The Student Room Group

Worried about cost of university living

So I'm kind of worried that I'm going to stuggle to pay my university living costs of I don't get the loan I've calculated. Both my parents work full time and our household income is about £43000, so I should get about £5700 which I think will be enough once I get a part time job and that :smile: but a lot of my friends going to uni this year are getting like the lowest loan possible £3500, so either SFE aren't paying out what is calculated on the gov website or I've vastly underestimated the wealth of my friends!

I guess I'm just worried that I won't get what the calculator says and I'm gonna struggle. Does anyone have any experience of how their amount compared to the online calculator, even better, would someone who's just got through their loan details quickly mind doing it and comparing to their actual loan? This is the link - https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator - takes literally a minute :smile: thanks guys

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Reply 1
Hi.
Our household income works out just under £50,000 and I've had confirmation from SFE that I will be getting just under £5,000 maintenance loan so I think your calculations are right. Don't worry.
The calculator will give you an accurate calculation if you put in the details correctly. Actually the threshold for the minimum student loan is actually very low, it certainly doesn't apply just to wealthy families. I'm from a single parent family and I'm only eligible for £3610 a year :frown:
Original post by Kayleighw27
The calculator will give you an accurate calculation if you put in the details correctly. Actually the threshold for the minimum student loan is actually very low, it certainly doesn't apply just to wealthy families. I'm from a single parent family and I'm only eligible for £3610 a year :frown:


The threshold is £60,000 which whilst not laughably rich is relatively wealthy outside London- if the parent you live with doesn't earn as much as that you've not been assessed properly.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by jelly1000
The threshold is £60,000 which whilst not laughably rich is relatively wealthy outside London- if the parent you live with doesn't earn as much as that you've not been assessed properly.


Yeah she does earn around that but it's really not much, especially when you consider taxes and so on :/
Original post by Kayleighw27
Yeah she does earn around that but it's really not much, especially when you consider taxes and so on :/


It should be enough to give you something on top though unless you have lots of siblings- my Mum is a single Mum, earns just under that, pays a London mortgage, goes out a lot to the theatre and out to eat and still manages to give me a generous allowance.
Original post by jelly1000
It should be enough to give you something on top though unless you have lots of siblings- my Mum is a single Mum, earns just under that, pays a London mortgage, goes out a lot to the theatre and out to eat and still manages to give me a generous allowance.


Yeah she does pay for me to go to university, I just think the systems so unfair because we aren't exactly wealthy and parents in this income bracket are likely to have higher mortgages, private school fees etc. But yeah I am lucky that my mum can support me.
The system is ****ed, my dads a single parent and does earn 50k but he is not going to support me in university every month. My student loan doesn't even cover accom for a 37 week period so I'm under a lot of pressure to get a job as soon as i go to university. I don't get why it has to be decided on parent income, it really doesn't make any sense, i have to struggle and try find a job and balance studying just because my dad has got a alright job where as a someone else their parent hasn't got a job or is on lower income don't have to worry about how they will pay for food or rent, lol its ridiculous everyone should get the same amount depending on the area of university instead of this income bull**** and even if it is based on income, why should me or my dad be scrutinised for him earning a good wage.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by ryankeogan
The system is ****ed, my dads a single parent and does earn 50k but he is not going to support me in university every month. My student loan doesn't even cover accom for a 37 week period so I'm under a lot of pressure to get a job as soon as i go to university. I don't get why it has to be decided on parent income, it really doesn't make any sense, i have to struggle and try find a job and balance studying just because my dad has got a alright job where as a someone else their parent hasn't got a job or is on lower income etc. and they don't have to worry about how they will pay for food, lol its ridiculous everyone should get the same amount depending on the area of university instead of this income bull****.


Thing is there is a limited amount of money so its got to be distributed so that those whose parents genuinally can't help have something
Original post by jelly1000
Thing is there is a limited amount of money so its got to be distributed so that those whose parents genuinally can't help have something


My dad cant help its not just me in the household and he's got a mortgage to pay for and other bills where as some others may not. Are you saying you think its fair that because my dad reaches a certain bracket i get treated unfairly and i cant afford to live on the money given by the student loan company.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by ryankeogan
The system is ****ed, my dads a single parent and does earn 50k but he is not going to support me in university every month. My student loan doesn't even cover accom for a 37 week period so I'm under a lot of pressure to get a job as soon as i go to university. I don't get why it has to be decided on parent income, it really doesn't make any sense, i have to struggle and try find a job and balance studying just because my dad has got a alright job where as a someone else their parent hasn't got a job or is on lower income don't have to worry about how they will pay for food or rent, lol its ridiculous everyone should get the same amount depending on the area of university instead of this income bull**** and even if it is based on income, why should me or my dad be scrutinised for him earning a good wage.



Hard to feel sorry for you when my mum lives on >10k per year, and you're complaining when your dad earns 5 times that.

Yes it's unfair, but so is pretty much everything in life so you better get used to it now or you're really not going to survive in the working world.

There is a limited pot of money, at the moment this is the best system we've got to make sure almost everyone has access to university. I do however think the system should be improved by taking into account mortgages and other costs such as education fees and care home costs to ensure there aren't some people on higher salaries with little left over money being expected to pay.

