Roughly how much do students spend a month

jbbonce

If you pay her this much you will be doing her no favours. She will have no idea of the value of money and you will be stuck subbing her forever. If she has this much money she will be able to go out all the time, which is not necessarily good when there is studying to be done. When she gets a job and a home of her own she will probably not have as much spare money as she has been used to and will struggle to live on a lower budget for luxuries, and may get into debt because of it.

retepetsir

kittiwoz wrote:

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

I agree....!

Engineering is fun :T

jennybear

I agree with that car part but now I have it I cant get rid of it!
I bought my car myself, insure it, tax it, fuel it!
I have always paid my own tuition fees (be it from my wages or from my student loan), bought my own books, food, paid my own rent and bills. And I have enough left over from my student loan that I can fund my MA next year should I be lucky enough to get a place.
To me, being a student was about learning to stand on my own two feet and budget to live. Otherwise you cant learn the true value of money!! I would maybe try letting your daughter manage a term on her own, just as a shock to see how she can manage to budget and put the money away to give her for christmas or something!

floyd

I finished my degree the last year they still gave LEA grants (2000) so I got about £1300 a year from that then £100 a month from each of my parents, which is a total of £3700 a year, I also got a student loan for every year of my 4 year degree which amounted to about £1700 a year so in all, I had £5400 a year to spend on rent, bills, travel, food, books and course materials, clothes and household products. When I look at it now £450 a month doesn't seem like very much to cover everything considering some textbooks for my course cost £60 a pop but I coped just fine, good job I lived in a relatively cheap city (Liverpool) and still do now.
It amazes me now when I see students walking round with designer gear on and IPods, laptops and top phones because no-one on my course had anything like that, lots of them also have cars which was unheard of then. It wasn't that long ago but it seems now that parents are under tremendous pressure to provide these things for their kids.
The first term was a huge shock for me learning how to budget and I must admit, I did have a moment of realisation when i had 3 weeks before my next installment with only £5 in my pocket, Kwik Save saved my life but I was adamant I wouldn't ask my parents for any more money because I knew they couldn't afford it!
If anything, not having much money helped me in a way because I wasn't distracted all the time so I got a first and went on to do a PhD. Don't get me wrong, I still went out and had fun but it was an occasion more than habit because I had to save for it.
I am still paying off my student loans now and will be for the next 6 years, fortunately, fees didn't exist when i went to Uni. If they had, I don't think I could have gone.

floyd

melancholly wrote:

or a lot of science students!!

Yep, Biochem degree was a killer when most other people I knew who were doing business or 'the arts' were doing 20 hours a week, I was stuck in the library racking up 60+. I hated doing lab prac write-ups :eek:

jamtart6

If you can help her out, please try to. I have seen so many students have to work SOOOO many hours just to keep their heads above water that they fall behind in their uni work, and consequently dont do anywhere near as well as they could, despite them being there to do well in the 1st place. its a very vicious circle

kasper

I get £4619 maximum loan plus £1000 Higher Education Grant per year (under the old system). This works out at £108 per week split across the whole year, which is enough to live on fairly comfortably, including rent. Of course it depends how and where you live. I live in a slightly dodgy but cheap part of town, and live in a large shared house where we buy food together in bulk and take turns cooking which means I only spend £10-£15 a week on food. I work a few hours a week to have some extra funds for traveling in the holidays, but I could live without working.

I think that if you're getting less than the full loan because your parents' income is too high, than it is fairly reasonable for them to give you a bit of support. But those of us who get full loans and grants get them because we're expected to be living independently!

rackstar

I lived on about £3,500 in my first year at uni. Admittedly, I was living in a cheap area where rent was only about £38 a week, but even so I had to ban myself from buying any luxuries such as clothes. My resolve gave in when the Lancashire winter hit and my bedroom walls were dripping with water, but even then I just made do with some charity shop jumpers and an extra hat to wear in bed. (Oh my life, sounds like some Dickens thing, but it is true and was only 1999.) Looking back it sounds tough, but at the time we just didn't care. We had a great life.

We went out a lot, but found out where the free nights were and saved up for the big events that cost £10. Despite the reputation, not all students are binge drinkers. I stopped drinking alcohol because I couldn't afford it. By the second year my financial situation changed and I had almost £5,000 to live on, including fees. I went a bit mad then and travelled a lot more, but justified it on not smoking or drinking.

I've just finished a masters now after working for four years and I've noticed there are a lot more students flashing their cash now. I am not sure whether that is because this uni is a bit posher than my first and attracts more rich kids or whether it is because more credit is now available to students.

I reckon a student budget can stretch or shrink to cope with whatever the income is. It's no bad thing being broke at uni. It can make you creative and help you appreciate the little things in life!

Hainvg said that, I know lots of students who weren't willing to compromise on all the things they wanted, and just ended up with loads of debt. I suppose it comes down to attitude...

killick_becki

I'm now a third year student. Currently i have a part time job (around 15 hours a week) that brings in around £600 per month. I work full time during holidays and my parents pay tutition fees. I don't have a loan.

As my sister was considering university and she fell under the £3,000 top up fees we came to an agreement that we would both get £3,000 a year. So that means that they give me £1,500 which i use towards rent.

My rent is £52 a week, works out at £2350 to live Sept-July. Me and my partner bulk shop together and spend about £20 a week on food (for two). We then have bills on top which is about £200 a year. My travel for the year costs £170 for a bus pass.

Altogether i don't have lots of money but i work hard for what i have and appreciate that. If you are handed everything on a plate then you will never appreciate anything, especially having enough money to treat yourself once in a while.

£1,000 is way too much. Nowadays there is no excuse for needing money from your parents (unless you can't work). You can get a loan for the full tuition fees (regardless of family circumstance) and the basic £3,600 odd should easily cover rent and books, travel etc. If you don't mind her getting a job then i would put the money away for a deposit for a house after uni.
If you don't want her to get a job (my parents didn't but i needed something to do) then i would give her max £60 a week. She should learn to budget and struggle otherwise she will think she can always get what she wants.

Most of my friends get no support whatsoever from their parents (whether the government says they should or not) and everybody has learnt to budget and no one is starving!
Start small and if she is really struggling then she can always come to you for more!!!!!