Maintenance Payments Ending

I’ve got nothing against dads paying 100s for uni, as longs as mums do to. by the time kids go to uni mums have had AT LEAST 5 years to sort themselves out and get a job (18 years really but I’m being generous) and should be able to fund their own lives and support thier kids. What I do not like is somehow it’s ok for mums to still be working PT or not at all by this point but suddenly it’s all up to dad to fund everything! 50/50 financial support is what should happen and divorced parents need to discuss this early in the process.

The point I tried to make earlier, is it seems to be more acceptable if 'together' parents can't (or don't want to) fund Uni. If there's not enough money, then it simply can't happen. But with divorced parents, and particularly fathers, somehow funding uni becomes mandatory, irrespective of ability to pay. I would expect divorced people are likely to have less money than married couples, simply because they are funding two households

Well good for you
Why did your child not get student loans ?
What f you have other kids do you expect them to eat beans on toast to do you can finance your child at Uni.?

But her student loans will be based on the income of the parent she lives with
Some parents don't have £100,s of pounds to send their kids each month it doesn't make them terrible parents.

I didn’t have hundreds of pounds either, but I went on beans on toast because that’s what you do to support your children if you’re not a deadbeat.

Exactly my nephew graduated last year ,his parents ( my sister and ex bil) divorced a few years and student finance was based on my sisters income alone he got full loans both his mum and dad sent him £10/ week for food but that's it .

I meant to quote @Stiffnewknee in this.

Well, we don't have £100s a month spare so I guess he'll have to embrace that label. Unless we want to give up eating.

I don't see what having divorced parents have to do with it. We don't have £100s a month to give to my own daughter either and her parents are married.

She’s not wrong, he would be a deadbeat Dad.

It’s yet another disadvantage that children from divorced families have to contend with.

That's actually very heartening to hear.

My stepdaughter is 15 and Mumsnet threads have led me to believe that when she heads to Uni, if we don't give her £100s a month, DH is a terrible deadbeat Dad.

@susiedaisy1912
This was my experience too. My ex stopped paying maintenance in line with their child benefit ending. I think this was the September after they turned 18 so just before they started uni. I think he contributed a few start of term/end of term lifts and a food box from Lidl but that was it.

@MrsSunshine2b
My DC left uni in the last 3-4 years so i doubt things have changed that much! They got around £10K a year in student finance, rent was about 6 leaving them with 4 to live on during term time. They both had term time jobs and jobs at home during the holidays but neither worked excessively. Both managed fine. For their masters courses they lived at home and still got £14k for the year but both kept their holiday jobs on.

MrsSunshine is correct. This was my experience also.

I'm not sure how old your kids are but things have definitely changed since I was at Uni. I got the minimum loan, as my parents are well off, but it covered my accommodation and I had around £40-50 a week leftover, which was almost enough to get by on, along with some savings from my part-time job at home. After that, I asked my parents, but they were adamant that I had plenty of cash and that I could easily manage off £25 a week if I just avoided "wasting" money on having any kind of social life and ate only pasta, so I had to get a job.

Funnily enough, they were more than happy to pay my brother's rent and were horrified to find he'd been eating "value" sausages and had shockingly lost weight (more to do with spending less time in the gym and more time off his nut than starvation imo). He never had a job.

However, from what I understand now, rents have risen so quickly that even the full maintenance loan doesn't cover rent so parental support is needed.

This. I have one starting uni and one still in education, I am a lone parent so my dc will get their loan based on my min wage job and get no help from dad as I am widowed. I will help where I can.
They are now adults and can discuss with their dad any financial support he may wish to give. Many students work while doing their degree, my eldest DC did.

Another baffling MN thing that doesn’t mirror my real life experiences, who pays for their DC to go to uni apart from the well off? That’s what student finance is for! My DC fully funded funded their own study as did the DC of everyone else I know. Of course your ex can’t be expected to pay. If you’re on a low income then they will get the maximum amount as well. If it’s not enough then they’ll just have to get jobs like most other students do!

Will you all qualify for UC?

Child maintenance is payable up to the September after they leave education or age 20, which ever comes first, however, it only applies to education up to A-Levels or equivalent. University students are not covered by CMS.

Do you know many together parents that refuse to support their children financially to study beyond 18 ?
I’ve never met one.

No again, that’s what changed. It’s not kind if you do it’s expected by the government.
Unless the children have been estranged for three years, it is expected that they will Financial university.
And the kids suffer if they don’t

It frustrates me that in a ‘together’ family, parents can decide whether or not to contribute towards Uni, and I’m sure most do if they can, but separated fathers seem to be far more obliged, and get far more criticism?

There is no “rule for the UK”; the different constituent nations have different rules for lots of different things, including child maintenance. In England, it stops when children reach 20 or leave secondary or further education. It’s not payable when they move to higher education, even if they are younger than 20, unless it’s court-mandated.

if they are 18 they should get holiday jobs and pitch in themselves, if they are going to uni they will likely need part time jobs anyway- they might as well get used to it.

No it stops at 20 if they are at college not uni.

@TaupeLemur Yes, the Dad with the doctorate who isn’t giving his DD anything towards uni is doing it out of spite towards his ex-wife, but of course, it’s affecting his DD far more.

Same with the ongoing disputes about child maintenance for their son. He wants his ex to pay for all the basics but then he gets himself and their son season tickets for a local team, takes him on trips, etc. All the fun Disney-Dad stuff, but refused to buy him a new calculator, for example. It’s so petty.