Money matters

How to survive living away from home

Helping out: what parents do

Financially savvy Lydia Nicholas, studying economics, money, banking and finance at the University of the West of England, decided to live at home free, and her parents paid her fees until the lure of university life got the better of her and she moved out. Now her parents pay her rent of £4,500 a year and she has a loan for the fees.

Luke Breeze, a sports science student at the University of Exeter, can rely on £3,840 a year for rent, plus £50 a week. His parents also pay his phone bill, his gym membership, and provided the £760 deposit he needed for his accommodation.

Source: research among students carried out by the Guide to Student Money.

Student package for England in 2010/11

Fees: £3,290 a year.

Fee loan: £3,290.

Maximum maintenance grant: £2,906.

Maximum maintenance loan: £4,950 if living away from home outside London; £6,928 if living away from home in London; £3,838 if living at home.

Maximum expected parental contribution for one student: £1,386 (£1,940 in London, £1,075 if living at home).

Minimum university bursary if receiving a full grant: £329 (Most universities give more – the average is around £1,000).

Devolutionary differences

Scotland: there are no fees to pay for Scottish students in Scotland.

Fees for other UK students studying in Scotland: £1,820 a year (£2,895 for medicine).

No automatic university bursaries are given to students.

The maintenance grant (which is called a young students' bursary in Scotland): a maximum of £2,640 a year.

Loan: £605-£5,067 a year, depending on the bursary, family income and place of residence.

Maximum sum if studying outside Scotland: £6,152 a year.

There is also an additional loan of £785 if family income is £22,789 a year or lower. Courses in Scotland are for four years.

Wales: last year's fee loan has been abolished, so full fees are paid.

Full maintenance grant: £5,000 a year.

Northern Ireland: full maintenance grant: £3,475 year.