BS: UK Student Finance

Subject: UK Student Finance
From: GUEST,Susan Farrer
Date: 24 Sep 01 - 07:01 AM

If any British Students/Parents are reading, I'd appreciate your comments.

My daughter is about to leave home for college, and I'm not sure about how much money to give her.

Fees are paid and I'm going to pay her lodgings, so I'm just talking about living expenses.

I don't want her to go without, but I don't want to give her too much, as I want her to learn a bit about budgeting and how life is in general.

If anyone can give me a fair 'per week' figure for the North of England, I'd be grateful.

Susan

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Sep 01 - 07:17 AM

In my first year at Edinburgh University I was able to live on ten shillings per week. U suspect that may not be feasible nowadays.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 24 Sep 01 - 07:50 AM

I dunno... I used to get around £200 per month.. and use of a car... but then I also had various other methods for making money, which included 2 jobs (an evening one and weekend one) It's going to be inevitable that she will have to get a job to subsidise herself, most do.

I was lucky enough not to get student loans until I was in the final year, when I had to buy more and more supplies, and stuff for my final degree show.

The sad fact is, student grants at some time become necessary. Though, 6 years since I graduated, and I'm still paying mine off.

Ella

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From:
Date: 24 Sep 01 - 10:56 AM

Hello there. To a certain extent it depends on... your daughters age, where she is going, what you want to finance, and whether or not you want her to earn some money through work for basic or leaisure stuff.

It's a knotty one, this further and higher education lark. It's not just about academic learning, it's also got that whole social learning thing thrown in. So, to engage in a healthy social life you normally have to have a bit of cash in your hand. A social life isn't always about clubbing and drinking, perhaps your daughter might want to try out some new hobbies / sports what ever. College / University is usually a really good place to do all this stuff for the first time, so many opportunities that people rarely get to do all the stuff they want to. So maybe throw in anything from £10 to £30 a week, depending on what you can afford of course.

If you want her to eat healthy food you will need to be giving her at least £30 a week for that, but don't be too surprised if a lot of it goes on take away food. Then perhaps another £5 towards electricity etc.. on the basis that she can make some compromises on her diet and leisure to pay the required balance.

As to her working for extra income... it's a good way of getting her to learn about life in general, but it's also a good way of A) getting earning a basic living in the way of studying and B) introducing her to overtime, full time work, money in your pocket now..". perhaps this is better than going to lectures.. I'll buy a car.." kind of thinking.

You know your daughter best, you might be able to guess how responsible she'll be. Talk to her about it.Perhaps talk to the college welfare people, see what they think. What's the goal of going to college? Keep that in the front of your mind all the time. I saw several people drop out of university because they simply couldn't afford it, or they found it too tough to cope. I bet they learnt about how life really is. Didn't help their academic careers at all though.

Good luck, to both of you.

Paul

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: Morticia
Date: 24 Sep 01 - 11:08 AM

Is she living in halls and are meals provided? My daughter lives more or less on her loan which is about £1000 per annum. She is vegetarian which means less money on food, but she has become really good at budgetting her money.Remember the required text books, dependant on what she is studying are as much as £40 a kick,often 10 or 12 per term.Remember too to take into account transport, phone costs, and so on.Having just survived the first year, she was broke by the summer and had to work but that's no bad thing, it's making her look forward to the start of term.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 24 Sep 01 - 11:49 AM

I can't speak for undergrads anymore as I 'm back at uni on a reasonable research grant with books, equipment etc. paid for. However, I reckon I can get by on 30 quid a week on groceries (and I like to eat well!). That's on Bristol prices too, which are about as high as you can get outside of London. The job thing is great - as an undergrad I worked about 25 hours a week in my first year, 15 in my second and 10 in my third, plus full time during the holidays. It was a tough slog at times, but well worth it as I was usually too exhausted to go out boozin'. I was lucky - my parents paid my 68 quid a *month* (cheap Belfast prices) rent and I escaped with no student loans at all. That was 7 or so years ago though.
I would suggest that getting food allowance is great, but there is more satisfaction in drinking the money you have earned yourself (and less of a guilt trip about wasting money too).

