Saving for University: A Realistic Plan for Parents Before Results Day

Student finance covers tuition in full via a loan, but the maintenance loan - meant to cover living costs - rarely stretches to cover everything, particularly for students living away from home. Here’s what parents are actually likely to need to help with, using current figures.

The current tuition and maintenance figures (2026/27)

• Tuition fee cap: £9,790 a year for most standard courses in England - fully covered by a non-means-tested Tuition Fee Loan paid directly to the university, regardless of household income.
• Maintenance Loan (means-tested on household income): up to £14,135 a year for students living away from home in London, £10,830 away from home outside London, or £9,118 living at home.
• The maximum maintenance loan is only available to households with income of £25,000 or less - support tapers down as household income rises, with a minimum amount still available even for higher-income households.

Why the maintenance loan often isn’t enough

The maintenance loan is designed to contribute to living costs, not necessarily cover them in full - particularly in higher-cost cities, or for students whose household income sits in the middle of the taper (too high for the maximum loan, but not necessarily able to comfortably fund the gap from household budgets). This is where many families find they need to plan a specific contribution alongside the loan.

How to estimate the actual gap

• Use the official student finance calculator on gov.uk with your actual household income and the student’s intended living arrangement to get a precise maintenance loan estimate, rather than relying on generic averages.
• Estimate realistic living costs for the specific city and accommodation type - university accommodation costs, and general cost of living, vary considerably between cities.
• The gap between the estimated maintenance loan and realistic living costs is the number to plan a savings target around.

Building a fund before results day

Results day (mid-August) triggers a rush of decisions - but by then, it’s too late to build significant additional savings for the September start. Starting to save specifically for this gap years in advance, even in modest amounts, gives considerably more flexibility than trying to close a shortfall in the final weeks before term starts - the same logic behind starting a Christmas fund the January before, rather than scrambling in the final weeks, just applied over a much longer horizon.

Where to keep university savings

• A Junior ISA, if started while the child was younger, converts to an adult ISA at 18 - giving the student direct access to a lump sum right as they start university (see our dedicated Junior ISA article for how these work, including the fact that the money becomes entirely theirs to control at that point).
• A parent’s own Cash ISA or savings account, if you’d prefer to retain more control over how and when the money is actually used, rather than handing over full control at 18.
• Avoid locking university savings into anything inaccessible around the results day and enrolment period - a fixed-rate bond maturing after fees or accommodation deposits are due defeats the purpose.

Other costs parents often underestimate

• Accommodation deposits, often due well before the maintenance loan’s first instalment arrives.
• Setting-up costs - kitchen equipment, bedding, a laptop if needed for the course - concentrated in the first few weeks.
• The gap between the end of one academic year and the maintenance loan’s first payment of the next, since loan instalments are paid termly rather than covering the summer gap in full.

The bottom line

The tuition fee loan removes the biggest headline cost, but the maintenance loan realistically covers only part of typical living costs for many students - particularly those living away from home in higher-cost cities. Using the official calculator to estimate the actual gap, well before results day, gives you a concrete savings target rather than a vague sense that ‘university is expensive’.