MSE News: Student living costs ‘to hit £9,250 a year’ 16 August 2012 at 12:17PM in Student Money Saving 8 replies 2.9K views

Former_MSE_Helen

"Students heading to university this autumn can expect to spend an average £9,254 a year on leisure and essentials..."

Read the full story:
Student living costs ‘to hit £9,250 a year’

FATBALLZ

I don't like this article, as it isn't including the £9,000 that students spend on the course itself. Just because £9,000 is spent on a loan doesn't mean it isn't spent.

I also think MSE is overdoing the "you only pay it back if you earn over £21k" line. Sorry but myself and my partner are in our 20s, both have student loans and so far are over £15k down through student loan repayments - this is a massive chunk of money for a young person, and especially a young family to lose. And I'm one of the lucky ones - I came out owing 'only' £9k as I went to Uni before top-up fees. At least I can pay it off in the forseeable future. Today's students will have this lead weight round their neck for life.

oldvicar

I find it odd that a study by LV - an insurance company - thinks students need insurance, but only for 2 out of 3 years:

According to the new Cost of University study from LV, students can expect to spend the following, on average:

• Accommodation: £4,159 a year (£12,478 over three years)
• Food: £1,440 a year (£4,319)
• Leisure and clothes: £1,707 a year (£5,122), though this figure seems low, especially for London-based students.
• Utility bills: £616 a year (£1,233)
• Household essentials, including toiletries: £376 a year (£1,129)
• Books and equipment: £344 a year (£1,032)
• Travel, including going back home: £483 a year (£1,450)
• Insurance: £129 a year (£258)

Or is this an error introduced by MSE's head of student sums?

Smedders11

FATBALLZ wrote: »

I don't like this article, as it isn't including the £9,000 that students spend on the course itself. Just because £9,000 is spent on a loan doesn't mean it isn't spent.

I also think MSE is overdoing the "you only pay it back if you earn over £21k" line. Sorry but myself and my partner are in our 20s, both have student loans and so far are over £15k down through student loan repayments - this is a massive chunk of money for a young person, and especially a young family to lose. And I'm one of the lucky ones - I came out owing 'only' £9k as I went to Uni before top-up fees. At least I can pay it off in the forseeable future. Today's students will have this lead weight round their neck for life.

If you're £15k down, then surely you're both above the threshold. Say what you want about paying a lot back, but it's by the virtues of the loan that you're both bringing home £30k between you. Not bad for a couple in their twenties.

catpat

FATBALLZ wrote: »

I don't like this article, as it isn't including the £9,000 that students spend on the course itself. Just because £9,000 is spent on a loan doesn't mean it isn't spent.

I also think MSE is overdoing the "you only pay it back if you earn over £21k" line. Sorry but myself and my partner are in our 20s, both have student loans and so far are over £15k down through student loan repayments - this is a massive chunk of money for a young person, and especially a young family to lose. And I'm one of the lucky ones - I came out owing 'only' £9k as I went to Uni before top-up fees. At least I can pay it off in the forseeable future. Today's students will have this lead weight round their neck for life.

Although I am glad that MSE has done a lot to dispell myths about not paying upfront and encouraging poorer students to go to university, I agree that the full implications of this debt are not discussed in full. Yes, you may not have to pay it back until you are earning £21,000, but once you do, you will have to pay it back and in some more than what you borrowed. Necessary for most of us who want to go to university, but important to make this clear to any student unsure about higher education.

And this article further emphasises the problem amongst many students from middle income families. Not poor enough to access grants and bursaries for living costs, but not rich enough for family to pay. If you can only borrow a max of £3,500 a year for living costs, and your max overdraft is £2,000 you need to get a job (or draw upon savings if you are lucky to have them). So it is not as simple as just "getting a loan to cover your living costs" for many.

Dunroamin

FATBALLZ wrote: »

I don't like this article, as it isn't including the £9,000 that students spend on the course itself. Just because £9,000 is spent on a loan doesn't mean it isn't spent.

I also think MSE is overdoing the "you only pay it back if you earn over £21k" line. Sorry but myself and my partner are in our 20s, both have student loans and so far are over £15k down through student loan repayments - this is a massive chunk of money for a young person, and especially a young family to lose. And I'm one of the lucky ones - I came out owing 'only' £9k as I went to Uni before top-up fees. At least I can pay it off in the forseeable future. Today's students will have this lead weight round their neck for life.

You must both be exceptionally high earners for your age if you're paying back £15K pa between you. Do you really earn nearly £100,000 each?

ETA

I may have misunderstood, do you mean that you've repaid £15K since you left? If this is the case (and depending on your ages) that's less than £1K pa each and still assumes that you've been earning excellent salaries since graduating.

edinburgher

Those students really need to shop around their utilities - apparently they'll each be paying a mere £80 less than my wife and I pay together for utilities on a large two bedroom flat (with a reasonably large TV, laptop, aquarium, washing machine etc. etc.) :rotfl:

Then again, LV love to produce these scaremongering reports, my personal favourite is the 'It costs £50000000 to raise a child report'.

Dunroamin

edinburgher wrote: »

Those students really need to shop around their utilities - apparently they'll each be paying a mere £80 less than my wife and I pay together for utilities on a large two bedroom flat (with a reasonably large TV, laptop, aquarium, washing machine etc. etc.) :rotfl:

Then again, LV love to produce these scaremongering reports, my personal favourite is the 'It costs £50000000 to raise a child report'.

Similarly, look at the amount they're giving for food for one person - even if the figures are for 52 weeks that's nearly £30 per week and obviously most students are only buying their own food in term time making it nearer to £40!

FATBALLZ

Dunroamin wrote: »

You must both be exceptionally high earners for your age if you're paying back £15K pa between you. Do you really earn nearly £100,000 each?

ETA

I may have misunderstood, do you mean that you've repaid £15K since you left? If this is the case (and depending on your ages) that's less than £1K pa each and still assumes that you've been earning excellent salaries since graduating.

Lol, yes you have misunderstood, if we were earning £100k each I'd be having too much fun to be posting on this forum.

'Excellent salaries' is all relative, neither of us has ever been high rate tax payers, so you could argue that the government doesn't see us as high earners. Also these days you need to earn an above average salary to have any hope of home ownership or those other things that were available to the average person before tuition fees went out of control.

And still to argue it's only £1kpa each - thats £2k directly out of a households disposable income - which might only be a fraction of its net pay once housing costs, bills, travel costs etc are paid for. It makes a huge difference to most people who are just starting out.