The Student Room Group

Financial Worry

So my family and I are pretty concerned about the costs of uni. Our annual income is about 30k but that is mostly from my dad's police pension. Looking at the student finance calculator along side the average cost to go to uni (from the 'which' calculator) I would have to find about £100 extra a month. Is this accurate? Talking to people who have gone to uni - their parents are forking out about £400 extra a month. Based on people's experience how much extra is it really a month as the sums are pretty different?

Thanks,

Lucy :smile:
Original post by lucyp158
So my family and I are pretty concerned about the costs of uni. Our annual income is about 30k but that is mostly from my dad's police pension. Looking at the student finance calculator along side the average cost to go to uni (from the 'which' calculator) I would have to find about £100 extra a month. Is this accurate? Talking to people who have gone to uni - their parents are forking out about £400 extra a month. Based on people's experience how much extra is it really a month as the sums are pretty different?

Thanks,

Lucy :smile:

It all depends on how much maintenance loan you are entitled to. If someone only gets the minimum maintenance loan, they will need a lot more money to cover the cost of living considering the minimum is about £4200 right now which is no where near enough to live on so their parents may be able to cover the rest of the cost or they get a job. Depending on where you are going for uni, the cost of living may not be a high as the average so your maintenance loan may cover a lot of it. Also, if you budget and spend your money wisely, then you can get away with needing less extra money.
Reply 2
Have you checked how much loan you would get:

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator/y/2021-2022

Do you plan to live at home? Where are you looking at studying?
Reply 3
Original post by ajj2000
Have you checked how much loan you would get:

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator/y/2021-2022

Do you plan to live at home? Where are you looking at studying?

So I should be going to either Salford or Cardiff. I checked the Gov student finance calculator previously and that is where I based the £100 on as it said that I would get £700 roughly a month. The people who I was talking to have about the same or slightly higher annual income as me which is why I was so shocked at the difference between my calculated amount and theirs.
Reply 4
Original post by lucyp158
So I should be going to either Salford or Cardiff. I checked the Gov student finance calculator previously and that is where I based the £100 on as it said that I would get £700 roughly a month. The people who I was talking to have about the same or slightly higher annual income as me which is why I was so shocked at the difference between my calculated amount and theirs.

Not sure about Salford but Cardiff is a pretty affordable city. I think where people get confused and get less money than they expected is where they live with one parent who has a partner. The loans are based on household income - so lets say someone was brought up by a single mother working part time they might have expected the full loan, but then they find out her partner (if he lives with them) has an income which is also counted. This a reduce the loan balance a lot.
Reply 5
Original post by Emily5243
It all depends on how much maintenance loan you are entitled to. If someone only gets the minimum maintenance loan, they will need a lot more money to cover the cost of living considering the minimum is about £4200 right now which is no where near enough to live on so their parents may be able to cover the rest of the cost or they get a job. Depending on where you are going for uni, the cost of living may not be a high as the average so your maintenance loan may cover a lot of it. Also, if you budget and spend your money wisely, then you can get away with needing less extra money.

Thank you! As I explained to ajj2000 I am concerned as their financial income isn't hugely different from mine. One of my friends studies in Nottingham so I'm not too sure how different that would be to Salford or Cardiff for costs. The 'Which' calculator estimated about £800 living costs for Salford - do you think that is an accurate monthly cost for uni - it includes basically everything apart from tuition?
(edited 3 years ago)
You can look up the cost of a range of uni accommodation to use in your calculations. Private rental is often cheaper but you might want to save that for 2nd year once you get to know some people. Think about cost of travel home. Approximately £100 per month for food ( you could easily spend more). Allow something for entertainment.
Remember that you might be able to get a job at Christmas/Easter and over the summer- maybe you can get a part time job during term time.
A full maintenance loan is £9203 out of London. On a household income of £30k you would get most of that at £8544 so only need to top up the shortfall of £700 a year.
https://www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html Gives an idea of what you might get
Original post by lucyp158
Thank you! As I explained to ajj2000 I am concerned as their financial income isn't hugely different from mine. One of my friends studies in Nottingham so I'm not too sure how different that would be to Salford or Cardiff for costs. The 'Which' calculator estimated about £800 living costs for Salford - do you think that is an accurate monthly cost for uni - it includes basically everything apart from tuition?

Just looked on the calculator for my uni (sheffield) and it says £862 for the average monthly costs so pretty similar to Salford. At the moment, I would say my monthly spend is definitely not as high as £862. I think even before COVID, my monthly spend wasn't that high. For example, it has £25 on takeaway a month for sheffield but I pretty much never get takeaway. It also has £41 a month on clothing, which again, I don't really get very often.
Reply 8
Original post by ajj2000
Not sure about Salford but Cardiff is a pretty affordable city. I think where people get confused and get less money than they expected is where they live with one parent who has a partner. The loans are based on household income - so lets say someone was brought up by a single mother working part time they might have expected the full loan, but then they find out her partner (if he lives with them) has an income which is also counted. This a reduce the loan balance a lot.


Yeh, that makes sense. Fortunately, my parents are still together so hopefully there aren't any nasty surprises like that. I personally think it is wrong if my dad's pension is taken into account fully as I don't think his retirement should be used on my uni fees. If £400 becomes a reality I am so afraid that my parents will have to get an extra job just to fund my education. I am prepared to work but if that isn't enough, they shouldn't have to.
Reply 9
Original post by Emily5243
Just looked on the calculator for my uni (sheffield) and it says £862 for the average monthly costs so pretty similar to Salford. At the moment, I would say my monthly spend is definitely not as high as £862. I think even before COVID, my monthly spend wasn't that high. For example, it has £25 on takeaway a month for sheffield but I pretty much never get takeaway. It also has £41 a month on clothing, which again, I don't really get very often.

Oh ok wow, so I could likely be cheaper then. Thank you for looking into it! That's good news! I also have been looking into the support for NHS courses and from what I thought had been discontinued due to Gov financial problems has continued so I'm possibly reliable for £5000 bursary studying as a physio!
Reply 10
Original post by ReadingMum
You can look up the cost of a range of uni accommodation to use in your calculations. Private rental is often cheaper but you might want to save that for 2nd year once you get to know some people. Think about cost of travel home. Approximately £100 per month for food ( you could easily spend more). Allow something for entertainment.
Remember that you might be able to get a job at Christmas/Easter and over the summer- maybe you can get a part time job during term time.
A full maintenance loan is £9203 out of London. On a household income of £30k you would get most of that at £8544 so only need to top up the shortfall of £700 a year.
https://www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html Gives an idea of what you might get

Thank you, you've been a great help! I'm a swimming teacher so I would definitely be looking at getting a part-time job to make sure I put my teaching qualification to good use. I'll have a good look at your link :smile:
Original post by lucyp158
Oh ok wow, so I could likely be cheaper then. Thank you for looking into it! That's good news! I also have been looking into the support for NHS courses and from what I thought had been discontinued due to Gov financial problems has continued so I'm possibly reliable for £5000 bursary studying as a physio!

Yeah, if you budget, you can definitely spend less than most people so you just might have to be a bit more careful with what exactly you spend your money on. And that's great about the bursary if you can get that - it should really help you out!
Reply 12
Original post by dan1029436
you broke and you mad doe, you broke you silly bozo :confused::confused::confused::confused:

Sorry? :s-smilie:
(edited 3 years ago)

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