Roughly how much do students spend a month

jennifernil

There is quite a lot of info available on-line. Looking at the site for Scottish students (as I am in Scotland) I see that they use gross income of father and mother, not of mother's partner/spouse unless he has adopted the child.
If they are using your full income they will not count your CSA payments as her mother's income too. Any benefits she gets will count as income , but not Child Benefit.

Catseyez

At first, I thought £1,000 was a typo! I must say I am shocked that she has asked you for this much and you are even considering whether it is a 'normal' amount!

I believe that if the student is under 25 then both parent's income is taken into consideration, regardless of whether they still live together.

If your daughter gets used to living on £1,000 now, she will have a shock when she graduates and is responsible for herself. I can't see how it will teach her about the value of money.

Pay a visit to the 'Debt Free Wanabee' board where there are families of 4+ members living on only a fraction of that! They could certainly offer some advice!

I'm a mature student but with the luxury of living at the family home, though I still have to pay exorbitant train fares! It's certanily not as hard for me as others and I'm in a position where I don't have to take out a student loan but that's because I've saved up my own money to help support myself. There are single mothers on my course who are living virtually hand-to-mouth but they are still doing well and studying hard. They really inspire me and they really deserve to do well.

You sound like a very kind and generous father but do you really want your daughter to be one of those 'spoilt little rich girls' who's got no understanding of the value of money and thinks the most important things in life are material posessions?

Catseyez

Catseyez

Just to add...how is she paying for the tuition fees (£3k per academic year)?

You could offer to pay for her tuition fees instead as at least you will know that your money is not being spent on clothes etc.

Catseyez

jimbob_3

hi,

im glad that most people seem to be of roughly the same opinion as me,

i have encouraged her to take out as much loan as poss but im still not clear what she is likely to get.

can anybody point in the direction of the best site to try and answer my q above?

thanks

Catseyez

Hi Jim,

You may find the following sites help to answer your questions:

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/studentsupport/ (This gives advice to parents)

http://www.aimhigher.ac.uk/student_finance/index.cfm (This gives lots of practical advice on issues such as budgeting.

If your daughter takes out a loan, she still needs to budget sensibly and needs to be aware that she will have to pay it back when she starts earning above £15k after graduation. For the average student taking out a tuition fee loan and maintenance, they will graduate with about £24k debt!!! It's really hard for many students now which is why I think it's so vital that they learn how to budget.

If you are able to help contribute to some of her living expenses such as accommodation, then that will be a great help to her.

What part of the country is she studying in? Some areas are much cheaper than others and rates for accommodation can really differ.

Hope this helps.

Catseyez

Catseyez

Jimbob,

Can you please just calrify...is your daughter asking for £1000 per term or per month? It seems that everyone who has replied to you, including myself, read it as per month. But I've just read your OP and it says 'per term'.

If it is £1,000 per term then that is very different from £1,000 per month and I can see why she has asked for that but that doesn't mean she can't live on less.

Sorry, hope I haven't confused you.

Catseyez

MoneySavingSapphire_:D

Rent depends very much on where she will be living - for the first year she is likely to be living in halls so gas/electric etc is included in this. So ignoring that for a bit, actual living expenses shouldn't be that high. On top of rent, I (final yr student) spend £15/week on food (very comfortably, some weeks no need as have so many frozen leftover meals!), £18.50/week on driving lessons and about £20/month on clothes/treats. I am unusual in that I don't actually go out that often however, but my total spend for a month hardly ever comes in at more than £100 (not including the driving lessons, as these may not apply to your DD). I have a part time job for this money, but I save £100+ a month and spend £80ish on driving lessons out of the £300 I earn so just for living you really don't need to spend all that much! My rent comes out of student loan and my parents pay my tuition fees - but the system being different now the student will get a loan for that. In my first year I got a loan but was living at home, so I blew the lot :eek: I didn't need it and all its done was waste my money - giving your daughter too much won't help her. I would say she'd need no more than £150 a month for living expenses, presuming she'll want to go out a bit more than I do!, and then rent on top. Her loan really should cover the rent though at least, so sit down and work out if she really really will need (not want, need!) your help and if not, save it for her.
Re: working - unless you're doing a degree that is like a full time job such as nursing or medicine, a part time job gives valuable experience for applying for jobs after uni, and spending your own money feels totally different to spending your parents or the student loan companies and encourages budgetting etc - depending on the degree your daughter is doing I would encourage it! Also, is her mother contributing to the money?

Skyhigh

It really depends where you live.

