Hi,
Yes the maintanence loan is designed to be able to cover all your living costs, but a part time job definitely helps!
Many people at University don't have a part time job and get by, but you do have to budget.
At the start of each term, when you get your loan, it helps to work out all your costs (for example, rent, food shops, perscriptions, gym memberships). If you budget well you could try and save all of your wages from your job, but if you're a party gooer and love takeaways this may be a bit harder!
Hope this helps!
Lydia
Yes the maintanence loan is designed to be able to cover all your living costs, but a part time job definitely helps!
Many people at University don't have a part time job and get by, but you do have to budget.
At the start of each term, when you get your loan, it helps to work out all your costs (for example, rent, food shops, perscriptions, gym memberships). If you budget well you could try and save all of your wages from your job, but if you're a party gooer and love takeaways this may be a bit harder!
Hope this helps!
Lydia
Depends on where you live, and how you live, whether it will be enough. Also if you are likely to be able to have family support (even just e.g. temporarily paying a bill until you get your next maintenance loan instalment and can repay them). London is very expensive generally to live in (even if you live further out I understand you don't end up saving as much as you'd like as you add in increasing travel costs to commute in), so you getting a part-time job may help a lot (or even be necessary!). At the very least you will probably want to plan to be working during holiday times (ideally in paid internships/placements but if not then even more general retail/service work helps). Also be mindful of what you spend and how much, it can often be tempting when you get your first loan instalment to splurge on a bunch of stuff with your newfound financial independence but that will come back to bite you if you aren't careful!
Original post by Bigman02
I’m getting the max loan for an out of London student and was wondering if that’s enough for people usually, planning to work anyway but just wanted to know how much I’ll be able to save out of that
Hello!
It's great that you're planning in advance
I've had a job throughout my last three years at uni doing anything from 4-16 hours a week to help save! My friend who is a student in London has also had a job throughout and has been able to live comfortably on her loan and extra income. However, this does totally depend on your lifestyle and budgeting. Budgeting can be a really challenging thing to do as a student, but you have support provided from your university if you do find that you are struggling. I usually spend £50-60 a week but with lockdown restrictions I've been spending less.The biggest bit of advice I can say is:
1. Meal plan and prep
- Planning and prepping what you will be cooking for the week will help a lot! This means that when you go to the supermarket you know what you need to buy.
- I have teamed up with my housemate and we do a food shop together and split the cost and then i cook and he washes up haha! I find that when I do this I spend around £25 a week on food.
- Then with alcohol (would previously go to pubs and bars and spend £20 a week) my flatmates are choosing to do cocktail nights and games nights so can buy alcohol at the supermarket then drink in during the week at the moment during lockdown.
2. Planning and organising your money
- This will help you know your spending habits and you can go from there. I use Monzo to help save as you can have multiple savings accounts and you can find out what you spend your money on specifically.
3. Excel spreadsheet
- I found it really helpful before starting uni to plan all of my expenses and see how much money this left me with and what hours I would need to work. I've had a job all the way through uni, working anywhere from 4-12 hours a week. You have to find what works best for you, and stay organised so that your prioritise your uni work/ revision, but also manage to have time to relax and chill out.
I find planning out my money the most useful way to stay on budget and only limiting myself to a set amount each week in my bank to avoid overspending. Some weeks you'll find you spend more and others less, but I think keeping to a budget is a really good skill to learn and you'll find it can be done
Best of luck!
Sam- Official Student Rep
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Question about maintenance loan
- maintenance loan and pre settled shceme
- Migrant loan 2023/2024 for 3rd year EU pre-settled student
- Living with a verbally @busive parent
- Student loan
- Student finance - URGENT
- Studying at London for university from 2024 - financial enquiry
- Living off student loans
- Increase in maintenance loan
- Student finance
- SFE query
- Financing graduate medicine
- Maintenance loan - minimum amount
- Problem with student finance application if I say I'm gonna apply for DSA but don't?
- Student finance and Universal Credit
- Maintenance loan too low
- Maintenance loan
- How can I afford to go to university as a mature student?
- Child of Migrant Worker age
- Is Student Accomodation affordable?
Latest
Trending
Last reply 3 weeks ago
Got a third in my second year and the highest I’ve achieved in third year was 55%Trending
Last reply 3 weeks ago
Got a third in my second year and the highest I’ve achieved in third year was 55%
