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Student loan and London

Hello
Parents & people studying in London.

Can you manage on the maximum loan? Enough for rent / food etc?

Pls tell me your experiences

Reply 1

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

@University of East London @Kingston Eve @SoasRepMK

Would you be able to help the OP? :smile:

Reply 2

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

Original post

by wareiskat

Hello
Parents & people studying in London.
Can you manage on the maximum loan? Enough for rent / food etc?
Pls tell me your experiences

Thanks for the tag @normaw! 🙃

Hey @wareiskat!

I'm from Belfast, but currently studying BA (Hons) Fine Art and Art History at Kingston University London, so hopefully I can help you a bit with this question.

The first thing to note is that the maximum maintenance loan will differ across Student Finance bodies. For example, the current maximum maintenance loan for studying in London (not with parents) from Student Finance NI is £9,492 whilst the same maximum maintenance loan for studying in London (not with parents) from Student Finance England is £13,348. Those few thousand pounds can make a big difference in terms of day-to-day expenses, so it's important to note down how much you're expecting to receive from your own Student Finance body before calculating anything else.

Since I'm from Belfast, I unfortunately ended up on the lower end of the possible maximum loan. However, despite that, I haven't found it overly difficult to manage financially; I have to budget, but it's certainly possible to live a comfortable student life with the loan as your main source of income. I do have secondary sources of income to help me out - for example, I receive some parental support (£300 a month) which helps cover any potential deficits in rent, and I work a part-time job for 8-12 hours a week which also helps supplement my day-to-day spends. As I pointed out, I receive a lower loan from SFNI; if you were to receive a loan from SFE or SFW, you shouldn't need as many secondary sources of income.

Rent will be your main cost. I currently live in a studio, which is more expensive than other rental options available for students at Kingston, but if you're sharing a house with friends or staying in a university hall of residence, you can usually keep your rent cost down a bit more. In terms of food, I spend roughly £25 a week on groceries.

Hope this was helpful! 🙂
Eve (Kingston Rep).

(edited 9 months ago)