rental seems similar to hall fees but has food and bills on top. The loan for living is linked to household income, with a calculator above.

You might want to check what the student loan amount is and compare it to the cost of accommodation and modest everyday expenses. The 2 simply don't add up.

Accidental double post

When I said hall fees are about £5-10k a year. That's because some cities charge around £5k, other cities it's more £10k.

When our kids applied for halls, you basically get allocated a hall. Which you can refuse. But there may be limited if any choice. Prices are very variable with city.

If cost is critical, that should factor into which uni and course your dc apply to.

It depends on a lot of factors including location. DS pays £32 per hour for driving with block bookings. We paid for the first 10 lessons, he's covered the rest himself with birthday/Christmas money and he has a job.

We had planned to need £250 a month for uni plus mobile, basic clothing and travel costs and DS would top up with a job himself too. He would only get the basic maintenance loan due to mine and DH's income, despite the fact his dad wouldn't contribute/help him financially and would leave it all to me and DH. As it happens, DS has chosen to stay at home and commute to uni. He will keep his job pay a small amount of board (he doesn't know but this is just to get him used to paying out for housing regularly and will be saved up for him).

The money that was saved up for uni will be kept until he is ready to move out of home and will make a nice contribution towards a house deposit.

Terrible ‘advice’. Students loans don’t even cover rent these days.

I don’t really understand your points.

have you researched student loans? What do you mean by wasting your money?

and what do you mean about not needing to pay towards driving lessons and university - while of course these things are discretionary, do you mean OP’s daughter shouldn’t learn to drive?

Im just saying the op dosent have to pay for driving or uni, my mother never did and I think most peoples parents don’t.
I haven’t been to uni yet but someone close to me has they stayed living with their parents paying them a little rent (also had a weekend job) and commuted to a uni not too far from home. Didn’t take drugs or go out drinking. And managed fine.

That also answers @MrsKeats

You have a very distorted view of the world. A simple google search shows:

About 71% of UK parents contribute financially to their child’s university education, with an average annual contribution of
£8,723. However, to meet a "minimum acceptable standard of living" for students, research suggests parents may need to contribute up to £14,000–£15,000 annually, particularly if they are in higher income brackets.

There is a big world out there, with thousands of people living lives very different to your life and that of your circle of friends.

And what if you live in a city without a university?

@Jugjug are you in Scotland? That would save nearly £10k a year for students who go to a Scottish university and might, in some way, explain your apparent naivety about university costs and parental contributions

we Don’t live in a city, we live in a small town with other slightly bigger neighbouring towns (one of which has a uni) that my friend would get the train to. I am not saying this is possible for everyone obviously there are some people that live in super rural locations and people who’s families aren’t willing to have them stay living with them after 18.

BUT there’s no denying a lot of people could just stay more local and not pay to live right next to a uni miles away but they chose not to. And then they go out drinking every weekend. Which isn’t cheap

No I’m in England

Because every Uni is the same. All degrees are equal and all subjects are taught everywhere.

OP do what works for you. You are right to look at costs, see what you can do to support. What you want to do to support.

Looking at the student finance calculator (isn’t exactly accurate as it doesn’t go so far as to when she will be starting) but looks like tuition covered with loan and then £10k a year maintenance loan, which is unlikely to go far.

We live in the South East and she is considering Nottingham uni and would like to live in halls for the first year!

Some degree courses students also receive a bursary in addition to maintenance loan. As with my daughter. Also some degrees mean they are attending university for a longer period ( until the July rather than the May) as with my daughter. So you have to factor all that in.

If she is going to Uni does she really need FT car ownership? Unless she is doing teaching or nursing a car at Uni is an unnecessary expense and often an inconvenience as nowhere to park it. Could you not help with the cost of lessons if she has a pt job and let her share a small car before Uni and in the holidays.