North of South? Halls or House?

I pay £35 a week in Hull, then bills go on top:
Broadband + phone per month: £18
Water / Gas / Electric: £20 per month (approx)

Yet I know people in Oxford and near London who pay over £90 just for a room.

Previously I've been "all inclusive", paying £52 a week for my room with all my rates paid.


Note: I'm in my fourth year, Masters and I'm on the "old" tuition fee system of about £1200 a year, not the new 'top up fees', which are a fair bit higher.


For me:
I get full student loan, that's about £3000 (it gets smaller the further you progress through Uni.....).

My housing is £1750.
My bills about £500.
My tution fee's £1200.

So thats a total of £3450.

Also:
Food: About £10-30 a week, including any 'eating out' in the Union.
Average of around £800 a year, including take-aways.

Gym: £7 per week. (although I won 6 months free )
£160 for both terms.

Climbing:
Kit: About £100 per year, plus around about £150 in entry fee's to the local climbing wall...and about £60 in trip costs per year. = £310 per year.

Course books: Average of 4 books per semester, 8 per year.
Average cost per book of £40. Thats another £320.

Materials such as paper, plastic wallets, etc: £30 per year.

Clothes: Probably about £200 per year.

Computer: Maintenance costs of about £8 per year for toner for the laser printer (thats 20k pages...). Plus about £200 a year in upgrades/hardware/software.


I don't go out much any more, but in my first two years I did, I just don't have the time or money any more.
But in my first year I spend about £600 on going out to clubs, drinking etc.


So thats about £6070 per year.

Some are not required, like gym, climbing (well extra activity, could be anything), takeaways (I spent about £240 in my 2nd year on curry....), going out, some computer upgrades, etc.

But still, just counting accommodation, bills, food and course books plus materials "the essentials" its quite a lot.

Although everyone spends differently on some things, such as food.
In my first year I lived off pasta, pea's, rice, and coco pops.....costing me about £6 a week. Whereas for most people the average is £50 a week.

Either way I had a good short-fall of £1500-£3000 per a year.

So like some students (although an increasing amount seem to have rich parents...) I have to work all summer.
This year I worked THREE jobs, as well as selling stuff through ebay (which goes on all year).
This provides me with some spending money and assurance that I won't run over my overdraft limit.

To be honest £2k per year sounds like a steal, if its ONLY for accommodation, food, books, etc.
If its 'extra spending money', like others say.....its a bit on the steep side.

:!:

Lexi321

I'm a student, my dad gives me 100 pounds, my mum gives me 100 pounds then my nan gives me 50 and grandad gives me 30 all a month. Though I don't live at home. I get a bursery from the NHS because I'm doing a midwifery course of about 330 which is about what my rent is, and I get part of the loan, about half I think, I can live off this quite comfortably, and can probably do with less. I have a bit of debt to my partner that I'm gradually paying off, and am currently saving for a laptop. I do placements as part of my course, and it's nigh impossible to get a job. I try and spend under 35 pounds a week on general living, £20 pounds a week (aim) on paying back debts, and I'm trying hard to limit the rest, I messed up a bit last year whilst at college, and got into overdraft, my boyfriend didn't like me getting into overdraft so paid it off for me, he also had to lend me some money at various points, and somehow it all amounted to 1000 pounds or so. Now I'm trying really hard to learn to budget, as far as I can see your daughter needs hardly anything in the way of rent (maybe food too?) I'd say 100 pounds a month is fine, she can get a job and earn the rest to supplement whatever lifestyle she wants. I do treat myself sometimes, like I say, I've probably got more income than many students, for example joined the gym (but did it with pruhealth offer thing from this site, thus only pay 15 pounds a month for first six months, 15 pounds that might be spent on something else if I didn't have the gym to go to for something to do.) I do go out sometimes, and spend no more than 20 pounds a week on it, unless it's a friends birthday. Any questions feel free to ask. Hope I've posted this right, I'm new Addicted already though

hopingforahouse

To be honest, as a recent graduate, I don't think £1000 is too daft per term. However I would spend it for her - say you'll pay her rent and re-imburse (sp) her on her books, and then maybe pay a little each week/ month into her account. She has to learn to live within her means, and learn to budget. I can honestly say that I could have got a much better degree result if I hadn't had to work throughout my entire time at Uni. Also I wouldn't have ended up in the debt situation I'm in now. If you can afford it then I would say okay. Yes, she will be one of the lucky ones, but wouldn't you rather your daughter was one of the lucky ones?