The Student Room Group

Maintenance loan doesn't cover accomodation ...

Tuition fee loan is tha same amount as tuition fees, that makes sense and is easy to sort out.

But the amount I'm receiving for my maintenance loan (maximum amount, with no grants as my parents earn too much) won't even cover the cost of the accomodation I want (which isn't really ridiculously expensive). I know I'm not the only person in this situation as I've seen other people saying this.

So what do you people do? Are your parents helping out, are you getting a normal loan from your bank, or something else I haven't thought of?

Sorry if this is one of the big question/answer threads, i thought it'd be easier for everyone to find this information if it was in a seperate thread!

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Reply 1
This is what a job is for. :smile:

If you really are low on cash, it'd be best to look for even cheaper accommodation, but that's not always necessary.
Reply 2
If your parents earn "too much" then they are expected to help out. This si the same for me. I get £945 per year! Covers nothing! I also worked loads in the summer before I went to uni, and now work part time all year round!
As Grant2007 says, your parents are expected to help out if they are earning >£60k or whatever the upper limit for grants is now. Most people I know who aren't entitled to a grant have their rent paid for by their parents, as they would need to work a hell of a lot of hours to be able to pay the rest of their rent and then have enough money to live off.
Reply 4
Mine pay my rent and bills. I try to use my income to pay for "extras" like going out etc, but they are good if I need new jeans etc and help me out.
get a job.

or CHOOSE CHEAPER ACCOMODATION! do i have to state the obvious?
My dad helped me out as I hadn't found a job yet. I did want to ask him for more money and used what he had given me for food etc for the first month and had £75 to see me through freshers week and the rest of the month. My advice would be to get a job over the summer and work your @ss off, then have a CV and references ready for the minute you get to uni so that you can get yourself a new job before everyone snaps them up. You will probably need parental support too though if you want to pass this year
:smile:
PS SLC sucks
didgeridoo12uk
get a job.

or CHOOSE CHEAPER ACCOMODATION! do i have to state the obvious?

I chose the cheapest accomodation at my uni and the loan still didn't cover it
Reply 8
I don't understand, how can you get so little?

The standard loan for someone living in London away from home is £4988. If you're not going to London, the standard loan living away from home is £3564.

I go to a London university, I pay £93 a week and the standard rent time is 32 weeks. So that would leave me with £2012 left over from my maintenance loan, which would technically be £62 a week spending money but there are one off costs in the first term (like accommodation deposit, kitchen equipment, books) to consider so it's more like £40 a week. Which would be okay for me, but I also work as a private tutor - one hour a week [although in reality it's more than that because you have to prepare for lessons] for £15. £55 a week is comfortable for me even with £10-15 spent on London travel every week - but then I have always been frugal.

Maybe this is partly because I didn't get into halls for first year so had to find a private rent, which worked out cheaper. My second year friends at universities outside London tend to pay £60 rent and £10 a month bills (ish).


I do think it is mean that anyone has to work long hours in part time jobs during term time. You're there to study and should be able to do so.
Reply 9
They really need to increase the maintenance loans for some areas. My loan was fine for Cardiff, covered my accomodation fees with lots of money to spare. My boyfriends accomodation (not at a London uni) costs £114 pw for a shared room and has no time to get a part time job because his course is really demanding. His accomodation was a bit less but his roomate left after a few weeks of being there so his fees were increased... not very fair but nothing he can do about it.
Reply 10
Mine doesnt cover it either because what I want is over £5000 so my dads paying for my accomodation:smile:.
Holly Hiskey
I chose the cheapest accomodation at my uni and the loan still didn't cover it


then go complain to your student union about it? thats what they're there for
I used my overdraft, it's what it's there for.

When I started you didn't get a grant if your parents earned over £35k or something ridiculous so they couldn't help me out at all, was a shame because I could see my dad wanted too.
didgeridoo12uk
then go complain to your student union about it? thats what they're there for

Agreed, but there's not much that they could do about the current years maintenance loan
Billybob7
Tuition fee loan is tha same amount as tuition fees, that makes sense and is easy to sort out.

But the amount I'm receiving for my maintenance loan (maximum amount, with no grants as my parents earn too much) won't even cover the cost of the accomodation I want (which isn't really ridiculously expensive). I know I'm not the only person in this situation as I've seen other people saying this.

So what do you people do? Are your parents helping out, are you getting a normal loan from your bank, or something else I haven't thought of?

Sorry if this is one of the big question/answer threads, i thought it'd be easier for everyone to find this information if it was in a seperate thread!




I'm having the same problem!! It's starting to stress me out as I don't think I can afford to go. Just because my parents earn a certain amount of money doesn't mean they can afford to give me money for uni, I have 2 younger siblings. So same as you I only get the £3564, yet the cheapest en suite accomodation at Exeter is £4,356. So how are we expected to pay the rest of the accomodation, and food, clothing etc! I will have a part time job but that will only bring in £150 a month. My parents don't seem to understand the dilemma!
x
Ribbits
I don't understand, how can you get so little?

The standard loan for someone living in London away from home is £4988. If you're not going to London, the standard loan living away from home is £3564.


Only in England.
Ribbits
I don't understand, how can you get so little?

I go to a London university, I pay £93 a week and the standard rent time is 32 weeks. So that would leave me with £2012 left over from my maintenance loan,


That seems quite cheap to me for London (granated, I know nothing of how much London accommodation is but I would have thought it would be the most expensive). I'm in Birmingham and pay £108 a week for 42 weeks so my loan wouldn't cover it.

To answer the question I'm lucky that I don't need to get a (paying) job because my parents pay my accommodation fees so all I need my loan for is books, food and things like field trip costs. Other people I know though have to work weekend and/or during holidays to be able to afford it and some get bursaries from the uni.
Reply 17
Ribbits

The standard loan for someone living in London away from home is £4988. If you're not going to London, the standard loan living away from home is £3564.

WHY? its not like everything suddunly costs 25% cheaper if im not staying in london!
my weekly accomedation costs will be something like £105/week (with internet and stuff) and the loan im gonna get will not cover that but if i went somewhere in london i would get a bigger loan to cover it! who made up these rules. Grr.
Reply 18
It is a rubbish situation! I had to work 23 hours a week to fund my way through university and I'm going to finish with loads of debt still. However it's not as simple as saying "get a job", especially when there are so many other people looking for jobs.

The Student Cash Point website might be able to help as it has free and full information on grants, bursaries and other funding that are available to students right now. Take a look at it and see if it can be of some help. :smile:
I'm having the same problem!! It's starting to stress me out as I don't think I can afford to go. Just because my parents earn a certain amount of money doesn't mean they can afford to give me money for uni, I have 2 younger siblings. So same as you I only get the £3564, yet the cheapest en suite accomodation at Exeter is £4,356. So how are we expected to pay the rest of the accomodation, and food, clothing etc! I will have a part time job but that will only bring in £150 a month. My parents don't seem to understand the dilemma!
x


You shouldn't expect the government to pay for you to have an en suite room, that's an extra for those who can afford it. The maintenance loan is meant to allow you access to a room so suck it up and go without en suite, or find another way to get the money. It's not the governments job to give you a private bathroom just because you don't want to share!

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