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2nd year accomodation

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
At the moment I live at home avec 'rents. - currently pay £80 a month board and all food i eat at home is free.

I've been asked by a couple of mates to move in with them next year into a student house which ive been told will cost about £50 a week each to live in (which of course does not include food or any luxurys - tv, broadband etc).
I would quite like to live there, live the student life etc because at the moment its a bit more difficult with living at home.

I'm a bit worried about being able to afford it though tbh because to find £50 a week is quite a lot for me.

Do the student loans company give any more cash for those living away from home? at the moment i get my education loan paid straight to my uni, and maintenance loan every about 4 months (not enough to pay for the upkeep of the student house i wouldnt imagine) and a bursary of £900 each time i get my maintenance loan through.

I also work 3 days a week which earns me about £300 a month

How does everyone else manage?
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I get such a massive loan and bursury (£5000) that I don't really need to worry much. Getting a part-time job in uni and getting a large overdraft can help you. Trust me, I know people that live in houses that are £60 a week and they're somehow managing to survive. If there's a will there's a way! ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well what do you use all of your student loan for? i assume you must get about £1200 each time? i.e. in september, january and april. you pay £80 a month rent and then are left with more than £800 after that (if what i said above applies). course then you have things like money for going out etc. then you get £300 a month on top of that..sounds like you can afford it to me! or am i missing something? does the £50 a week include bills? would the total cost of rent for the academic year be covered by your loan?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Here are the figures for next year's loan rates:
    Students living at their parents' home: maximum £3495
    Students living away from home: maximum £4510 (unless you're studying in London, in which case the maximum is £6315)

    So yeah, you get approximately £1000 extra for living away from home.

    I live away from home and when I was living in a student house I got £3070 for the year from the Student Loans Company. On top of that my parents gave me £150 a month, and I didn't have a job. My house cost £55 a week to rent, with bills and food on top, but I had plenty of money to live on.

    As you're used to only paying £80 a month for rent and food then real-world prices are going to come as a bit of a shock. I don't really know how much I spent on food while I was living in my student house, but I reckon about £60 a month would cover you for eating decently but not splashing out. So obviously it's going to be more expensive to live away from home than with your parents... but I'm sure you already know that!

    I think the extra £1000 the government will lend you will be enough for you to afford to live away from home. Everyone I know at my university lived in a student house for a year and although money is tight for some people, everyone can afford it and still manage to lead a decent student lifestyle (I mean, they don't have to stay in every night because they don't have enough money to go out, that kind of thing).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The £50 a week is just to cover the cost of renting the place. Maybe i have plenty i dont know, i've never lived on my own before..its quite a big step really
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yerascrote wrote:
    I know people that live in houses that are £60 a week and they're somehow managing to survive.

    Some people I know lived in £70 a week houses! I don't think I personally would have been able to afford that, but £50 sounds like a good deal to me, it's not the cheapest you'd be able to get but it's nowhere near the most expensive.

    In my opinion it's better to practice living away from home while you've got the government lending you money and a large interest-free overdraft to dip into if needs be, rather than waiting until you get a job and have to finance it all yourself from a monthly salary. I mean, your loan comes in at the beginning of each term so if you need to put up £200 for a deposit, you've got plenty of money there to draw on, whereas when you've got a job you're only getting a month's worth of money at a time, so £200 will make quite a dent in that. It's nice to be able to see what things cost to live by yourself when you've got financial support to help you out.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    icey wrote:
    The £50 a week is just to cover the cost of renting the place. Maybe i have plenty i dont know, i've never lived on my own before..its quite a big step really

    why are you different to any other student?

    i lived in private accommodation for my first year (as i did in my second year too) and paid i think £45 a week then bills on top. it was a big shock to me how quickly gas goes! we had a meter for the gas and paid electricity when the bill came. i'm not saying bills amounted to a vastly huge amount but i live in a different house now and the bills are included in the rent and even though the rent is £40 more a month it's so much nicer than having to fanny about when the bills come (plus i do live with 13 other people!!). it made me appreciate the value of it so when i go home i'm much more likely to just put another layer on if i'm cold.

    you need to sit down and work out a budget, it's a bit boring and depressing but sit down and work out how much you have coming in and how much you have going out. of course it's possible, otherwise how would the rest of us manage? i say go for it, you'll have more of the 'student lifestyle' and if you don't like it you can always move back home in the final year.

    eta: it's also worth finding out the payment plans possible for your rent. for the last 2 years i had a private landlord and he was quite lenient if you were going to be a bit late paying (paid by cheque). he let us pay just after we got our student loans each time. this year i'm with a big letting agency and you can either pay in a lump sum and save 5% or something, pay monthly or pay in 3 installments.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You'll be fine. Just make sure you fill in the loan form properly to state you're living away from home.

    I'm currently paying £275 a month rent, bills come to about £30 a month (although we aren't paying electric because they seem content not to send us bills or reply to any correspondence from us), then there's my mobile bill on top of that and food probably comes to about £80 a month.

    The student loan just covers it with enough for me to go out a couple of nights a week. But with house parties and so on I have plenty of student life.

    I'd advise living away from home as young as you can. It really does open your eyes and make you realise the importance of growing up and taking responsibility for yourself.
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