So eldest boy is off to university (Manchester) next month. He has self catered halls accommodation for the first year which costs £3,788.

He has applied for a loan which will cover course fees (£9,000) and provide £3,821 towards living costs. This will just the accommodation so we will need to cover his living costs.

I do not know the best way to do this or how much to give him. He is not that responsible with money so my initial thought is a weekly allowance via standing order but that seems a bit like pocket money. I would like him to be able to budget over a term but do not want to be getting calls in October saying he is skint. I also do not want him getting into debt via an overdraft.

Can those of you who have been in similar situations let me know what you did and how well it worked. Some guidance on a weekly budget would be useful too.

Back-of-fag packet calculation: £250 a month should be enough for half decent food plus books, plus a bit left over for beer and class A drugs?

I’m in exactly that position as a third year student, my maintenance loan covers just my accommodation. I budget for £70 a week to cover everything else, some from parents and some from holiday work. This covers food, drink, bike bits, elec, gas, internet bills and going out etc and is enough that I’m comfortable. In Leeds btw so probably similar costs to Manchester.

Was a thread on this recently.

As per @aa there was a thread a week or two ago.

Good luck to him, exciting times. I remember going to Uni in ’81 like it was yesterday

70 PW was about enough down south from 2008-12 – probably a bit more these days due to cost of living increases.

Get him to prepare a budget and discuss it with you. A sensible grown up father-son discussion about what things cost, and how he will manage it? You are providing the cash so you can set the terms. You can’t really stop him getting an overdraft. I don’t really see a downside to a predictable weekly income. Will you be happy to keep paying it even during holidays if he’s back home (or working)? If he can’t cook and manage food economically (e.g. using leftovers, avoiding waste, understanding what is a luxury etc) now is the time to teach him. It may be the most valuable lesson he ever learns!

We have this:
https://www.hw.ac.uk/students/doc/managing-your-money.pdf

The big funding- halls and fees- will be different but the rest pretty equivalent.

Do it monthly, make him plan a bit but doesn’t let him blow too much in one go.

That said, I was lucky enough to go through at the time of grants and they were issued a term at a time (I think).

doh hes going to uni and cant understand bugeting or getting a job, surely in school and as a child he learnt these facts of life, and not having to rely on daddy to fund him for 3 years.

leaving it a bit late aren’t you 😉
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/living-expenses-at-uni

Isn’t all this part of the experience of going to university? How much are you willing to spend? One other way may be for you to cover the rent and then he uses the maintenance grant to cover his living expenses. If he is not good with money then this is going to be a great life experience in learning how to do it. As others have said though, one of the most important things to do now is sit down with him and go through what his likely budget is going to be. Why is he going to Uni in the first place? What’s his goal? That longer term goal should be enough to give him the focus he needs to make it work. If he doesn’t really know then I woudl question why he is going and tell him not to bother. : )

@project I went to Uni after working for two years and I still need my parents help for Halls fees. I have a surplus of money I accrued whilst working the year before going and with the money I got from the grant I still came through the year with slightly less savings than I started with. Some people get more money if their parents don’t earn as much, and so can get away with it, but for many others, loans don’t even cover the exorbitant funds that Uni Halls demand.

Jobs, in Plymouth at least, are not as easy to get as you might think especially as employers prefer a person who doesn’t need to fit the job around their 39 hours a week on Studies. Schools are cr*p at teaching you the realities of life, mine didn’t even show us how to write a CV.

Some people need advice and OP doesn’t need that brand of “advice”.

doh hes going to uni and cant understand bugeting or getting a job, surely in school and as a child he learnt these facts of life, and not having to rely on daddy to fund him for 3 years.

In English?