The Student Room Group

Can I live at uni without the support of my parents

I got into a fight with my parents and they’ve said I’ve got until I finish my alevels to leave. Idk what I’m gonna do until uni starts but I wanna know is it possible to stay at uni off student loan only without any support since they won’t help, obviously I’ll be working while studying and I’ve got 2.5k savings.
Original post by Itsthe
I got into a fight with my parents and they’ve said I’ve got until I finish my alevels to leave. Idk what I’m gonna do until uni starts but I wanna know is it possible to stay at uni off student loan only without any support since they won’t help, obviously I’ll be working while studying and I’ve got 2.5k savings.


It depends and they might change their minds.

If you are being evicted from the family then you might count as estranged, but SFE may look at it as an attempt for parents to evade financial responsibility. It depends how bad the fallout is. merely refusing to help will not **** as estranged.

If your parents arent going t contribute anything and they are meant to, then your only option might be to defer uni and get a job to save the money to bridge the gap. Just doing the maths for the costs v income will show you how large a shortfall you have. You will just have to be practical and realistic.

http://standalone.org.uk/students/
Reply 2
Original post by 999tigger
It depends and they might change their minds.

If you are being evicted from the family then you might count as estranged, but SFE may look at it as an attempt for parents to evade financial responsibility. It depends how bad the fallout is. merely refusing to help will not **** as estranged.

If your parents arent going t contribute anything and they are meant to, then your only option might be to defer uni and get a job to save the money to bridge the gap. Just doing the maths for the costs v income will show you how large a shortfall you have. You will just have to be practical and realistic.

http://standalone.org.uk/students/


Ah okay thank you, also do you know anything about housing when they kick me out, I’ll turn 18 by then
Original post by Itsthe
Ah okay thank you, also do you know anything about housing when they kick me out, I’ll turn 18 by then


So its not a case of just not help you out, but they are genuinely kicking you out?

Standalone are the people to speak to

Shelter you can speak to as well for Housing advice.

There is a difference in local authority assistance if you are under 18 when they have a duty to assist and 18 or over when they dont have to.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_for_young_people/family_problems_and_leaving_home

You will need to plan your exit and possibly with your uni arrange for a longer stay up there over the whole year. Normally contracts are for c 42 weeks. . In second and third year get a private houseshare and you will be on 52 week contract so you can stay all year.

If you know its going to happen then you might as well plan it now.
It would probably help if theres a local housing charity to you and you get to speak to an advice worker so they can give you feedback and you have a plan so you have somewhere to live all the time. You can also give them and standalone the whole story. Not asking for it here.

If you are Muslim and female or there is a large cultural/ community angle then you might wish to speak to the helpline for the Muslim Womens network? Just guessing as this can be a common scenario.
Reply 4
Original post by 999tigger
So its not a case of just not help you out, but they are genuinely kicking you out?

Standalone are the people to speak to

Shelter you can speak to as well for Housing advice.

There is a difference in local authority assistance if you are under 18 when they have a duty to assist and 18 or over when they dont have to.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/housing_for_young_people/family_problems_and_leaving_home

You will need to plan your exit and possibly with your uni arrange for a longer stay up there over the whole year. Normally contracts are for c 42 weeks. . In second and third year get a private houseshare and you will be on 52 week contract so you can stay all year.

If you know its going to happen then you might as well plan it now.
It would probably help if theres a local housing charity to you and you get to speak to an advice worker so they can give you feedback and you have a plan so you have somewhere to live all the time. You can also give them and standalone the whole story. Not asking for it here.

If you are Muslim and female or there is a large cultural/ community angle then you might wish to speak to the helpline for the Muslim Womens network? Just guessing as this can be a common scenario.


Thank you so much for the information, I’ll give the sight a look
Original post by Itsthe
Thank you so much for the information, I’ll give the sight a look


I cant do much more to help you as i dont know the details of your situation, but do tell those people so they can advise your properly. It will help if you have it planned and you know what to do. hang onto your money as one option might be to skip uni accommodation and just go for a student houseshare with a 52 week contract
Original post by Itsthe
Thank you so much for the information, I’ll give the sight a look


The two main parts my parents got involved with to do with uni were being a guarantor for accommodation (you can pay for a company to do the same role) and giving their financial information to student finance to work out how much grant/loan I could get.

I’m not sure what kind of situation you’re in, but you need to find out from Student finance England how much help you can get without your parents input. If you can get near enough £7k living per year then you will be fine as I have lived on that.

When it comes to accommodation, as someone mentioned above take care to choose a longer contract. However you may find that 52 week student contracts have one night in the middle of the year which isn’t covered, so be careful! You might find non-student accommodation more suitable.

I’m really sorry about your situation. Feel free to message me if you want any advice as I’m in my final year of uni so can advise on that, but also if I can help with anything else I’d love to!

Good luck :smile:

Also out of interest can I ask what you’re hoping to study at uni and where?
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by carrotstar
The two main parts my parents got involved with to do with uni were being a guarantor for accommodation (you can pay for a company to do the same role) and giving their financial information to student finance to work out how much grant/loan I could get.

I’m not sure what kind of situation you’re in, but you need to find out from Student finance England how much help you can get without your parents input. If you can get near enough £7k living per year then you will be fine as I have lived on that.

When it comes to accommodation, as someone mentioned above take care to choose a longer contract. However you may find that 52 week student contracts have one night in the middle of the year which isn’t covered, so be careful! You might find non-student accommodation more suitable.

I’m really sorry about your situation. Feel free to message me if you want any advice as I’m in my final year of uni so can advise on that, but also if I can help with anything else I’d love to!

Good luck :smile:

Also out of interest can I ask what you’re hoping to study at uni and where?

Hopefully study law at Kent or Surrey haven’t made up my mind yet
To add another suggestion, many universities have hardship funds; i.e. a discretionary pot of money set aside for any students that may need it. You could perhaps speak to the unis you're interested in, and ask if they can help here.

To echo the above, if you'd be getting a high maintenance loan (around 7k), then you'd be fine by yourself. I'd suggest using the calculator on SFE's website to calculate your potential loan.

It's a tricky situation, but there's definitely help out there! Don't let this put you off going to university. As an aside, I did law and absolutely loved it - best 3 years of my life.
You should look into getting 'estranged' but I don't know the criteria. That would be your best option. I would negotiate with your parents that they wait until September so you can move directly to uni. The other issue you may have is eith a deposit for the flat, is there another family member who would sign for you? Staying the whole year shouldn't be an issue, worst case there will be people living in 52 week houses/flats who may sublet to you for the holidays. As someone else said there is a hardship fund but you can't access it only because you run out of money, they do it on a needs basis so those with additional needs e.g. disability tend to get money first, if you were estranged you would be high priority too.
The estranged part is where Standalone come in. They specialise in estrangement and student estrangement.
Yes you can get insurance for guarantors but really the OP needs to have someone assess the situation as the details are somewhat vague about the situation with the parents and that will make all the difference on applicable advice.

Quick Reply

Latest