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 02:18 AM

A good book for students is called Grub On A Grant, check out grants and bursaries etc, in Hull there is an educational trust that students can claim money from, keep away from take aways (exept the one I work at!) if you are in a shared house consider clubbing together and shopping in bulk for stuff like tea bags, toilet roll etc. Find out were the local markets are for fresh food (meat fish fruit etc), you can make some good savings.Many pubs/nightclubs have student nights during the week with drinks promotions also consider brewing your own wine/beer, you need a bit of equipment but you can sell it at the end of your course.If you are near a port stock up on duty free, this is legal as long as it is for your own use.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: mouldy
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 02:30 AM

I think I must be overpaying mine! I've just gone down to one from two. (Phew!) My son was on the old grant system and got his fees paid (but no money) so I paid £175, rising to £250 per month, and his rent. He was allowed about £1700 sinking to £900 "top-up" loan per year. What he ended up with was more or less the equivalent of a full loan. When his sister went, although she qualified for the basic loan (everyone does), I still kept her on the same system, plus I pay the fees. So she is much better off. I suppose there is some vague and futile hope that she won't blow the extra money...

Her brother used to be able to exist on baked beans and mince chilli concoctions, once he'd overspent in Cardiff, and so got friendly with local landlords and barmen so that he got cheap/free beer. He is still down there in South Wales and living quite cheaply. I suppose with his sister being on the loose in Liverpool it's too much to expect that she won't go out on the town. She's had to pay £80 for a term's bus season ticket, and she pays her own car expenses. Her books can be quite expensive too (Pharmacy) and she tends to share costs of these with one of her friends who she lives with and who is in the same groups. She will have some bills to pay on her house. She isn't bothered about using up her loan as she says she is assured of employment when she leaves. I must say, though, she eats a much healthier diet than her brother did.

Andrea - who had to survive on £13 per week in London in the 1970s. This to cover rent, food, tube fares, art equipment. (Social life - What social life?)

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: Grab
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 08:38 AM

I'd reckon £40-50 a week for food and "entertainment", allowing £30-40 for food and drink at home, and £10-20 for going out. Plus £5-10 a week for clothes, etc, and some kind of single lump-sum for books (maybe £30 per semester, depending on your course and on whether the uni has a second-hand bookshop for course-books). This gives a decent standard of living and a reasonable social life. Some ppl will spend more on beer and parties - so be it, but they'll have to deal with supplying that money themselves!

I don't think you shouldn't be paying all of that though -they should typically be using the student overdraft to cover it until the summer and then get a job to pay it off. Maybe reckon on paying £30-£40 a week, and let them cover the rest from the summer job. And don't forget that even if they're home, the going-out and clothes budgets are still there, so covering maybe half of that during Xmas and Easter vacs would be about right. If you want to give them more (maybe they're going on Operation Raleigh or something and so can't work over the summer, and you don't want them to be short of cash) then so be it, but it's your choice, not theirs! :-)

If they're in halls, of course, food is likely already paid for, so it's just the social, clothes and books budgets to consider.

(Ex-student at Lufbra, 1992-1997)

But you can likely add another 50% to all those for unis in towns within 2 hours of London (Cambridge, Reading, etc) and double it for London. At least for the going-out and clothing budgets, anyway.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: GUEST,DaisyA
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 08:49 AM

To get by comfortably, a good rule of thumb is to go by twice what you pay in rent per month. This should cover food, bills, travel, and one-off expenses. You can get by on less, even without a job - in my 1st year I lived off £15 per week for everything except rent. However, to allow her to go out and have fun, I'd say nearer £30-£40, and maybe a bit extra at the beginning of term for books and initial shopping.

Daisy

Subject: RE: BS: UK Student Finance
From: GeorgeH
Date: 25 Sep 01 - 10:28 AM

DaisyA, that sounds a good rule of thumb . .

Two questions to Susan Farrer

1) do you want her to be miserable worrying about money?

2) do you trust her?

If the answers are "No" and "Yes" respectively then I'd make sure she's a hefty sum "on call" in a bank in the UK, that you give her a target "per week" living expense figure to aim for but tell her you expect her to be at least 50% over the top for the first few weeks. Then review the situation with her in two months time.

(I'm sort of assuming this girl is coming from overseas to study here . . perhaps that's wrong!)

George