Roughly how much do students spend a month

adidas

I would totally agree with Money_saving_martin. I could have money to support me through uni but I prefer to be independent. I can't believe that people don't feel guilty about taking so much from their parents and most students spend it all on drinking and other rubbish.

I live in Liverpool so rent is cheap and as other people have said it does depend where you live...

Rent £65 a week or about £3100 a year (all inclusive)
So that's £260 pcm
I spend about £70 - 100 pcm on food
Clothes - don't always buy every month but about £20
My car (most expensive thing!) about £100 pcm (petrol costs, maintenance and insurance etc, btw I pay for my insurance all in one but I've divided here)
Going out, cost varies anywhere from £20 - 50 pcm (tend to buy drink at home first to save money/don't drink really)
Course costs - only bought one book this year for £20 and I have all the other books on loan from the library!
Mobile - £0 pcm through redemption
So all in all £470 - 530 a month, and I'm at uni for 42 weeks of the year due to my course so I get the most out of my rent. I work in the vacation and have a full loan as I live away from home. All my living costs are covered all by my loan with some left over.

Ytaya

Money_saving_Martyn wrote:

Undergratuate degrees work out as 39 hours full time, if you go by the contact time (in lectures) and add the expected private study. Which subject are you doing? I'm yet to know anyone that actually spends 39 hours per week on their degree.

I spend around that much time on my degree, as it happens. On the other hand, I'm a mature student: I've had some !!!!!! jobs before I went back into education, so I'm motivated to do well and never have one again! I also know I want a career in academia, which means excelling at this stage.

So there, you know one person who spends that much time studying!

Your point about experience is a valid one, though. I'm fortunate in that I have work experience on my CV from before I went back into education. I also work during the vacation - the first summer, I was shovelling chips in a cafe; the second summer, I took a placement relevant to my degree subject. Having work experience makes a huge, huge difference on your CV!

crescend0

£25 a week.

celyn90

Hi Jimbob, I managed to scrape through uni without asking my parents for money because I'm one of four kids and money was always tight. I did have a job all the way through which was fine alongside my course and always worked in the hols, which was enough to pay my fees and accomodation. Working didn't affect my degree at all (and yes, I did my 39 hrs a week!) It looks great on your CV and is something that will put you ahead of others when you apply for a position at the end. Employers like to see a work ethic, even if it is shovelling chips.

If you want to contribute to the actual cost of living you can perhaps do it by not handing over cash - maybe by asking her for her college or accomodation bill each term and paying a proportion directly to the uni or landlord. Or ask her to send you a shopping list for food and getting Tesco online to deliver each week, which my parents did for my little brother when he was at college. That way you know she's got the essentials she needs and the luxuries and beer money is up to her.

My OH's parents took a different approach and asked him in his first term to list *everything* he spent his money on. This allowed them to contribute to what he needed rather than what he wanted - so his food costs would get a contribution, but the multipack of Stella wouldn't. The act of doing this not only made him very aware of what he was spending but also forced him to learn to budget and to take responsibility for his spending, and he's better with money now as a result of that.

I think it would also be worth looking at the levels of student loan that will apply to her and take these into account when you are doing the maths, as she can borrow and repay when she is finished and working.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps. Best of luck, Cel x

kittiwoz

Monee_saving_Martyn wrote:

I'm yet to know anyone that actually spends 39 hours per week on their degree.

I take it you don't know any engineers or medics then.

cupid_s

Money_saving_Martyn wrote:

Undergratuate degrees work out as 39 hours full time, if you go by the contact time (in lectures) and add the expected private study. Which subject are you doing? I'm yet to know anyone that actually spends 39 hours per week on their degree.

My undergrad degree had 26 hours a week actually in Uni, apart from the last year when is was 40 hours a week as we had big lab projects to do as well as some lectures. For each hour of lectures we had we were told we should spend two hours reading around the topic. So that was about an extra 34 or so hours a week. And we had two practical write-ups to do a week which we were supposed to spend 4 hours each on. This gives a total of 68 hours a week we were supposed to work, and around 72 in the final year (we had less lectures then). I generally worked 80-90 hours a week on my undergrad degree, even more in the final year.

slowlyfading

For me personally, I have 8 hours a week of lectures, and am meant to practise 2 hours a day. If I do that then its only 22 hours a week. You could easily fit in a part time job in on a weekend or whatever. I study music and have lots of practicals, but still have time to do other things. Uni is about having a good time as well as working hard. You need to find a balance.
nicola x

melancholly

kittiwoz wrote:

I take it you don't know any engineers or medics then.

or a lot of science students!!

Sand_Man_2

when i was at uni, i used to do two part time jobs to pay the bills. i now have got my degree (2:1), and have relatively no debt. If i did not have the part time jobs, i am sure that i would have got a 1st. however, without the jobs, i wouldn't have been able to afford a degree

Steedandpeelcats

Hi there - I'm almost finished my degree and will hopefully come out with very little debt. I am a mature student and it was my choice though, but I've been very careful budgeting for the past 3 1/2 years. For the first two years I worked two days a week and earned around £500 a month. That was enough to live on easily, including running a car, although my rent was subsidised (my parents own our house, so they discounted the rent whilst I've been studying). I've also worked full time over the summers to save up enough money to get me through the last two years, where I only work one day a week (just under £300 per month). I've managed to bank my student loans and interest free overdraft in an isa, so I also get monthly interest payments from that which helps. I've just handed in my notice, to concentrate on the last part of my degree. I don't think I'll be able to do it entirely debt free, but perhaps come out with only £500-£1000 in real debt. So if your daughter has no rent or bills to pay, I should say that a maximum of £400 would give her a very comfortable lifestyle, less if she has no car. She could earn it herself working 16 hours a week at £6 an hour, with any extra you can afford a bonus, or something for her final years for when she works less.