How much University allowance for son?

zagfles

Flugelhorn said:

zagfles said:

esmy said:

silvercar said:

pinkshoes said:

Let him do it on his own.

Is he still expecting his allowance? I thought the loan system was supposed to be enough to pay accommodation and living expenses? 

I would stop the £120 a month and put it in a bank account, say £150 a month. At the end of the university course, gift the lump sum to him as a graduation present. For a 3 year course that would be over £5k!

Seriously? In some university towns the loan doesn't even cover the accommodation costs!

My DD had the maximum loan which just covered her accommodation (2nd cheapest in the city she was in), no food, travel, mobile phone bill, books and stationary etc. She worked alongside a full on course, just earned enough to cover her travel pass. She couldn't have completed the course without our financial help. 

Really? Where was that?

Max loan is £8944 (£11672 in London). Over typical 43 week rental contract that's £208pw !!

Max loan only available if household income low - there are plenty of places where first year accommodation is more than £200/ week 
maintenance loan for students with parents over threshold on means testing is £4168 / year - won't go far on accommodation / food / travel / clothes / books etc etc 

I know the min loan often doesn't cover rent, but the PP specified "maximum loan".

I'm just wondering where (outside London) the 2nd cheapest uni accomodation is >£200 pw? Even in London there's loads of uni accomodation under £200pw.

Savvy_Sue

mutley74 said:

My son is going to University this September. He currently gets £120 per month pocket money, excluding clothes, school items. 

No real help, but £120 per month POCKET MONEY, EXCLUDING clothes, is making me feel that I'm either very old, or that I was very tight when my lads were still at school. Maybe it's both. 

Perhaps to be more helpful, how much has he saved? Mine all worked while doing A levels, AND as their meagre allowance covered their bus fares the younger two economised. One started walking 4+ miles each way, and the other borrowed against his allowance to buy a bike. 

They worked during Uni holidays, but didn't have regular jobs during term-time. I think they all got something for demonstrating / helping with classes in the year below theirs. 

None of them asked for any help. 

JIL

I had two at uni at the same time 10 years ago. I paid £350 into each account each month. The youngest got a bursary of I think £94 per year.
They  both worked in the summer holidays, the youngest worked in a pub at the weekend. The oldest didnt work during term time. The course was very intense and was frowned upon. Although in his forth year he did do some tutoring. 
Sit down and work it out, incoming and outgoing. See if theres a shortfall and go from there.
I think you have made a start by giving your child a monthly budget. I did the same with mine but I think it was about £70 per month.

Spendless

How much of a maintainance loan is he going to get? To me that's the starting point. Once that is known and how much his rent is, then you'll know if he'll need topping up of if he'll manage. 

Mickey666

pinkshoes said:

I would stop the £120 a month and put it in a bank account, say £150 a month. At the end of the university course, gift the lump sum to him as a graduation present. For a 3 year course that would be over £5k!

That’s a nice idea and is sort of what we did, though over a longer timescale.
Basically, we put all our child allowance payments into a saving account in their name.  By the time they were 17 there was over £15k in their account, which paid for driving lessons, a first car and around £10k towards uni costs.  And most of it was ‘free’ money from the government  

onwards&upwards

If the parent/s earn enough that the student's loan is reduced from the maximum, that is because the expectation is that the parent will help support them, so I do think they should do so in those circumstances.  How much is up to them but I'd say a minimum starting point is an amount that over the year would add up to the amount that was deducted from the maximum loan.  That puts them in the same position as a student who has no contact with parents or with parents on too low an income to contribute. 

I graduated 15 years ago and even then my loan was not enough to cover my accommodation costs (yes it was in London, but there are a lot of good universities in London and for some subjects it really is the best place to study) so I dread to think what its like now. 

silvercar

zagfles said:

I'm just wondering where (outside London) the 2nd cheapest uni accomodation is >£200 pw? Even in London there's loads of uni accomodation under £200pw.

Bristol for a start. 

Spendless

Hasn't he already applied for his maintaince loan? I have a vague idea we had to do it by a certain date when my son first went - but it's a couple of years ago so I might be muddling it with someone else.

Our son gets the minimum loan due to our household income. We pay his rent for him because of this and most of his bills are included in his rent. He then has his loan to live on for groceries, socialising, personal expenditure etc.   

zagfles

silvercar said:

zagfles said:

I'm just wondering where (outside London) the 2nd cheapest uni accomodation is >£200 pw? Even in London there's loads of uni accomodation under £200pw.

Bristol for a start. 

Seriously? Look at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/media/docs/Undergraduate-Fees-20-21.pdf

Never mind the cheapest, or 2nd cheapest, ALL the accomodation other than catered or studio is under £200pw

Cheapest is £111 of which there's several types and next cheapest is £121.

strawb_shortcake

zagfles said:

silvercar said:

zagfles said:

I'm just wondering where (outside London) the 2nd cheapest uni accomodation is >£200 pw? Even in London there's loads of uni accomodation under £200pw.

Bristol for a start. 

Seriously? Look at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/media/docs/Undergraduate-Fees-20-21.pdf

Never mind the cheapest, or 2nd cheapest, ALL the accomodation other than catered or studio is under £200pw

Cheapest is £111 of which there's several types and next cheapest is £121.

The trouble with Bristol is that a lot of the students want to live in Clifton and the surrounding areas which is the most expensive part of Bristol, and that includes those that go to UWE not just Bristol Uni. 
But the student houses near UWE are also competing with a large number of international Defence companies that all moved into the area when the MOD moved into Bristol. 
There are plenty of other areas that are much cheaper to rent but no idea if Students can rent on the private market?