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How much money does a student need per week?

Fees will be covered by student loan and parents are paying for accommodation. I will get £4,422 maint. loan and parents will top up with an additional £150 per week. Will this be enough? I will be going to Sheffield.

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are you joking? i honestly can’t tell
Reply 2
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Anonymous #1
OP
Original post by nikki.maria
are you joking? i honestly can’t tell

no I am not. I really have no idea how much I will need, parents have no clue either so this is why I am looking for advice. Halls are not catered.
Original post by Anonymous
no I am not. I really have no idea how much I will need, parents have no clue either so this is why I am looking for advice. Halls are not catered.


Why are your parents giving you £150 a week on top of rent? For what purpose?
Reply 4
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Original post by GabiAbi84
Why are your parents giving you £150 a week on top of rent? For what purpose?

for food and toiletries, train fares home (when needed), going out, clothes, shoes etc.
£150/week, lucky. That’s enough to rent a 1 bedroom flat in many parts of the country.
(edited 2 years ago)
Can your parents give me £150 a week? :tongue:

I think that was more than I made a week while working part-time in uni...

If you can't afford to live on £150 a week after rent then you need to re-evaluate your lifestyle.
(edited 2 years ago)
Definitely enough
Reply 8
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Original post by RedGiant
£150/week, lucky. That’s more than enough to rent a 1 bedroom flat in many parts of the country.

I wish it was where I live! Sounds like I might not need £150 per week judging by the replies. I don't want to take money from my hardworking parents if I don't need it.
Original post by Anonymous
for food and toiletries, train fares home (when needed), going out, clothes, shoes etc.


Presumably your parents know how much these things cost?


But however.
Yes this will be more than enough.
£600 a month on top of your student loan and on tile of having your rent paid is far more than plenty.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by artful_lounger
Can your parents give me £150 a week? :tongue:

I think that was more than I made a week while working part-time in uni...

If you can't afford to live on £150 a week after rent then you need to re-evaluate your lifestyle.

I am not a huge spender or into designer stuff or labels. Just working with parents on what might be a sensible amount to budget. I plan to work when I can too. They are generous but have to work hard too so I won't take what I don't need.
Original post by GabiAbi84
Presumably your parents know how much these things cost?


But however.
Yes this will be more than enough.

yes, they do - they are not extravagant at all. They just want to make sure I had enough, I think they were both very poor as students and want me to have it a bit easier than they did.
If your parents are paying your rent, then you can easily live off the maintenance loan. There’s no need for the further £150 from your parents if you truly don’t want to be excessive.
Original post by Mesopotamian.
If your parents are paying your rent, then you can easily live off the maintenance loan. There’s no need for the further £150 from your parents if you truly don’t want to be excessive.

Thanks, I think we will be re-evaluating this.
Yes, more than enough. :smile:
Between your £4422 maintainence loan and £150 weekly allowance from parents you will have enough to set aside a reasonably good amount in monthly savings for all 3 years of your undergrad.

Try to make a weekly budget that includes groceries, booze, nightlife- then stick to it.
Consider learning how to cook some of your favourite meals and snacks.
Restrict spending on takeaways, restaurants and expensive ticketed events.
Hopefully by the time that you graduate you will have saved enough money for a comfortable emergency fund, property deposit or gap year.
Good luck!
Original post by londonmyst
Yes, more than enough. :smile:
Between your £4422 maintainence loan and £150 weekly allowance from parents you will have enough to set aside a reasonably good amount in monthly savings for all 3 years of your undergrad.

Try to make a weekly budget that includes groceries, booze, nightlife- then stick to it.
Consider learning how to cook some of your favourite meals and snacks.
Restrict spending on takeaways, restaurants and expensive ticketed events.
Hopefully by the time that you graduate you will have saved enough money for a comfortable emergency fund, property deposit or gap year.
Good luck!

Thanks, that's really helpful.
Original post by RedGiant
£150/week, lucky. That’s enough to rent a 1 bedroom flat in many parts of the country.


Enough for studio/1 bedroom flat and 1 one month's worth of food where I live!
Original post by Anonymous
Fees will be covered by student loan and parents are paying for accommodation. I will get £4,422 maint. loan and parents will top up with an additional £150 per week. Will this be enough? I will be going to Sheffield.


Hi!

I'm a current student at the uni of Sheffield so I thought I would pop in and share a bit about my budgeting experiences at uni. I can tell you straight off that your allowance will definitely cover you substantially! Just to give you a bit of an idea in my first year I typically spent around £75 a week on average, this included food, travel and socialising! My weekly food shop never really exceeded £20 and I would allow some money each week to eat out/ for takeaway too with friends so I never went over £25 a week really on food. Socialising in Sheff is pretty cheap, tickets for nights out never really exceed £5 and on week nights there is usually free entry, drinks are cheap and bars always have student deals on to attract students in. Some nights clubs like CODE and Corporation have single spirit mixers for £1 each for example! There is also loads of green space in Sheffield which can make for free things to do with friends :smile:. There are other little costs too like bus fares which are £1 with a student card, laundry if you are staying in uni accommodation I typically spent £5 a week or less on average on laundry. But to summarise the £150 a week your parents are topping up your loan by would be easily enough to live off alone ! so you can relax and enjoy your first year !:smile:

Hope this helps you out a bit, if you have anymore questions please feel free to ask :smile:


Alisha
2nd Year
BMedSci Orthoptics
Reply 18
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Rarest
20
You can live off just the maintenance loan if you wanted to, (if you find out that it is not enough, you can always ask them for the occasional top up right?)
Assuming there are 40 weeks, £4421 will give you £110+/week to spend.
Even if you spend £50-60 on food (and tbh, that is on the higher end, if you are a good cook or learn to cook this will reduce significantly), you still have £50-60 left to spend on going enough - which will also decrease depending on how much you drink. You will be left with enough for toiletries too (lots last much longer than a week).
You can ask your parents to top up if you think you will need more, but another £150 per week on top of this is quite a lot, as the others have already mentioned.

Of course, this is dependent on where you live too. In a place like Manchester, you can live quite easily off £50-70 a week.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Anonymous
Fees will be covered by student loan and parents are paying for accommodation. I will get £4,422 maint. loan and parents will top up with an additional £150 per week. Will this be enough? I will be going to Sheffield.

Hi there,

Just speaking from my own experience, now that I am in third year I typically spend £80-120 per week excluding rent. I would say that one of the most important skills to develop during your time at university will be to learn how to set a budget (and how to stick to it!). I didn't start budgeting properly until this year and I realise that I could have saved a lot more if I'd started earlier.

From your initial post, the amount you will have available should be enough for you to have a good time, whilst also saving saving a bit for a rainy day.

Have you got any further questions about budgeting, the cost of living in Sheffield, or studying at Sheffield more generally?

Daniel
Third Year
MBiolSci Biology with a Year Abroad

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