How much money does a student need to live on?

pixistick

I lived off 100 pounds a week last year at uni - wasn't always fun, but that's all I had! Still, managed to get away for a holiday this summer, paid all my bills and ate reasonably well. Ideally though, I would have loved about 150 pounds. If you have it, use it!

Ning

6064 breaks down into £116 per week out of which a student has to pay accomodation, food, travel, books etc and never mind the fun stuff and enjoying being a part of university life it really isn't a lot of money.
She should check with her student support funding officer at whcihever uni she is going to and see if she can get a little extra. She will have to provide evidence of 'hardship' many students get it and it can help when money worries become pressure

Richard019

I'm on my own in my own property (ie mortgage) but my other expenses are breaking down like this for a month (ballpark figures):

Insurance - £30 (might be able to get that cheaper on rented property as I'm paying buildings as well as contents)
Gas/Elec - £85
TV Licence - £12
Phone/Unlimited Internet/Sky - £38
Food - £75
Social costs - £65
Mobile - I hardly use so you'll have to add that in.
**EDIT - I've obviously also been paying Council tax but as full time students they'll be exempt**

That comes in for about £300 a month, and while I've obviously not been frivelous I've been nowhere near pushing my budget so I've not really focussed on trying to cut things too much. If I was sharing (2 of us) the gas/elec would probably be down to about £35 less (assuming total use up to £100), insurance £15 less, tv/phone/etc £25 less.

I reckon if they've got to pay for all the above and have £250 after paying rent to do it with it should be more than enough for them to live comfortably because I have a few takeaways/meals in restaurants and I'm a season ticket holder for an out of town team and I've included my season ticket and travel expenses (which would turn to beer money if I wasn't travelling)

What I would suggest if you're trying to make them appreciate the money is this as a deal (deduct relevent sections if they're provided in catered halls):

Top up the student loan so that they've (based on them sharing) got rent for a basic property/halls +£175 for 2 of them sharing, +£135 if there's 3 of them. That will allow them a decent standard of food and the main bills to not be a worry, but doesn't give them a lot for social costs. For that tell them they need to find a job if they want more, but tell them that during term time you'll match their wages pound for pound up to a certain level (holidays they can increase their hours as they won't be studying).

Firstly it'll make them appreciate that if they want to go do the extra bits in life they need to work for it. Secondly, it'll probably stop them overcommitting to their work and having their studies suffering because over so many hours a week their hourly rate would halve. The first time I went to uni i ended up doing a fulltime course and working fulltime on the side because I was so determined to not end up in debt (and build up a deposit for getting my own place). I ended up leaving the course after a year because I was effectively working 11 hours a day 7 days a week and getting to do nothing personally.

My mum did something similar with me when I was in VIth form where she said at the end of the year she'd match 50% of my savings before I started uni. After a couple of months I was seeing a price card saying £1 but automatically reading it as £1.50. I expect it would work the same the other way round. Even though it would still be extra money, if I was earning £11/h for the first 10 hours and doing a full time course on the side (essentially 40+ hours) I wouldn't be keen on increasing my workload to 50 hours and giving up 2 nights relaxing/out round town if I was only going to be getting £5.50 an hour for my overtime.

pimento

pixistick wrote: »

I lived off 100 pounds a week last year at uni - wasn't always fun, but that's all I had! Still, managed to get away for a holiday this summer, paid all my bills and ate reasonably well. Ideally though, I would have loved about 150 pounds. If you have it, use it!

Blimey! I work full time and don't have £150 disposable income a week.

Richard019

pimento wrote: »

Blimey! I work full time and don't have £150 disposable income a week.

Don't get too jealous yet. I might be wrong because I'm not reading back up before answering, but with them saying £100 wasn't fun I think that comment is talking about before they paid bills, rather than their disposable income. I've just gone back into education and my student income breaks down to about £115 a week over the whole year.

Inneedofadviceplease

So much information and advice, and some interesting suggestions that I wouldn't have thought of - thanks to everyone.
DD unfortunately didn't make the grades (it was for Leeds) and after working through clearing has decided to re-take modules this year and hope that she'll get a good place re-applying for next year. This gives me plenty of time to decide how much to give her!!! At least this time though I can say up front what we'll be giving her and she can choose accommodation etc on that basis.
I definitely think she needs to work at some point, either holidays or during term and I like the idea of an incentive to work just a few hours but not too many. I also like the idea of some of the money being in supermarket vouchers in the first year while she get used to budgeting.
Because of her gap year, we will have two of them at uni at the same time so we have to make sure we can provide for both of them too.
Plenty of food for thought. Thanks again.