But for the moment you should blame your dad for not supporting you, not student finance.
Original post by ryankeogan
My dad cant help its not just me in the household and he's got a mortgage to pay for and other bills where as some others may not. Are you saying you think its fair that because my dad reaches a certain bracket i get treated unfairly and i cant afford to live on the money given by the student loan company.


I don't think its entirely fair, but its fairer than leaving people from low income backgrounds with barely anything when their parents couldn't even help if they were starving
Original post by SophieSmall
Hard to feel sorry for you when my mum lives on >10k per year, and you're complaining when your dad earns 5 times that.

Yes it's unfair, but so is pretty much everything in life so you better get used to it now or you're really not going to survive in the working world.

There is a limited pot of money, at the moment this is the best system we've got to make sure almost everyone has access to university. I do however think the system should be improved by taking into account mortgages and other costs such as education fees and care home costs to ensure there aren't some people on higher salaries with little left over money being expected to pay.

But for the moment you should blame your dad for not supporting you, not student finance.

Im not saying feel sorry for me? Im not complaining that my dad earns this much im complaining because he gets scrutinised for earning that much.

So what about people getting who do get the right amount to pay for accommodation or a lot more over that and don't have to pay half back because of bursaries etc.Are they going to survive the working world then?

I just think its wrong to be honest.
Original post by jelly1000
I don't think its entirely fair, but its fairer than leaving people from low income backgrounds with barely anything when their parents couldn't even help if they were starving


I don't think its fair at all everyone should get paid the same amount, instead of people on lower incomes getting more than needed from SFE it should be shared out equally so everyone has enough for accom and food and other necessities.
Original post by ryankeogan
Im not saying feel sorry for me? Im not complaining that my dad earns this much im complaining because he gets scrutinised for earning that much.

So what about people getting who do get the right amount to pay for accommodation or a lot more over that and don't have to pay half back because of bursaries etc.Are they going to survive the working world then?

I just think its wrong to be honest.



It's the fairest system there is. Your dad is well above average in terms of earnings, there simply isn't enough money to give everyone a living amount. So those on high incomes are expected to pay for their own children. That is about as fair as it can get to give as many people as possible access to higher education.

Haha what kind of argument is your second paragraph? Laughable and irrelevant, those who get such high amount in student finance (myself including) wouldn't have had a chance to go to university without it. That's got nothing to do with surviving the working world.

Well tough.
Reply 15
Original post by ryankeogan
I don't think its fair at all everyone should get paid the same amount, instead of people on lower incomes getting more than needed from SFE it should be shared out equally so everyone has enough for accom and food and other necessities.


It would be fair if we all got the same amount, and that amount was enough to live on, but we don't have the money to do it. The absolute maximum you can get from SFE is £7300 which is hardly more than needed' if you have no other income. Earning £50000 your dad can easily give you the £3500 to get you up to the same level as those relying solely SFE
Hey, I'm a first year university student.
I didn't take the loan, just the grant and luckily my parents paid for my accommodation but my household income was in the higher bracket. Yeah, the service isn't always fair (in my opinion it could be worst) but yeah.
My advice is that no matter what you truly need to know how to manage your money, you need to calculate and not just spend in the first few weeks, I had friends who had a huge amount of loan money handed to them, the maximum and the grant also but still ended up having money troubles, sometimes it's not about how much money you have but the way you spend it, get into the habit of saving especially, it helps out in the long run.
Hopefully your university will also have programs in place to help you out also, they may give out bursaries (no special condition ones) and they could have helpful services to help you get by.
Reply 17
Original post by temi.h.o.
Hey, I'm a first year university student.
I didn't take the loan, just the grant and luckily my parents paid for my accommodation but my household income was in the higher bracket. Yeah, the service isn't always fair (in my opinion it could be worst) but yeah.
My advice is that no matter what you truly need to know how to manage your money, you need to calculate and not just spend in the first few weeks, I had friends who had a huge amount of loan money handed to them, the maximum and the grant also but still ended up having money troubles, sometimes it's not about how much money you have but the way you spend it, get into the habit of saving especially, it helps out in the long run.
Hopefully your university will also have programs in place to help you out also, they may give out bursaries (no special condition ones) and they could have helpful services to help you get by.


Okay, thanks a lot Temi :smile:
Original post by temi.h.o.
Hey, I'm a first year university student.
I didn't take the loan, just the grant and luckily my parents paid for my accommodation but my household income was in the higher bracket. Yeah, the service isn't always fair (in my opinion it could be worst) but yeah.
My advice is that no matter what you truly need to know how to manage your money, you need to calculate and not just spend in the first few weeks, I had friends who had a huge amount of loan money handed to them, the maximum and the grant also but still ended up having money troubles, sometimes it's not about how much money you have but the way you spend it, get into the habit of saving especially, it helps out in the long run.
Hopefully your university will also have programs in place to help you out also, they may give out bursaries (no special condition ones) and they could have helpful services to help you get by.


Wait what? How did you get the grant if your household income was in the higher bracket? :s-smilie:

But yeah, the rest of your advice is good.
Original post by SophieSmall
Wait what? How did you get the grant if your household income was in the higher bracket? :s-smilie:

But yeah, the rest of your advice is good.


It was just below the £42,000 or something bracket so I got a low grant. :smile:

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