How much does it cost you to send your dc to uni every month?

[Moonlight1972]

Dh and I earn a very modest income and we have a ds hoping to go uni next year. We’ll of course do our best to support him, I have started saving too (as much as it is possible) but I’m worried it won’t be enough. He wants to go to Scotland so quite far from us. I’m after reinsurance. Thank you in advance

If he gets student loans and a part time job he’ll be fine for money as long as he knows he can’t spend it all in the first few weeks, he’s going to have to budget

There are a few threads like this on the Further & Higher Education Boards and also in the Teenage Section at the moment OP

All depends on his loan entitlement.

If he’s entitled to the full loan he should be fine.

If not. Daughter in Glasgow uni we she gets just above the minimum loan and it doesn’t quite cover her Accomodation costs. So we pay that and £70 a week for food etc. In addition we pay for gym/clubs/books/phone.

If she wants to spend more she uses her summer job money and is looking for a few hours a week job but doesn’t need it so far.

The system is set up and the government expects parents to top up anything but the full loan.

It’s a shit system.

@GoingOutOutNEVER

If he gets student loans and a part time job he’ll be fine for money as long as he knows he can’t spend it all in the first few weeks, he’s going to have to budget

Depends very much on the loan level.

Rent £440 a month. - loan £5k

Means they’d need to work quite a few hours a week. Our DD has 30 + hours of contact time at uni so depends on the course as well.

If he gets a full loan you don’t need to pay anything at all. Otherwise, you may need to top up to the full amount. We wouldn’t have paid for gym or clubs or phone. We did buy perhaps one or two books (second hand), but in general we didn’t. Mine had worked for a year before going to university, so had quite a lot of money saved that they could use too. If he wants to go far, it might be worth thinking about the cost of train or coach tickets at this point. That was a factor in decision-making for many of my DC’s peers.

Remember, you save money by not having your son living at home, so that’s “extra” money that you have.

Costs me his rent every month as he gets the minimum loan, which is less than his rent. He lives off the loan & summer job earnings, I pay the rent.

You'll need to look at what his loan entitlement is. If you're household income is under £27k he'll get the full amount of £9400 a year. If you're household income is over £62k he'll get the minimum amount of £4400 a year. The table attached gives a rough guideline of how much he'll get.

You'll also need to look at housing costs. For instance Aberdeen charge around £3.5-5.5k a year for a room. Whereas a room at Edinburgh Uni could cost up to £7.5k a year.

I got minimum loan and went to an expensive city, but my parents didn't give me anything beyond the odd food shop. Instead I worked every Sunday and through the holidays.

I'd encourage him to get a summer job. Each summer including the one before you start, you have 3-4months free. I only worked approx 20 hours each week on minimum wage plus tips, but managed to save around £2k each summer. Spread across term time that gave me an extra £50 a week while at uni.

Well it cost parents absolutely nothing. And I didn't get the full loan for the first 2 years because it was still based on my parents income at that point. It's totally doable on weekend and holiday jobs.

Your income should not impact your child's choice whether to go to uni, it's absolutely worth going and should be available for all. Including those whose parents can't or don't want to contribute.

DD gets minimum maintenance loan so we have to top her up more than we would if income was lower. If your income is below the threshold, your DC will get maximum maintenance loan to live on. It isn’t loads and they’ll prob need some help and/or have to get a job but you might not need to pay accommodation for yours, the larger maintenance loan may cover it. There are also often hardship funds and scholarships if you really struggle and your family or child qualifies.

As I say, we pay/paid for DD’s accommodation. Halls were about £160 pw. She’s in a shared house now so it’s less, about £500pm bills included (apart from broadband. Broadband is £7pm for her share which she pays. We still pay for her mobile phone bill at about £45pm and send her an ASDA food delivery once a fortnight (she does top ups between) which is about £70. She basically used her very small maintenance loan for top up shops and student socialising, covid allowing. Since that covid eased toward the end of term and things have opened up she’s got a job to help with her own living costs. We still pay for her main bills (accom, main food, phone) but she pays for incidentals like travel, broadband, snacks & top up shops, clothes & nights out. Those numbers probably seem terrifying but in all likelihood, you won’t have to get anywhere near paying them if your income is low.

Depends on your combined family income- if it's over £70k then you get the £4200 minimum (more if studying in London) if less income you get more up to £8500 ish (might have increased). Remember this is combined household income not individually

Our eldest is hoping to go next year. He'll get the minimum loan, so it's our intention that he'll have that to live on and we'll pay for his rent.

He's currently saving a lot of his part time job wages and will ramp up his hours next summer - luckily he's very money savvy (tight...) so I think he'll be very sensible.

He will have a back up fund as my parents have been paying into his CTF since he was young so there's a bit there. I believe they will also be giving him what they currently pay in monthly whilst he's in Uni.

We're keen for him to not have to work that much term time, but if he needs to he will get a little job

Thank you for all your comments - really helpful!