Could I afford to go to St Andrews?

Hi,

I received an offer from St Andrews last month. I'd really like to study there but I'm worried about the cost of living.

I'll be going to university without any financial support from my parents because I plan on cutting contact with them a short time before the course starts.

I'll be able to have the full maintenance loan. I'm also applying to some of the university bursaries, two of them give around £4k a year. If I am awarded one of these, would £14k a year be enough to live on? And if I'm not given any additional funding, is there any way I'd still be able to afford to go?

If anyone could share their experiences or advice, I'd be grateful!

The university has support for students estranged from their family. See the following webpage.

https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/apply/estranged/

Re cost of living, my daughter has a budget of £11k for the year and manages - the bulk of that is accommodation costs. There are plenty of students getting by on max loans and summer jobs. There are of course also plenty of students with much bigger budgets!

Are you from Scotland or elsewhere?

I was a Scottish student and got the full loan, it was something like £7k and I got a £1k bursary a year. This was enough to fully fund everything and give me a fair amount left over once I had graduated. I was lucky enough that I did not have to work while I was at uni.

The cheapest hall I think is gannochy which is around £5k a year. Accomodation is pretty competitive in St Andrews and it only seems to be getting worse with time but first year students are guaranteed accomodation.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Thank you for your reply!

I'm from England but I'm also eligible for the full tuition and maintenance loans.

I'm mostly worried about accommodation since I won't be able to return to my parents' house over the holidays. I want to enter directly into the second year so I'm not sure if the accommodation guarantee will apply to me! But I'll email them after the holidays to see if I can get any extra support.

Do email them to find out about support. If you go direct into second year it is still counted as your 'first year' for accommodation. If you are eligible as an estranged student then there is more support they can give on accommodation. St Andrews is tricky with accommodation outside halls but it will be easing in future years, as more is being built. It is also possible to get cheap flats in Dundee and commute to St Andrews. Not ideal but doable.

Roger that! Hopefully it'll become easier after my first year since I'll have proof of my estrangement.

Also, could I ask what your daughter thinks of the community there? I'm worried that I won't "fit in" since I'm a South Asian woman from a working class background, and I've been told that the university attracts a lot of wealthier people...

Roger that! Hopefully it'll become easier after my first year since I'll have proof of my estrangement.

Also, could I ask what your daughter thinks of the community there? I'm worried that I won't "fit in" since I'm a South Asian woman from a working class background, and I've been told that the university attracts a lot of wealthier people...

Thank you for your reply!

I'm from England but I'm also eligible for the full tuition and maintenance loans.

I'm mostly worried about accommodation since I won't be able to return to my parents' house over the holidays. I want to enter directly into the second year so I'm not sure if the accommodation guarantee will apply to me! But I'll email them after the holidays to see if I can get any extra support.

My daughter has found it a very friendly place. There are a lot of wealthy people but also a lot of people from less well off backgrounds. The most important thing (whichever university you go to) is to get involved in clubs and societies so you can make friends with people with similar interests.

Hi,
I’m a South Asian female in my first year at St Andrews. I’ve had no problem fitting in, however I do come from an affluent/private school background and most of the people I know are the same.

Also there is basically no diversity - there’s a couple of ridiculously rich Indians but other Asian/south Asian backgrounds are unrepresented.

However, the people are nice and I haven’t experienced any racism. If you keep an open mind and accept that it is definitely not the most culturally/economically diverse university - the academics are wonderful. Essentially feels like a massive boarding school.

STEM subjects are definitely more diverse than the arts/social sciences.

Are your parents willing to provide their financial information to prove you are entitled to a full loan? If they aren't willing to do what is required by the SLC you may find it harder to get more than the minimum for the first year if you can't prove you've been estranged for a year or more. You've probably seen this, but if not there is some useful stuff here, including other bursaries that you may be able to apply for: Financial support for students not supported by their parents (estranged) | Undergraduate, Conservatoires | UCAS

Hope everything works out for you.