How much per month to help daughter?

Skintstudent

Hi Jaz,

I'm a student going in to my third year in September...eeek! £200 is a generous amount and she will be very lucky to have tht cash. My parents are unable to help me out as much or as regularly as that so every holiday I return to my job before attending uni and work as many hours as possible!

The best advice I can give you for sending your daughter off to uni is:
1: stock her up on tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, packet mixes (i.e shepherds pie recipe mixes) as i found in my first year when i hadnt planned a meal I didnt have some ingredients but you can make anything with tinned tomatoes!

2: stock up on pasta, cereals etc as bulky and annoying to carry back from supermarket.

3. If you're buying t.roll, buy in bulk ie 12/18 pack as it is also annoying to carry so everyone waits for parents to visit! and leave in her room until she susses out other room mates!!

4. Get her to try and sort out shared money with housemates for cleaning products etc as the first year no-one bought a single bottle of washing up liquid except me!!

5. Read the T + C's on any 'freshers wristbands' as sometimes they only include some events or have conditions that you have to be there before a certain time and really think about if she wants to attend them as they can sometimes be a real rip-off!

6.Don't buy a single book before starting uni (unless stated that it must be bought) as in the first week the tutors recommend the best books for each module and everyone rushes out and buys them as they say theres not enough in the library. then no1 touches the ones in the library! I renewed one book for 6 months straight as no1 else needed it and it would have cost me 40quid!

Hope that helps,

SKINTstudent

soulfire

Hi, I had to join just to reply to this. This post only applies to students studying 2011/2012.

I'm a student who just graduated this year. By the end of my university degree, I had at least £7k in excess just from student loans, bursaries and grants - and I rarely received financial help from my parents. I currently have £11k in savings a few months post-uni, the total including pre-uni savings, uni work earnings, and accumulated interest.*

The fact is, imo, most students are receiving money needlessly from parents IF they are receiving student loans, bursaries, grants and tuition fees. It depends on their income, but from what I've seen and worked out, most students, even those not receiving a bursary, or grant, don't need it. I highly applaud the post in the first page by Devildog, who said his/her children honestly said that they were giving them too much money. It doesn't surprise me that they could go on holiday!

It is easy to work it out yourselves, and if possible, get your children involved to do it with you. I did this myself pre-uni., so I knew in advance I was going to get too much.

Simply work out the expenses of university (rent, food, books (get reading lists, look at prices on amazon - but don't buy them yet!) etc.). Remember to account for the exact term dates and holiday breaks if they are staying at home. Do not include tuition fees or the first 2 weeks, as you should work this out separately due to added costs (freshers, deposits).

Take their yearly income and subtract the expenses. Remember to account for the payment dates of loans, grants etc. if they are getting it.

Overall
Simply put: If your child is receiving a student loan, grant, bursary and tuition fees, they will definitely be getting too much money. To push the point of this: In extreme cases, they could even help you financially. As evidence, I had to in my third year and easily sent my parents £1250.

If your child is receiving a student loan and tuition fees, they might need some help, and you should take their expenses and income and work this out accordingly to see how much they need. It will mostly vary due to the area of study because of rent. The government covers the difference in London weighting but London areas vary, and so do other areas (e.g. far north).

I really, really hope this doesn't sound accusing or condescending. I don't mean it to, and just think it's important for you to know, especially to those parents who are already financially struggling. I know it's hard if your son or daughter is leaving for the first time, and yes they've worked hard, but honestly, they probably don't need it. Just do the calculations...

**This is all going towards helping me moving away from home now. Hooray, independence!

Decluttering

I think £200 a month is a fair amount, I like the suggestion of having your daughter keep a spending diary too so you can discuss how the money was spent and if it was realistic for her to live off £200.

I think when it comes to helping out a student everyone's different, I didn't go to University but when I was at college (still living at home) my parents helped me with money for transport, which was partly reimbursed later (I think I had to pay the first £150). I then paid my parents back for their contribution. I don't feel I missed out on anything but what I did have to pay for came out of my personal savings. I'm not sure what support my boyfriend recieves but I know he lives comfortably, though ideally he'd prefer to have a job so he could be a bit more frivolous with his spending. He doesn't miss out on anything though.

stedwell

If they don't get any grant at all, then I think it's probably easiest to pay the rent for them (direct to the university) and make them budget for food/everything else.

Exactly what we are planning to do radiography. She can then budget and decide how to use the maintenance loan for herself.

bodmil

Is the plan to pay children all the way through university? I don't really see how it will help them in the long term. Fair enough for the first term or two but part time work is not impossible.

stedwell

If you receive no grants or bursaries and only the minimum maintenance loan then you don't have a lot of choice. Part time work won't cover rent and living expenses.

JAZ63

Hi everyone,

there are some great ideas coming through on this thread

skintstudent thanks for the good tips re fresher week wristbands , and the fact it is useful to stock up on bulky items.
soulfire wow, what an informative post, we have worked out that it is cheaper for us to pay £200 per month than pay for our daughters accommodation which works out considerably more.we are going to have to help our daughter out as she will get the minimum grant/fees (though we are not wealthy)she will have only about £200/£300 a year to live on after accommodation is paid, if we didnt help out. I know she could use her overdaft ,but we dont want her to go down that route if we can help it.
we will take into consideration that when she comes home for hols etc ,that we will reduce her payments.
our daughter is not getting any bursary or extra fees ,just the basic grant

thanks again for all your brilliant ideas and experiences

Jazz

bodmil

stedwell wrote: »

If you receive no grants or bursaries and only the minimum maintenance loan then you don't have a lot of choice. Part time work won't cover rent and living expenses.

It's a student's decision to go to university, time they take on the weight of that themselves. Whether it's a year out working their socks off to save up first, or working part time plus full time in the holidays (students do have jolly long holidays, plenty of time to earn lots of cash!) If they can't afford it then maybe alternative options like part time study or OU or even work based courses would suffice? Or perhaps a town with cheaper rent. I had a lovely could room sharing a house with friends 15 mins from the beach for £160 a month. The old style and debt free wannabe boards are brilliant places to find out how to reduce living expenses.

stedwell

I do agree with your views and by the time my daughter goes to uni she will be an young adult but that doesn't stop my instinct as a parent from doing whatever I can to help them and by that I do not mean taking away their independence. It is very hard to stand by and see your child accumulate the huge loans that will be coming with the hike in rents and the £9000 tuition fees. I hate to think of her paying that for the rest of her life.

alrk

"How much per month to help daughter?" is exactly the question I came here to find an answer to.

My husband and I both work, so eldest only gets minimum maintenance loan. I am a teacher so not a huge salary and we have large mortgage and 2 other kids likely to go to uni.

Her accomodation costs are a staggering £6800 a year (Birmingham - I wish I'd realised the difference in living costs before she applied). £3500 maintenace leaves another £33000 for husband and I to contribute plus a weekly allowance.

I intend paying for freshers events, books, trainfares, so I think the only thing she needs money for is socialising. The uni suggests £50 for "leisure". This seems a lot to me - am I being unrealistic. Wont most of this get spent on alcohol?

Thanks fo any advice

PS I calculate that the 3 going to uni will cost us approx £60,000 - no wonder we will all have to work till 70!!!