[ilovecatsforlife]

I'm intending to go to uni in Manchester and will receive the maximum £7,125 loan and grant. My question is, is this enough?

Could someone help with costings, say I go out 2 nights a week plus food costs. Accommodation will cost me £1,500 for the university year because I will get money off accommodation.

How much on average do you spend on food, stationary and transport per week for someone going to uni in a city in Northern England? And any other important things I've missed?


Thanks!

[theandyguthrie]

My sister says she spends roughly 100pounds a week on general living expenses - including food.

So that's 5200 a year + 1500 for accommodation leaves around 500pounds for travel ect. (also you probably wont be at uni 52 weeks a year)


Also you could consider a job in your first year to supplement any unexpected costs.

[littleone271]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
I'm intending to go to uni in Liverpool and will receive the maximum £7,125 loan and grant. My question is, is this enough?

Could someone help with costings, say I go out 2 nights a week plus food costs. Accommodation will cost me £1,500 for the university year because I will get money off accommodation.

How much on average do you spend on food, stationary and transport per week for someone going to uni North of London? And any other important things I've missed?


Thanks!

If you're going to university in North London and presuming you're in the under 25k band (assuming this due to your discounted accommodation and because £7,125 is maximum outside of London) you should actually get more money than £7,125.

7125-1500=5625 which seems like a lot to have to live on after rent... If you divide 5625 by 42 (assuming you'll be home for at least 10 weeks of the year) then that leaves you with almost £134 a week. North London is very expensive but if you don't do much travelling and you get all your food from a supermarket like Tesco then you should be fine on that. Bear in mind that you'll probably be expected to start paying your rent with deposits before you loan starts going in and you'll need to have money put by for freshers week unless you just use an interest free overdraft for this period.

I'm also going to be receiving £7,125 a year and my accommodation is £5,542 a year.. I'll be getting £200 a month from my Dad though and probably about £1,000 a year bursary/scholarship depending on which one I qualify for...

[OU Student]

(Original post by littleone271)
If you're going to university in North London and presuming you're in the under 25k band (assuming this due to your discounted accommodation and because £7,125 is maximum outside of London) you should actually get more money than £7,125.

The OP says they're intending to go to Liverpool.

[ilovecatsforlife]

Yeah, sorry, think I should rephrase that part about North of London But yeah, I think #2 is about right, 2 nights out a week would probably cost 30, I reckon I could live off 35 quid for food and stationary and stuff I don't think I'll need to buy every week, perhaps once a month when there's an offer I'll buy a bulk of pens and paper.

For toiletries, I'll probably take a box load from home, get my mum to buy that as it can be quite cheap when you buy loads - often buy one get one free or 3 for 2 in boots.

Cheers

[LavenderBlueSky88]

Wow that's a lot of money you're getting there. I recieved a reduced maintenance loan that works out as about £2400 a year and I managed to survive on that for first year (I had about £3k savings and a weekly 'allowance' of £40 off my parents for food/essentials).

[Pen Island]

That's a crazy amount, of course it's enough!
My sister survived off less than £25 a week - it's all about spending wisely and not blowing it all on booze...

[ilovecatsforlife]

Wow, okay from the sounds of things I'll be fine, I'm not taking the p*** with this thread if anyone was thinking that, I genuinely didn't know if it would have been enough, but clearly it is. Thinking of even getting a part time job so I should be fine, seems like 25-35 quid is enough for food p/wk

[Alexander94]

I'm presuming that with that loan and grant your parents earn under 25,000 in which case Manchester will give you 1000 cash as well as the 2000 off accommodation. Yay, more free money? You shall live like a king!

[Flair91]

By the looks of it you will have plenty. As Littleone pointed out you will have £134 / week for food and other expenses. Thats a lot of spending money, I know lots of people who would be lucky to have that. If you are willing to find the cheapest food and best offers you can easily spend about £30/week on food which leaves you with enough money for several nights out or clothes or whatever you want to do.
Your going to be very comfortable.

[ilovecatsforlife]

(Original post by Alexander94)
I'm presuming that with that loan and grant your parents earn under 25,000 in which case Manchester will give you 1000 cash as well as the 2000 off accommodation. Yay, more free money? You shall live like a king!

Oh yeah, was late last night and I put Liverpool in my OP aha ! Really?! I knew about the 2000 off accom but not about the 1000 cash even more disappointing if I've missed my grades now ahaha

[samanthaaaa]

It depends if you're aiming to budget or not, it may sound off putting but it makes a lot of difference! You could also consider applying for a part-time job (my job helped me out so much) or applying for bursaries.

[ilovecatsforlife]

(Original post by samanthaaaa)
It depends if you're aiming to budget or not, it may sound off putting but it makes a lot of difference! You could also consider applying for a part-time job (my job helped me out so much) or applying for bursaries.

Yeah, I should be able to get a transfer from my current job so that should net me around 120quid a week during term time and double that during the summer. I'm the sort of person that's quite stingy with money anyway, so I'd be looking to save a fair bit of money. E.g. if I say I'm going to spend 40 quid a week max on nights out, that's what I'd do, then choose if I want one mad one or a few fun nights out. Tbh, I'm not the sort of person that likes to get smashed, I like to just have beers and party rather than waking up the next morning not remembering anything

[samanthaaaa]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
Yeah, I should be able to get a transfer from my current job so that should net me around 120quid a week during term time and double that during the summer. I'm the sort of person that's quite stingy with money anyway, so I'd be looking to save a fair bit of money. E.g. if I say I'm going to spend 40 quid a week max on nights out, that's what I'd do, then choose if I want one mad one or a few fun nights out. Tbh, I'm not the sort of person that likes to get smashed, I like to just have beers and party rather than waking up the next morning not remembering anything

Yeah, that sounds pretty similar to me. There's a philosophy(?) that I try to follow 'not to spend more than you earn'. But then again, I don't budget too strictly, otherwise everything would just get complicated.

[ilovecatsforlife]

(Original post by samanthaaaa)
Yeah, that sounds pretty similar to me. There's a philosophy(?) that I try to follow 'not to spend more than you earn'. But then again, I don't budget too strictly, otherwise everything would just get complicated.

That's actually a pretty good way of doing it. If my transfer goes smoothly I may adopt a similar strategy, because that's 120 a week to live off which should be enough, then I could save the government money and dip into it every now and then whenever I want something I like. Can't see this strategy working for the first month, but after that, I think it's plausible.

[Alexander94]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
Oh yeah, was late last night and I put Liverpool in my OP aha ! Really?! I knew about the 2000 off accom but not about the 1000 cash even more disappointing if I've missed my grades now ahaha

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/studentfinance/home-eu-2012/breakdown/year1-away/
the second paragraph here

Most unis have similar things I have an immense knowledge of funding just from searching for so much for myself :P

[randomguy786]

(Original post by OU Student)
The OP says they're intending to go to Liverpool.

No, he said Manchester.

[OU Student]

(Original post by randomguy786)
No, he said Manchester.

Before the edit, it was Liverpool.

[randomguy786]

(Original post by OU Student)
Before the edit, it was Liverpool.

I see haha

[ilovecatsforlife]

(Original post by Alexander94)
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/studentfinance/home-eu-2012/breakdown/year1-away/
the second paragraph here

Most unis have similar things I have an immense knowledge of funding just from searching for so much for myself :P

Wow, most unis have similar things? I thought Manchester offered one of the most generous packages out of the unis placed 10-20 in the Russell Group, this makes it even better Are you going to Manchester this September?