Cost of university

Janetta

Hello,
Can you advise, I am on pip, esa income based, recieve HB & CT as a single mom.
My son wants to live at far away uni, i just dont know how i will meet the accommodation costs for each year. Will his loan & maintenance grant cover it, will he get these monies for each year. Tried telling him to choose a local uni but wants to move away. I have no saving, dont want him to start a course then cant afford to pay the next year. Please can you tell me will i loose my benefits? What happens if he starts then moves back home mid year?

pjread

It's doable (or used to be - and I think loans are bigger now), especially assuming they're happy to do a few bar shifts or similar part time work without being too fussy what it is.

Take a look here https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator/y/2015-2016 - I made some sweeping assumptions re: low incomes and being outside of London and got;

Student finance

You could get per year:

• £9,000 Tuition Fee Loan
• £4,047 Maintenance Loan (for living costs)
• £3,387 Maintenance Grant (for living costs)

UMD

Hi, I am a current student living away from home. I don't get support from my parents as they can't afford it, but my loan covers my expenses per year. If your son gets the full amount of Maintenance Loan and Grant (don't factor in the Tuition Fee Loan as this goes straight to the university and you never see it until you have to pay it back after uni) he should get about £7000, maybe a little more. It depends very much on where he chooses to study as accommodation will be his biggest expense, and that will vary in price depending on where he goes. For example, I have paid £3300/£2860 in my first/second years at uni and will be paying £4000 in my third year (but I've been working so have saved up some extra!). I'm in the East Mids though - in London you'd be looking at a lot more and in some places like Exeter you can't get anything for under £4000.

My experience has been that it is completely possible to study away from home and support yourself on your student loan, however you do have to budget VERY carefully, and quite often things like nights out and takeaways have to be skipped in favour of textbooks and heating bills! Maybe introduce your son to this site before he leaves

It's worth noting that some universities have further bursaries available if student achieve certain results (e.g. AAA) so it might be worth looking into that, although obviously you can't count on bursaries alone. If he gets into trouble whilst at uni there are hardship loans and other resources to help, but these are definitely a last resort. It does mean he won't starve/get evicted if he is having trouble though.

Finally, I'd say he should make certain that he gets all of his student finance information sent off as early as possible to make sure payments aren't delayed. They need LOADS of supporting information - my loan was delayed in my first year because they 'hadn't received' sufficient evidence from my Mum regarding my other siblings and her annual income - despite the fact that she'd sent it off months ago and they'd acknowledged receiving it! So make sure you stay on top of it and know when the deadlines are etc.

Hope this helps! Any other questions feel free to ask

Taiko

UMD is spot on. Budgeting early is a key, and he needs to stick to it. No reason why he can't support himself though.

adindas

Janetta wrote: »

Hello,
Can you advise, I am on pip, esa income based, recieve HB & CT as a single mom.
My son wants to live at far away uni, i just dont know how i will meet the accommodation costs for each year. Will his loan & maintenance grant cover it, will he get these monies for each year. Tried telling him to choose a local uni but wants to move away. I have no saving, dont want him to start a course then cant afford to pay the next year. Please can you tell me will i loose my benefits? What happens if he starts then moves back home mid year?

If their parent can not support, they could apply for maintenance as well.

Vast majority of the students here in the UK do not get support from family, so they live with student loan plus additional casual work during weekend / outside school term.

Janetta

Thank you all so much - yes I will introduce him to the site ...

agrinnall

adindas wrote: »

Vast majority of the students here in the UK do not get support from family....

That sounds unlikely to me, do you have any evidence that it is the case?

[Deleted User]

loan/maintenance grant should equal around £7.5k more in london.also factor in a possible bursary from the uni of upto £1,500(most nearer £1000)

Janetta

Thank you all so much