Richard019

The 2 at a time thing shouldn't be a problem. If she'd got in this year you'd be making contributions to her for 3 years, and then the other for the 3 years after that. Just save them in the bank this year and the next 2 years will be no different. When you get to year 4 with 2 of them at uni you use the savings to pay the 2nd set of contributions. Years 5 and 6 you're then back to only helping one of them.

thelastunicorn

My parents and grandad are paying for my accommodation together because I don't qualify for any grant or NHS bursary at all, so they are somewhat expected to contribute by the government (though the grand-parental contribution is necessary because of the massive mortgage). Unfortunately, my Uni only offers one form of en-suite accommodation, and it's pretty expensive at around £100 p/w. My parents feel it's worth paying for because I have a disability and having an en-suite is necessary, but I still feel quite guilty.

I'm taking out a full maintenance loan and I am quite good at budgeting, so I want to save as much as possible to help with paying them back when I've graduated.

They've never asked to be paid back for my accommodation and don't expect it, but I'm training to be a radiographer and am more or less guaranteed a job soon after graduation, so I do intend to save up to do that (keeping it as a surprise!). I don't think my little brother has considered doing the same, though. They're paying for his to keep it fair, even though he doesn't have a disability beyond dyslexia.

I'm also going to bank my student overdrafts because I've always been taught not to use money I don't have so I won't be spending them; this will involve putting the money into savings accounts and paying it back when I graduate, leaving me with a couple of hundred in interest.

My costs will be something like this:

Rent - paid by parents.

Phone bill - £12.50 per month. I negotiated it by ringing Orange and threatening to leave. I got a brand new free phone, 300 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet access.

Books - I'm trying to sell clothes and things on ebay in order to buy my books, as I have my reading list already and want to get the essentials before Uni begins. Mum and Dad have also given me books they no longer want for me to sell, so they can contribute without giving any cash and I am still sort of earning it. My textbooks - essential, not recommended, and at the lowest prices I can find - total about £350, and I'm expected to own them all rather than rely on the library. I have also gone on Jobseeker's Allowance to help me fund them. So, hopefully, this will be paid for before Uni and won't be a weekly cost. I'm also trying to sell jam to make extra money. So, in terms of monthly cost, £0.

TV License - I have decided to just not watch TV while I'm at Uni, as it's too expensive and you can still use catch-up services without using live TV options. £0.

Food - I'm not sure. I can spend between £10 and £25 a week on food, and £25 is really quite a lot, so would include replenishment of basics. So, at the upper end, it'd be £100 per month, and £40 at the lower.

Going out - I don't really drink, so it'd just be entry into places, and I don't know how much I'll have time to go out because my course is quite intensive. Maybe £10 a week, with £20 at the upper end. So, between £40 and £80 per month.

I already have all my stationery because I got a load of it on sale when a local shop closed down last year, and Mum and Dad are giving me cooking implements they can spare, so I'm not spending anything there.

This means that my maximum budget will be £192.50 and the minimum will be £92.50. The minimum is really quite tight and it'll probably fall somewhere in between. I think £300 a month would be completely excessive, really. I'm also quite shocked by some of the mobile phone bills I've seen around here!

The maintenance loan is about £1100 for three months, so there's no way my parents will need to top me up with any kind of allowance. I do know of parents who do that, though.

I hope this helps.

Indie_Kid

Inneedofadviceplease wrote: »

Because of her gap year, we will have two of them at uni at the same time so we have to make sure we can provide for both of them too.
Plenty of food for thought. Thanks again.

I have no idea of figures, but:
They take off a certain amount from what you say you earn. IE, if you say you earn 30k per year, they take into account that you have 2 children at uni, therefore, they'd get more grant than they would if only one of them was at uni.

catnap53

thelastunicorn wrote: »

My textbooks - essential, not recommended, and at the lowest prices I can find - total about £350, and I'm expected to own them all rather than rely on the library. I have also gone on Jobseeker's Allowance to help me fund them.

How do you get JSA as a student?

Zzzz