I need a basic guide to being a parent of a student!

Natrc

wordsfan said:

Daughter is going to be starting uni next academic year. 

It’s a looooong time since I was a student and I no longer have any idea how any of it works 

To complicate matters I’m in Scotland and she’s going to uni in England 

would very much appreciate guidance/hints/tips on: 

Student finance/loans 
accommodation 
likely costs 
how to guide her correctly financially speaking 

I’m on disability benefits myself at the moment 

even if anyone could signpost me to a good advice service ? Would be very much appreciated. 

Cant offer any insight to the Scotalnd to England transition, but I was an English student who studied in Wales. All of your Daughers student finance will be dealt with by your resident country (so that will be scotland). The scottish loans company will cover her tuition fees once she has applied, and she will be eligible for living costs. As you are on disability benefits currently, she will likely be entitled to the maximum amounts via the means tested system. I was in a similar position, as my mother was also on disability benefit when I was in university, and it meant that I was always eligible for all the help on offer. You will need to apply to the loans company (normally online), and include your income (so you will need proof of benefits in writing). 

For accomodation, it will very much depend on the university. Different universities have massively different living costs, and it should be something worth factoring into the final decision about where she wants to attend. For example, living in london compared to a cheaper city like manchester, cardiff, newcastle, nottingham etc will mean that she will have a lot less money left over after rent for food/other things. I would also look at the price of accomodation, and try to seek out one that is affordable, some are very overpriced, and at the end of the day providing they are clean, have enough space and have facilities halls are all about the social experience. I regret paying so much for very expensive halls as I has the same experience as those who paid nearly £2k less over the year. 

As for costs, I would reccomend sitting down and working out a budget. Before I went to university, my mum and I went through all of my finances, and ensured that I budgeted for things like my phone bill, and the accomodation costs. Consider things like how much a weekly shop will cost, and make sure that is budgeted in (I reccomend a trial run a couple of weeks before she leaves, get her to buy a weekly shop for herself and cook for herself, so she can make the mistakes of overpaying/not buying enough/not knowing what to do before she goes and freshers hits). University costs that are often forgotten are printing, transport, money for books/equiptment, money to visit home and also the all important money for socialising (which should be whatever is left over). Remind her that in her budget she needs to consider things like christmas and big birthdays which ma be helpful to budget for in advance. 

In terms of guiding her, its so hard. I think starting now just try to establish good money management techniques, encourage her to be more independent with her money and budget. My mum did this about 6 months before I left for university, I had a part time job at the time, and my mum would sit with me and help me budget this money, giving me important things to buy with this money such as my transport pass for college, my weekly lunches, my phone bill and also giving her some money towards food shopping. If she doesnt have a job this is harder, but if she does recieve any pocket money thats a good start, or even sending her out to do your food shop with a budget and a list. I would advise her to carefully watch her money and avoid spending it all in the first 2 weeks, because being skint for the rest of term one is awful. 

2childmum2

I agree with all of the above (as a parent of two students) but I would add that it is worth budgeting extra for the first couple of weeks because that is when she might want to join societies or sports clubs and they all cost!  My daughter wanted to try fencing and as well as joining the fencing club she had to buy a sports centre membership to be able to go into the building to get to the fencing club!  In theory she could then go to the gym/swim/go rock climbing on the wall etc - but it was a bit of a shock that she had to pay for it (and a bit of a rip off in my opinion!).. She 'borrowed' some of the money from the money she already had for the 2nd and 3rd term.

Fresher week activities also cost, so factor that in too.

karenburton1305

wordsfan said:

Thanks to all. It’s such a minefield! 

Why on Earth isn’t there a clear, central place to advise students and parents? Slc can only advise on that aspect, unis can only advise on accommodation to a certain degree... seems like there’s a real gap on the info availability thing 

Seems we’re left to find it all bit by bit and somehow put it all together. 

Student Hut is great for student resources - this article is all about student finance. Definitely make sure your daughter checks on any bursary/grant options she may be eligible for. They're not always impossible to get - she should check the website and see if any apply to her. They can be academic related or linked to financial income, so definitely worth a look as they can sometimes be annual payments!