Advice about University Costs

University_Costs

Hello everyone. I have been a long time "lurker" on the DFW forum and have been inspired by such fantastic stories. PinotGrigio41,NoOneAround(NOA) and Alice in Poorland you are an inspiration ladies and I am completely addicted to MSE! I am worried I might be posting in wrong place but this feels like home so.... My DD wants to go to University next year (she is in year 12 currently) the problem is both DH and I did not go and I have not got the first clue about costs. I think I understand about the course fees £9000 per year :eek: that she would pay back once earning but I am not sure how much living costs rent,food,books etc is going to be. I am conscious that if she is going to go I need to start thinking about trying to put something away but would be so helpful if I had an idea of how it all works and how much we might have to find per month! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MoneyMission2015

University_Costs wrote: »

Hello everyone. I have been a long time "lurker" on the DFW forum and have been inspired by such fantastic stories. PinotGrigio41,NoOneAround(NOA) and Alice in Poorland you are an inspiration ladies and I am completely addicted to MSE! I am worried I might be posting in wrong place but this feels like home so.... My DD wants to go to University next year (she is in year 12 currently) the problem is both DH and I did not go and I have not got the first clue about costs. I think I understand about the course fees £9000 per year :eek: that she would pay back once earning but I am not sure how much living costs rent,food,books etc is going to be. I am conscious that if she is going to go I need to start thinking about trying to put something away but would be so helpful if I had an idea of how it all works and how much we might have to find per month! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi


Have you checked to see if she is eligible for any grants? Also, have you looked at student loans? You should get all of this sorted as soon as you can so that if there are any queries, there won't be a delay on any money she might be due.


I can't help with living costs unfortunately as I am unsure myself, but I will be following this thread with interest as in a few years my daughter will also be heading off to university so I'd like to have an idea of these costs, even though I know they're likely to rise between now and then.


Good luck to your daughter.


Edited to add that my sister went to uni and in the first year she stayed in student halls but in her second and third year she stayed in a shared house with some friends and found this to be cheaper, although this could have just been her particular situation rather than a common theme.

spadoosh

Accommodation £3000-£10,000 per year (depends on areas, bills and or food incl)

Food £150 per month (more than enough)

Books (depends on the course but they where at about £50 a book per module (i had 6 modules)). Second years always have second hand books.

Find out what uni she wants to go to and then you can find out the costs much easier.

I lived with people who just claimed their loans and recieved little else money wise (at the time was £3k and they would make that last) I was earning £7.5k p/t and got the loans of £3k and it was only ever just enough.

University_Costs

Thanks MoneyMission. I have heard that it is usual to move into a shared house after the first year, which sounds really daunting at the moment! We are just starting to book in open day visits at the minute. Thanks for advice about looking at possible grants I will investigate further
Have a nice evening
UC

CakeCrusader

My son's in year 12 too and I'm dreading him going to Uni. Have you looked into the Universities in Europe? A lot of them teach courses in English and their fees are a lot lower, the average fee for the Netherlands is 1k a year and some countries are free as they are subsidies by the EU. Living expenses are lower (usually, the Scandinavian countries have a 20% tax rate though so things are more expensive), and some of them offer bursaries. I know it's not ideal, but flights home are supercheap and it's a better option then her starting her working life saddled in a load of debt. The UK Government were talking about raising the tuition fees here, so they may cost more than 9k Just be aware that the Scottish universities charge English students full fees.

If she wants to go to a Uni in the UK she should be able to get a loan for the tuition fees, and bursaries are down to each individual university.

University_Costs

Hi Spadoosh. Thanks for your reply I think I am a bit scared now as that seems a lot :eek:
How did you find juggling a part time job with studying? I was thinking DD would need to find a p/t job but wonder how tricky it is with studies as well. Did a lot of students have jobs?
We are only at the stage of booking open days at the minute so not sure which uni she will go to at the minute, hopefully will help to get an idea of costs when that is decided
Thanks for the figures - I feel an ebay selling frenzy is needed

University_Costs

Hi CakeCrusader (great name ) Thanks for responding. That is a really good point about studying abroad it seems like such a huge step straight out of school though I think I would be so worried about her will do a bit of research as fees sound so much better. I know what you mean about costs though, as myself and DH didn't go to uni, I cannot imagine owing so much money starting out but I don't want to discourage her either as so pleased that she has the opportunities we didn't
Have a nice evening
UC

MoneyMission2015

Hi again UC


Just a quick one to say that most university students have part time jobs. It will be a good way to learn about managing your time effectively.


Pubs, fast food places, call centres and high street shops tend to be the type of places that are popular with students as most of the time it is fairly flexible. Where I work we employed 2 students last year, they just gave us their uni timetable as soon as it had been issued and we worked some shifts around the timetable for them.

University_Costs

Thanks MM That sounds really helpful to work round their timetables like your company did, hopefully she can find somewhere like that she has a waitressing job at the moment so that might help her that she has worked before. It does seem like it is going to be a costly few years though :eek: