Probably I am an out-of-touch old fart, but I am thinking about how my daughter can fund her university course.

According to the NUS study in 2008 (http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/media/resource/Press%20Pack%202007.pdf) living costs, excluding tuition, comes to about GBP 10,000. The maximum loan is about 3,000, leaving 7000 to be found elswewhere.

Firstly, are these figures realistic? 10,000 seems a lot for a single person living in e.g. a hall, or a shared flat.

Secondly, what sources of loans are there. Where do students actually get the missing 7000 ??

In fact my question is aimed at the following problem: we live abroad, so she may not be eligible for the same support as a UK-resident student, so I am trying to work out what we should do (Bank of Mum and Dad) to put her on the same footing as an average UK student.

Any ideas gratefully received!!

Maybe concern yourself with the median rather than the average UK student?

E.g. In 2008, the average full time UK wage was £31,323. The median was £25,123. Many people survive on far less.

we used the NUS figures for our two daughters starting 2003 and 2005 in London out of London respectively. I'd be interested in feedback from students on here as to whether that was (over) generous or not. My impression was that it was towards the upper end of average (apologies to statisticians or pedants) and funded a fairly easy lifestyle plus an inordinate amount of shoes. They had student loans and rest from Bank of M+D.

On the matter of funding/saving our elder daughter did a 5+1 year course at med school and we bought a 3/4 bed house self-financed the mortgage payments from the other occupants and we managed to sell for slightly more than we bought for. I'm not sure we would do that again – particularly in the present volatile housing climate – as dealing with maintenance etc etc from a distance is a pain and can be a bit stressy.

you don't say where your daughter will be studying (rent varies)

here in sheffield expect to pay £300-£450 per month for rent including bills, depending on how much of a dump she's happy to live in.

She'll easily spend £200/month on vodka and fags food etc, and things like travel/window tax will all add up.

When I was at uni, the NUS 'living costs' were always a bit bollocks, significantly more than I had/spent anyway.

It does depend a lot on which city mind – in Nottingham it would be dead easy to live on £10k a year (you could probably save up some money if you wanted to, or go out most nights). In London, it'd be pretty hard to cope on that money, you'd have to live somewhere pretty minging.

As for where people get the money – people seem to get their money from student loans (3k or whatever), then overdrafts at bank (used to be about £1k a year, probably more like £2k now), then money from parents.

Although having said that, whilst it is being generous, unless your kid is a complete airhead who is going to drink themselves into oblivion, and if you can afford it, I'd just give em the NUS recommended amount and let them have a nice time and not have to worry about money at all.

Joe

Don't forget there are still grants available to some, our daughter got £200 for the year which was non-repayable! Others get more and a lot of the universities bas their bursaries on the non-refundable part (Hertford pay 50% of this).
We looked at what a student from a low earnings family would get from the council as grant and paid the difference so that our girl was not saddled with more debt than someone from a less well-off family. Now of course I'm unemployed and she gets more money from the council so her subsidy from us has gone down.

DrJ – which uni is she thinking of? Contact their student support service. They'll have loads of useful info about costs and funds for support.

i graduated 5 years ago – that seems way too high. look at the typical SU members at uni – gak habit, brand new car, expensive clubs, daddys credit card. not your typical student- thats why the estimates are so high.

i lived on £3000 loan and £1-2000 earnings (summer/ part time jobs) each year that is, parents payed rent (£3k/yr) and i payed fees (£1500/yr).

Finished with £15k loan and £2k overdraft. roughly typical for pre top up fees.

best advice stay away from the credit cards – at all costs.

Oh and the big thing I did to make money whilst at university was summer jobs. It is very course dependent – if you're doing something like computer science or engineering, you can get jobs doing things related to the course that make you 3 or 4K over a couple of months in the summer.

Joe

I'd get her to work out out, breaking down the costs and justifying. Then she needs to budget appropriately and work out the best way to get as much money as possible elsewhere – cheap loans and then see how much is left.

