How much should I save for university? Urgent....

mimiwilk

Hey, I'm going to uni in September this year and will be getting a student loan etc. Neither of my parents have been to higher education. The majority of my friends are taking up to £500 that they have saved to uni, or nothing at all. My mum is putting SO much pressure on me to save money - if I don't save £2000 to take with then apparently I "can't" go.

I was just wondering if anybody could share with me how much they took to uni, or any websites which can provide me with some proof that I don't need to work three jobs including night shifts in order to go to university?! I'm exhausted and very sure I don't need to be under this much stress in order to go to university.

Please help....

Masomnia

Sounds like your mum is just worried that she'll end up bailing you out.

If I was you I'd try and do a budget, do you know roughly what you'll be getting in terms of loans/grants/bursaries from your uni? If you know what uni you're going to, or at least have a good idea, you could look at typical accomadation prices and work from there.

Lokolo

I took none but I had support from Grandparents (they paid my accomondation and food).

The_One_Who

First of all you'll need to work out how much you will receive in terms of loans, grants, bursaries. Then you need to budget for accommodation, food, etc.

Really, the important thing to do is budget. Of course, the more money you have behind you the better. It will give you a bit of a cushion. But there is no 'set' amount that you'll need.

andyman2303

I barely had anything when I first went in 2007 (nearly 3 years ago already, I don't like this growing up lark), I think I had about £300 in my account. Your loan is designed to pay for your accommodation and then SOME living expenses (although I'd question that...).

£2000 is quite a hefty chunk to take with you - you'll probably be one of the wealthiest of your new friends there to be honest as most college students aren't great at the saving game

Bare (sp?) in mind you get your loan in installments (September, January, April usually) which is split equally, so whatever you get, after you've paid off your rent just split what's left into however many weeks it should last.

How much you take obviously depends on your current circumstances - if you can afford to save £2000, do it - money will be less of an issue when you're there, but don't feel that if you 'only' take a couple of hundred pounds with you that you'll be left behind - you won't.

Worst case scenario (one that A LOT of students take, including me) is that you rely on the interest free overdraft from your Student Current Account. Holidays are then used to pay that off. Again, don't worry too much if you take this route, as long as you're not stupid and go £3000 overdrawn (as I think you can do with Halifax), you should have no trouble paying it off when you graduate in a few years time as they give you a grace period before interest is applied*.

*This may have changed with the current economic situation, but it certainly applied when I started...


Hope this has helped

Indie_Kid

Given the SLC delays and stuff, I think you should listen to your mum. I saved up just over a grand and managed to live off that until my loan came through.

Bennifred

I've had two children go to university so far, and I would say that it does depend on where you are going.
One of mine went to an inexpensive part of the country and found that the maintenance loan was enough to pay rent and live on. He was able to spend his savings/earnings on more fun stuff than food, books etc.
The other went to an expensive part of the country and would have starved if he hadn't saved before he went, worked every holiday, etc. His maintenance loan barely covered his accommodation costs.
I'm encouraging number three to save as much of his part-time earnings as possible so that his choice of destination isn't dictated by lack of finance!

Lokolo

Yep theres above ^^

my friend at Soton hasn't got enough loan for accomondation. Me at Stafford have left overs.

[Deleted User]

Also, if you plan on getting a part-time job whilst studying, this again can be easier/harder depending on what part of the country you are in, and any savings will tide you over until a suitable job comes up (if and when).

My suggestion would be to save as much as you can without exhausting yourself! (The more money you take with you, the easier things will be - at the very least an emergency fund that you can dip into if necessary). Not all students will be in positions to bring extra cash with them, but most will have some.

It's better to have the extra cash and not need it, than to need it and not have it!

glider3560

I worked full-time for the entire summer holiday before starting uni. Earned about £2200, of which I saved about £1800 of this. By the end of my first year, I had about half of this left. In the summer between my first and second year, I worked full-time again and saved about £1500. So far this year, I've felt "wealthy" as most of my friends went on "jollies" in their summer, instead of working. I do have some other savings, but haven't touched any of these.

As others have suggested, a budget is the key thing. List all the money you'll be receiving (loans, grants, etc) and then estimate your costs (accommodation, food, travel, books, alcohol, etc). You can then work out how much extra you'll need and therefore how much you need to save.

mimiwilk

Thankyou so much! It's really good to have lots of different perspectives on this. You've all been a massive help!