Out of pocket expenses at uni???

[bobg]

Has anyone else got a son or daughter going to uni this year and has tried to agree a monthly sum for out of pocket expenses ... beer, fags, books, food etc I'd only just recovered from calculating the cost of tuition fees and accomodation when this even thornier question reared its ugly head. We tried arbitration with Mrs BG but I decided she was being far too generous..........

 

[montage]

I'll essentially be living off the maintenance loan and whatever money I earn by getting a job.
Infact, I've designated today to work out a budget for food, laundary and a beer fund.

 

[HLaB]

Has anyone else got a son or daughter going to uni this year and has tried to agree a monthly sum for out of pocket expenses ... beer, fags, books, food etc I'd only just recovered from calculating the cost of tuition fees and accomodation when this even thornier question reared its ugly head. We tried arbitration with Mrs BG but I decided she was being far too generous..........

They can give up the first two books and food are more important.

 

[ColinJ]

 Well, I didn't get a penny from my folks - you could try offering that! 

 

[bobg]

Well, I didn't get a penny from my folks - you could try offering that!

It was at that stage that we went to arbitration ..........

 

[E11a]

My parents paid for food and accommodation and I worked to pay for everything else. I think it was a lesson in being independent and know that they would have helped if I couldn't cope.

 

[bobg]

I'll essentially be living off the maintenance loan and whatever money I earn by getting a job.
Infact, I've designated today to work out a budget for food, laundary and a beer fund.

Oh that my son was so sensible. Living off noodles and not bothering with laundry seems to be the master plan to date. The others got bar work so I live in hope.

 

[bobg]

My parents paid for food and accommodation and I worked to pay for everything else. I think it was a lesson in being independent and know that they would have helped if I couldn't cope.

I'd be very proud if I were your Dad Ella! No4's idea of being independent is not asking for lift to his girlfriends house, making his own coffee and buying his own guitar strings

 

[summerdays]

Hmm I've still got a couple of years to go before we get to this situation, but I'm interested to hear what others do- I was from the generation that got a grant (not full my Dad had to pay part of it), and then it was upto me how it was spent... I remember thinking I was really rich until reality set in and I realised that over £1000 disappeared in hall fees straight away.

From what I see of students now-a-days they seem to have much higher expectations of their living accommodation that we did, expecting washing machines, warmth etc. I remember freezing and ice on the windows, and mould in some of the various places I lived in.

 

[gaz]

I made money playing poker. i lived comfortably at uni.

 

[marinyork]

Things change so rapidly, so much so that any tips of what I had is almost meaningless. When one of my friends and landlord went to university in the early 00s rents were half what they were five years later when I went. Looking again at another five year period they have doubled again in a similar period. Costs are rising so rapidly that it's really hard to say - you'd have large help from parents, reasonable budgeting, many hours in a job and still get by. When I went the cost problem for many was cigarettes and mobile phone bills. People spending £80 a month on cigarettes and £100 a month on mobile phones. Sure people can go crazy drinking and buying takeaways but I felt they were cigarettes and mobiles were the understimated things.

 

[montage]

Things change so rapidly, so much so that any tips of what I had is almost meaningless. When one of my friends and landlord went to university in the early 00s rents were half what they were five years later when I went. Looking again at another five year period they have doubled again in a similar period. Costs are rising so rapidly that it's really hard to say - you'd have large help from parents, reasonable budgeting, many hours in a job and still get by. When I went the cost problem for many was cigarettes and mobile phone bills. People spending £80 a month on cigarettes and £100 a month on mobile phones. Sure people can go crazy drinking and buying takeaways but I felt they were cigarettes and mobiles were the understimated things.

Trying to feed a cycling habit will be the worst!

Uni is indeed silly expensive, especially accomodation. My student loan doesn't cover my fees, and my maintainence loan doesn't cover my accomodation - no wonder some people simply cannot afford uni

 

[e-rider]

If you don't want your son to run up huge debts you will need to spend a small fortune. If he gets a job and earns about £4000 per year that will help quite a bit but it will also seriously eat into his free time, which could result in him skipping classes.

With the ever increasing cost of uni, the increasing number of graduates and fewer graduate jobs to go round than in recent decades, unless it's a degree with an obvious job at the end I'd say it was a waste of time and money in many cases.

 

[rosscbrown]

Once an offer of a Place was confirmed, my parents cut me a cheque for £5k and sent me on my way. Lasted about 6 months. After the first year of Uni, I dropped out and got a real job as a manager with the Government - until they ran out of money and sent me on my way. So I've got no real qualifications, no general work experience and 18 months of management experience. As a result no employers will touch because I've been a manager so I can't do entry level work (apparently) but I've not been a manager long enough to be trusted to do it again.

My point is this, degrees are important still (it's likely you'll be underemployed with a degree, but at least you'll be employed) but full time university attendance is not necessarily the way to go. I was doing a Business degree and in terms of worlkload, there was surprisingly little - hardly worth dedicating a whole four years full time to.

 

[taxing]

When I started uni in 2004 I covered my accommodation and everything else with my student loan, a grant from the university of £500 a year, and working (£80-100 a week, working in a call centre). My mum gave me £50 when I first started to buy books with.