Im curently at Durham this is roughly what i get/spend

Get:
-The 3000ish loan to pay course fees
-3500 ish (non means tested amount) of maintenance loan

So i get rougly 1200 a term to cover accomodation, food, and 'extra curricular' activities 😛

Spend:
-Catered halls cost 1500 a term so you immediately into your own money here to the tune of 300 quid, plus youve got to add on whatever you spend. I spend roughly 600 a term on top of this (it cold be less, it could be more i relatively sensible with my money but not stingy)
-Rent in a house ranges from about 55-80 a week +bills +food (~50 a week)

My advice would be if it is you that will be funding her course. Pay her rent/halls and any other bills and then give her a sensible amount to use as spending money. Maybe 75-100 quid a week or so, about the average among my friends in the same situation.

My advice would be if it is you that will be funding her course. Pay her rent/halls and any other bills and then give her a sensible amount to use as spending money. Maybe 75-100 quid a week or so, about the average among my friends in the same situation.

Of course that 75-100 would need to cover food, books, travel, entertainment?
Your not seriously suggesting 75-100 spending money 😯

I'm in the last year of a 4 year degree, and £10,000 a year would be a dream! I'm at Bath, and would say that a lot of people do have that kind of money to spend, but its definately not needed.
heres my breakdown;
£3300 Tuition
£3840 Rent – £3000 on student loan, rest down to me
£2000 Living (£165 a month) – bank of M+D

This is in Bath, one of the most expensive places out of london. I would say anywhere from 6000 – 8000 a year would be plenty.

after all, I still have enough left for the occaisional bike kit purchase!

10k is a hell of a lot of cash.

Halls here are £80/wk including bills. Say £50/wk on top of that for food and beverages… Uni only lasts 30 wks/yr too. You do the maths.

Student loans are means tested on parental income too, so she may get hee haw help.

Oh yeah, one other thing – are you abroad in the EU, or abroad outside the EU – if you're in the EU, but your kid is a UK national, you may have a chance at the full student loan stuff. You'd need to check, but on the website it says: "Students who are settled in the UK may also be eligible if they have exercised a right of residence in the EEA or Switzerland before returning to the UK to study."

Joe

Ten thousand pounds is waaay more than enough to live on each year, and temping is a good way to top it up, if absolutely necessary. Though hopefully you have a 'sensible' daughter who does not follow the spending habits of some people.

Each term that my student loan arrived I either promptly made a call to Merlin Cycles and got some new wheels/a new groupset or, as eBay became more well-known, spaffed it all on there.

Part-time job and breaking into the secure vault at the Royal Bank Of M&D was what saw me through. Six and a half years after finishing uni I still have a five-figure loan with no prospect of ever paying it off…

I'd just give em the NUS recommended amount and let them have a nice time and not have to worry about money at all

Actually I'm thinking that maybe she should have to worry about money, even if she knows that at the end of the day we would never leave her high and dry. Right now she seems to think she's Paris Hilton (bad parenting, I know) so a little reality might help her in th long term.

£10k does sound a lot…
where is she looking to go though? london/bath/st andrews/oxbridge are all very expensive places to live, and consequentally her costs will be higher.

i'm final year at st andrews, i've never really totted up what i spend etc but here goes…

maintenance loan – £3.3k(ish) – spend on rent (£300 per month, 10 month lease (this is as cheap as it gets in st andrews – most rents are nearer £400+/month)) plus a little extra which goes into the pot

tuition fees – payed by parents (i was fortunate to apply before the topped up loans, so my fees are only £1285)

money from parents (not going to disclose amount here) – living expenses, bills, bike, entertainment (although i rarely drink much).

in all probably comes to around £8k per year, for 4 years…

i know i'm lucky though, fortunate to have parents who fully support my university life and realise that life is for living!!
i reckon costs could easily be cut by £1k and most probably by £2k if accom was cheap, and your daughters hobbies etc weren't so expensive, and she was sensible.

where ever she goes though she will be surrounded by people living off a lot more and a lot less. i know people who work 2 jobs during term time here, but i also know people who drive to lectures in their porches/morgans/BMWs and one old class mate who's annual allowance from his parents was £20k…

dunno where you live or what part of britain your originally from but the scotch eggs seem to get a good deal in scottish universities – don't think they pay tuition fees at the moment (set to change?) and neither do a lot of EU students. could be worth investigating…

Actually I'm thinking that maybe she should have to worry about money, even if she knows that at the end of the day we would never leave her high and dry. Right now she seems to think she's Paris Hilton (bad parenting, I know) so a little reality might help her in th long term.

