Living costs for student in halls in London (exc rent)

Imnoexpert_2

Similar threads are a bit old and I don't want to hijack them.

How much in addition to rent will my son need while studying in London? I don't think the full student loan is going to be enough as we have chosen an expensive hall of residence so I want to know how much a month extra to give him.

Now I appreciate this is impossible to answer so I'm interested in what others do.

Son doesn't drimk alcohol but I think he will join societies, go out, have takeaways and eat out. He'll need to buy clothes, toileteries,  groceries and maybe travel around a bit. He will go with an adequate phone and laptop so no big purchases expected.

Any thoughts will be welcome - thanks

Spendless

Does the rent include bills?  Will he have travelling costs to his Uni? Is his course 'full-on' or could he look for a part time job?
Have you looked at the student maintenance calculator to see what your expected parental top up is?
I have one at Uni in a cheap part of the country. He gets the min loan. We pay his rent which includes most bills. He is able to walk everywhere so no costs. We bought him his pots, pans bedding etc when he first went, but this has needed topping up a lot more than I anticipated each year. No travel costs as everywhere is walkable. We leave him his minimum loan to live on.  It was in his  first year he spent more on 'partying and eating take aways'.  Get insurance for the adequate phone and laptop.

My younger one will be studying 30 mins outside of London from September in something that has high contact hours so less time to have a p-time job plus more expensive area to live. For both kids we do their first shop as their academic year starts and help out on subsequent visits. Again no travel costs as everywhere in walking distance.