Weekly/Monthly budget for University

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Tinkers
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Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by Tinkers »

This is the website DD found, which she thought was a useful guide.

You can compare costs between potential unis.

https://university.which.co.uk/student- ... calculator" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Loopyloulou
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Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 5:20 pm

Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by Loopyloulou »

kenyancowgirl wrote:
Loopyloulou wrote:I believe my children ought to survive on what the government expects the very poorest students to survive on. That is, the maximum student loan of £8700 (outside London) together with a university bursary which differs between different universities but averages about £2000 per annum. Therefore they get £10,700 per annum. We also subsidise their motoring expenses.

They seem to be happy enough.
But surely not every student can get a bursary??!! Only very occasional students would get them so your children are actually getting 2k more than the majority of the "very poorest" students, plus the motoring subsidies, so they are actually doing quite well!
Every student who is considered poor enough will get the bursary. Presumably this is because the authorities consider this to be the extra money required above the maintenance loan for a student to survive with a decent lifestyle. I take that as a reasonable guide as to what my own children should have to live.
Loopy
copella
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Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by copella »

Like others my DS gets the basic loan. We pay his rent and then he budgets. He now works in a supermarket two evenings a week for additional income. He knows we are not going to sub him, so needs to work if he wants additional luxuries.
Guest55
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Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by Guest55 »

Loopyloulou wrote:
kenyancowgirl wrote:
Loopyloulou wrote:I believe my children ought to survive on what the government expects the very poorest students to survive on. That is, the maximum student loan of £8700 (outside London) together with a university bursary which differs between different universities but averages about £2000 per annum. Therefore they get £10,700 per annum. We also subsidise their motoring expenses.

They seem to be happy enough.
How do you justify subsidising their motoring expenses? Most people do not take cars to uni ...
kenyancowgirl
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Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by kenyancowgirl »

copella wrote:Like others my DS gets the basic loan. We pay his rent and then he budgets. He now works in a supermarket two evenings a week for additional income. He knows we are not going to sub him, so needs to work if he wants additional luxuries.
When you say the basic loan, do you mean the £9 oddk for tuition and the £8700 for maintenance, and then you additionally pay the rent on top? This is not having a go - genuinely I am interested - ditto Amber, I think you said you pay rent on top? - trying to work out if most students are getting £8700 per annum plus say £500 a month rent (average) which is about another £6k on top of that?! That is huge!!! :shock: :? Not sure how we will manage all that at all....Or, when you say the minimum maintenance loan do you mean they got LESS than £8700 per year?
scary mum
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Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by scary mum »

The minimum loan is about £4000 (I can't remember the exact amount), which is provided 3 times a year, with the April amount being slightly more as it has to do them for 6 months. My DCs' accomodation was approaching £6000 in the first year, less in following years when they lived in shared houses. This was the bit we paid - anyone on minimum loan is assumed to have help from parents and many will have to work as well.
ETA: the £9250 bypasses the student & goes straight to the university, so people don't count that in their calculations - if you take a loan, the fees are part of it.
scary mum
doodles
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Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by doodles »

I didn't think there was a minimum maintenance loan as it is calculated on parental income and where you live whilst studying.

If you take the maximum student loan available of almost £9K and subtract accommodation, for arguments sake, £6K (this seems to be the figure most quoted) then you are left with about £3K to live on or about £250 per month. Obviously this is based on the MAX student loan and I'm not sure how many qualify for that amount but it's a good basis to start your own calculations from.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
scary mum
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Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by scary mum »

I think it's more in London, but the same everywhere else (I may be wrong) and everyone gets the minimum over a certain household (note household, not parental) income, which is somewhere around £40K gets the minimum. My figures may be a bit out, but you get the idea.
scary mum
kenyancowgirl
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Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by kenyancowgirl »

Thanks both - that is why I was getting confused - any figures quoted show the maximum loan of £8700 - ie no minimum, which is why I thought the figures plus additional rent were gettting huge! No idea what my children will be entitled to, but they will have to borrow the maximum they can and pay it back if they earn enough.
doodles
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Re: Weekly/Monthly budget for University

Post by doodles »

Yes, sorry it is household income, which in this house is parental income hence my error :D

As our experiences of being students is way out of date and based on the days of non-repayable grants we found it easier to work backwards. So we started at the max available for a student living outside London to gauge what we need to give him to get him up to that level. Once he's been there a while we can rejig if necessary, there are so many unknowns until they are in-situ.

We are all parents wanting the best for our DC but we all have different calls on our income so it is a very personal decision.
Last edited by doodles on Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
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