Fair enough – you are probably a bit more like my parents then!

I do know someone who sent all their kids to fancy private schools till the age of 18, with the proviso that when they wanted to go to university, they had to fund it themselves. I think they ended up working for a couple of years beforehand or something. I guess they ended up knowing the value of money!

Joe

tell her to borrow as much as possible, then on leaving uni declare herself bankrupt, move back home, get a job and in a few years she'll be laughing! 😀

I graduated 3 years ago, worked out about 6k a year was about right (and was the official figure at the time). That was in york though, where housing/living was relatively cheap. So I can easily see where folk above are coming from with 8kish figures, which sounds about right. Of course more for london. Parents covered my rent and fees, and student loan covered the rest. Had enough that if I saved each year I could afford a week away riding in the summer. I did have a year out working full time mid-degree though.

In private accom rents here in Exeter are 75-90 Per week bills on top, but for an 11 mothn contract 1st sept-31st July so you are looking at min3575 per year rent. About 400 a year bills (elc/gas/water/internet). Then food and fun which is variable…

I do know someone who sent all their kids to fancy private schools till the age of 18, with the proviso that when they wanted to go to university, they had to fund it themselves.

I had a mate who went through something similar – no agreement but his parents didn't support him at all in Uni and he figured that having to work in term-time wasn't ideal and they could have helped a bit more. Given that he's doing well now maybe they could have loaned him the money.

I worked in my holidays but never in term-time and had no support from my parents – that was in the last of the good times as we moved into the 90s.

Interesting Thread.

I'm on a 3rd year course at Sheffield Hallam. My last years living costs were as follows:

Costs:
– £72pw for accomadation excluding bills (on this don't forget that although your only at unit for around 30 weeks you have to pay for a year…)
– £50-100pw for food going out (depending on work levels)
– £5pw per person (average)
– £3580 tuition fee (something like that anyway)

Total = £9,934

My Money:
– £3,380 student loan (something like that anyway)
– The rest. It's a secret 😉

Seriously though I know that most 1st year student halls type jobs are at lease £90pw quite a few pushing over £100pw (does include bills though)

I was a tight arse as well, I know people that spend alot more than me!

Total = £9,934

£6554 excluding tuition fees. Still £4500 less than the NUS claim.

The rest. It's a secret

I was a tight arse as well

Whilst prostitution among students to pay for their studies is nothing new and an increasing trend I'm a little surprised your morphology had such a negative impact on your income.

True. Good job i'm not doing a degree in Logic or maths.

Edukator – When I posted that I did think if anybody would jump to that conclusion 😆

Also I do know a lot of people that have multiple student accounts, and as such access to large student overdrafts 😉

I bet you edit that.

😆

OK, I graduated in 2008 and here's my oppinion……………. (based on Sheffield)

I paid £216pcm in rent+water for a 'medium single room' which by Reading/London standards where I now live was feking huge and could have taken several double beds!

The most I ever saw anyone pay was £385pcm (sheffield rent's included water, this varies from town to town depending on what precedent seems to have been set by the majority of landlords) fofr a big double en-suite in a newbuild flat.

Bills £1500 for a well insulated, '5' bed terraced house (realy a 4 bed with the front room converted to a bedroom, two double en-suites on the 1st floor and the atic split into 2 further bedrooms). So £300 each.

So far thats £250 a month.

