If your teen is planning to go to university this year, it may be time to get to grips with their budget to ensure they’re prepared for the post-A-Level results panic. Whether they get into their first choice of university or are accepted through clearing, one thing’s for sure – they’ll need to figure out their budget for accommodation, food and study costs pretty quickly.
But here’s the good news: starting the conversation about university life and budgeting early (and with a cuppa in hand) makes everything feel so much more manageable. You don’t have to wait until they’re clutching an offer letter; they can start to build a financial plan now so that the whole process feels calm, realistic and even empowering.
Work Out the Real Total (It’s Not Just Tuition Fees)
Tuition fees get all the attention because they’re the big scary number on the page. But honestly? They’re often the easiest part to plan for because they’re set in stone. Plus, loans, grants and university support schemes are designed to help with tuition costs, so it’s likely that your teen already knows the cost of their course and how they’re going to pay for it.
The sneaky costs are everything else that comes with living away from home and studying, such as:
- Accommodation (which varies wildly depending on the city and type of housing)
- Food (students eat more than you think, it’s not all baked beans on toast, you know!)
- Transport to university from home and travelling around the university town on buses and trains
- Textbooks, subscriptions and even uniforms that are essential for their course
- Social life (because freshers’ week will happen and sensible planning can ensure uni life is fun AND successful)
It’s the tiny things that add up. I once helped a friend draft a “first‑term budget,” and we realised they’d forgotten to include laundry costs. Well, they’ve got to wash their clothes, right?
A simple spreadsheet like my budget planner can help map out expected income against outgoings for each term. This gives everyone a shared picture of how much it’s going to cost and what extra income your teen will need to find to be able to afford it – whether that’s getting a part-time job or you helping with the bills.
It’s surprising how few families do this before September, but it’s a total game‑changer in terms of starting the academic year feeling in control, calm and settled.
Understand What Financial Support Is Actually Available
Maintenance loans vary depending on household income and where the student will live, so it’s worth checking the government’s student finance calculator rather than guessing how much support they can access. Families often underestimate what their child is entitled to, or sometimes occasionally overestimate and get caught out when the bills mount up later.
And don’t forget the bursaries, grants and scholarships that are available to some students. Many don’t require top grades, just an application form. Plus, some courses like NHS‑funded degrees, teacher training and certain STEM subjects automatically come with extra financial assistance that can make a huge difference to your student’s future budget.
Also, you can of course support your teen with some financial assistance yourself. If your child is still a few years away from applying to university, why not start a small savings pot now? Just saving a modest monthly amount now can really help them in the future. Imagine how grateful they will be when they’re accepted to university and you’re able to give them an emergency fund to support their studies.
Could Online Study Improve the Costs?
Here’s something that’s changed massively in recent years: more students are choosing to get a degree online. And no, it’s not the old‑school “distance learning” vibe anymore – things have come a long way since the pandemic and many established universities now offer fully online degrees.
You can get the same teaching quality, the same qualification and the same career value after the course is complete, just without the accommodation costs, commuting or the upheaval of moving away. This option is ideal for students who want to keep their job (which might help their CV too) or have caring responsibilities at home.
It might also be the case that your teen prefers learning at their own pace and has always been good at homework – they can certainly benefit from self-directed studying that helps them to cut the cost of relocating to study “in real life”. The savings on accommodation and bills over three or four years can be significant, and this can make the difference between studying or not studying at all.
Help Your Teen Build Their Own Budget (From Day One)
One of the biggest sources of uni stress isn’t a lack of money, it’s a lack of structure. Maintenance loans arrive in three chunky instalments, and it’s easy for students to feel rich in October and broke by December. I’ve been there trying to stretch out the last of my student loan at the end of the term, eating just cornflakes and waiting for that day when the next instalment lands in my account. I’ve previously shared my own experiences of money issues at uni here, so they can have a read of that blog post too.
Helping your teen set up a monthly budget before they head off to uni is one of the most practical things you can do and the summer holidays are a great time to start, especially once they’ve got an offer from their university and know where they will be living. You can help them to plan a budget that includes:
- Fixed costs (rent, included bills, phone top-ups, subscriptions)
- Weekly food and essentials
- A separate pot for social spending
Budgeting apps make this super easy, and once they get into the habit, it tends to stick. And please, have the “good debt vs bad debt” chat. Student loans work very differently from commercial loans, and many students worry unnecessarily about their loan. Credit cards, overdrafts, and buy‑now‑pay‑later schemes? That’s where the real problem lies if they find themselves needing cash in a hurry.
Keep Reviewing the Plan as Life Changes
University budgets aren’t “set and forget.” Costs can change when students move from halls to into private rentals. Their part‑time work hours may fluctuate over term-time, and unexpected course expenses always pop up (usually at the worst time, when they’ve just run out of their student loan).
A quick check‑in each academic term helps to catch any small issues in the budget before they become big ones. If you know that the bills are costing £10 more per week than they thought, you can easily solve this extra expense before it becomes a whole year’s worth of underpayments to find. The financial habits your teen builds now will help them long after graduation.
Planning for university doesn’t have to feel overwhelming for your teen and by thinking ahead and supporting them through the process, they’ll be off to a great start when they arrive for the new term in September. Please let me know how you got on when you started at university – I’d love to hear your money-saving tips for uni life, so please share them in the comments below. 🙂
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Portions of this article were shared in collaboration with an outside source. My opinions are my own, and I retained full control over the final content.