£10 minimum per week for food. But I can cook so save cash by buying ingredients rather than meals (£3 for basic pizza + chips, or less than a quid if you make dough/topping/sauted potatoes yourself).

£10 in travel (the odd bus here and there) per week

So the nececities therefore come to about £350 a month or £4k per year. which is about what a student loan is.

The NUS figure is hugely over inflated, I don't spend as much as they recon is nececary for survival even now im in a £30k job!

When you see the cost you have to think whether or not HE offers value for money. Having worked in the sector I tend to think not. I only intend to send my kids to uni if they have a definite focus with a career in mind. Otherwise I'll encourage them to travel for a year or two.

That's a good point and shame others don't look at it the same way; we need fewer grads.

£50-100pw for food going out (depending on work levels)

I live with my missus and we spend ~60 a week for the two of us, eating well and with the odd bottle of wine. I know students who regularly spend around £10pw a week on evening food and it's more than possible to have a filling lunch made by someone else for ~20pw outside london.

Jebus save us! (sic)

The "this country needs fewer grads" brigade has arrived!

The country does not need 'fewer' grads. There has never been a shortage of binmen, plumbers or the un-employed, and if there is, it's redressed by a migrant workforce. But we're regularly told theres a shortage of doctors and engineers?

Part Time Job.

I was lucky, insomuchas I was a Scot studying in England so got my fees paid for me – took a huge amount of pressure off. 😀

However, as a mature student, got no help from my folks (give or take the odd £100 when starvation set in) and so I worked part time. Like most students, I had a series of pretty awful jobs but couldn't have got by without them.

Like most students, I had a series of pretty awful jobs but couldn't have got by without them.

My daughter says she doesn't want "a boring job like yours"* , so I think it will be a good education for her to see what a REALLY boring job is. It should focus her mind a bit on the value of her education.

(*I enjoyed recalling that, when work paid for me to sit drinking a cold beer in Turks and Caicos)

When you see the cost you have to think whether or not HE offers value for money. Having worked in the sector I tend to think not.

That's a good point and shame others don't look at it the same way; we need fewer grads.

I don't think saying that HE doesn't offer good value for money is the same as saying we need fewer grads necessarily.

If I had to choose again, I wouldn't go to university, it wasn't worth it for me. I was the first year of fee paying students, I'd already applied before they announced the fee introduction, had I had more time to consider options I probably would have ended up doing something else, went into it not knowing how student loans were going to be paid back. The terms are somewhat different from pre 1998 loans.

I don't know how much it's changed now, but it used to be "the poorer you are, the more money you can borrow" which just seems a bit bizarre. I applied to the hardship fund at uni and got a small bursary and some extra loan to take out which of course is extra loan to pay back.

**** hell its a lot of cash isnt it. Its also bizare that students dont wear crappy second hand clothes and smoke roll ups like they did in my day.

Hmmm interesting read. Can't believe how generous you lot are to your kids. My parents basically supported me up to A levels and then said your old enough to work so you pay your own way through uni. Luckily I didn't have to add on tution fees but I put myself through uni by working part time during term time and full time (60hrs+) during holidays. I didn't have a car or go on ski holidays, which is what I see many students do. I did however drink an awful lot of beer at £1 a pint….

Personally I'd make sure their tution fees are covered (that's alot to find up front) but then they can earn the rest to pay for their keep and accomodation. It's good practise. I think I lived off around £500 a month and came out of uni owing £12k which I've paid off now. I had no financial support from the family and the government paid my tution so it is doable.

Btw I had a job as a life guard/gym instructor and it paid relatively well back then and had pretty flexible hours to fit around lectures

I'm casting my mind back to when I were a student…

tuition was paid for, and I had a grant from govt, topped up by parents, so I just had to work in summer holidays. I didn't need to borrow, but I only lived at a level that no middle class kid would accept today (crappy accommodation, crappy food, crappy clothes, no holidays).

I guess my wish would be that uni should not be a parents-funded soft option, but that she should be secure, albeit not at luxury levels.

Maybe I am old-fashioned … 🙁