If you are fully supporting DC through uni - how much is is it really costing?

A multi millionaire, who has already been paying £25k pa per DC for private school fees, might as well pay the full tuition and living costs, because they’ll be paying a shed load in inheritance tax, when they die anyway?

(A friend of ours)

I do enjoy reading people's very firmly held views about what everybody else should do based on complete ignorance of both those people's situations and what student life is currently like 😂

It's not advised to get a job when studying a course like medicine. Students are not allowed to get a job at Oxbridge (I think in desperate circs your tutor can give permission but they really don't like to). These courses are like having a (more than) full time job. Absolute nonsense to imagine that someone could then do a second job of eg care work, or that doing this would be in any way beneficial to them.

When I was at uni- many decades ago- tuition fees didn't exist. Many students still got a grant. Part time jobs doing clerical work etc were pretty easy to get. Students these days have it far harder in almost every way- huge amounts of debt, far more students needing to work than there is work available, very poor employment prospects at the end. Living at home to study used to be unusual- now it's what 30% of students do. I can completely understand why parents who can afford to make things a bit easier for their kids would do so. The idea that you would deliberately withhold funds so that a child studying 40+ hours a week then has to do care work on top is laughable (and when I say laughable, I mean borderline abusive).

I would suggest that fully funding isn’t as good an idea as it sounds. We paid/pay for DC travel, fees, accommodation costs and bills. They were responsible for food and drink, socializing and extra travel costs. They did this through a combination of savings, summer jobs, a student loan and a small loan from us. It has definitely helped them better understand the value of money.
We could afford to pay for it all and be very generous.

£24,000 which includes £100pw living expenses and the annual uni ski trip.

We paid fees and gave them 12k year for living. Both did degrees and masters, so four years of money. 1 year when they were both there - that was a tough year.

Abusive!? Good one! 😂

I realise we're in a fortunate position being able to finance our DC uni, or at least a large chunk of it. (Both will have loans for tuition fees)
Getting a job is difficult - although not necessarily impossible- but also doesnt always happen immediately on arriving in a university town....so even with that there would be likely some parental involvement needed.

Getting an inheritance meant we were able to pay off our mortgage 5 years early.....so we have paid similar or slightly less than our mortgage payments, on DDs rent and maintenance. This year she's getting a small maintenance loan (you can choose to borrow less than the minimum allowed) which she's calculated, alongside her wages will be enough to live on and we'll continue paying rent.
Then we'll be able to save for when DS goes, as DH will be retirement age before DS graduates.
If we were still paying a mortgage I'm not sure how we would have worked it out.

20 years ago I was unable to get a job in my university town. I worked in the holidays though. I can't imagine how hard it would be these days.

We aren’t funding ourselves (we have two at uni at the same time, one on a four year course and one on a five year course so it would have been unaffordable for us). Both ours get around £12.5k per year student finance (we live in Wales so they get more than the English system) and that seems to be a good amount for them in terms of rent and living expenses. Tuition fees are separate to that.

Yeah- I was at Uni mid 90's and not allowed to work term time. But first day of the holidays I'd get the bus into town and there would always be jobs around, even if it was just day to day factory work through the slave labour camp temp agency who would bus us out somewhere to pack soap or whatever. Also my dad had his own business so could often do holiday cover for him, and stuff always came up- things were just more flexible too- I once worked in a pub FT for a week for a mate of my dad's who was short staffed and just got paid cash- now they wouldn't bother as they'd have to do too much paperwork.

I think YP are fussier and less work ready (poorer in person social skills in general) than we were BUT the bigger problem is a lack of jobs.

£25k pa for eldest who has just graduated and are assuming similar for younger two.

Eldest also worked to pay for holidays and he likes saving so used wages for investments. Very unlike me in that regard as I would have spent all my money on lipstick and clothes ;)

£25k?

No, more like £45k - £60kpa for boarders. Uni is affordable by comparison.

Agree that compared to boarding fees then university seems quite reasonable.

I will encourage my younger two to work but my wondering if it will be more difficult for my dd to find a job than my son. He worked until 1am on Saturday nights and was happy to walk back to his house alone - no way would I be happy with my dd doing that.

The system is designed so that parents on higher incomes top up what the child receives in loans. There are semi-regular threads on here about situations where a parent is refusing to do this and insisting that the child gets a job instead, and yes I think that's a form of financial abuse (barring a good reason why supporting the child is unaffordable).

It is a very different world from the one I went to university in- jobs are harder to get, the cost of living is far higher, prospects are worse. To deliberately withhold money from your child in that context because you think it's somehow character building to be unsupported and vulnerable is appalling. To be clear, I am talking here about parents who can afford to help and choose not to.

Around £30k per year per child all in.

I work at a uni in a largish city and there are so few jobs for students. Most of those sorts of jobs students used to just walk into are being done by adults year round. So
bracing myself for taking out loans myself if needed as I don’t think it will be any easier in 5 years when my daughter is at uni.

I worked full time through all of my uni years so I know how hard that is too.

So approx £10k fees, say £10k accommodation, so £10k spending?

Over £800 a month spending money, even spreading it across 12 months? 😲 Or did they save a lot from that?

Just trying to do the sums for my eldest who is starting university soon and I must admit I'd assumed they'd manage on half that amount outside fees and rent. Am I deluded?

Not totally deluded. I’d say half of that to live on is tight but def doable. Bills in private accom can add up. But we allow for about £120 a week rather than £200 for all living costs.

Just going to first year. I already have the fees saved (£30k). We're also paying accompany which is another £7200 for the year.

I'm subsidising living costs with £100/month (a bit of shopping) and she'll need to work. If she can get something that pays another £300/month she'll be fine I think. She also worked and saved during her gap year which gives her a cushion.

Our shared goal is for her leave without going near the student loans system.

Thanks. Is that £120 a week term time only or all year round?

We pay £12.5 K fees, £14k catered halls and then £400 a month living.

London though. Be cheaper elsewhere.

I know you were asking another poster, but we give DD around £400/month living expenses while she's at uni, but less (or she works) during the holidays. When she's at home im buying food/toiletries etc so she doesnt need to cover that.
Bear in mind university terms are a lot shorter than school. Oxbridge I think has 3 x 8 week terms.
Start in mid-late september. My own DD finished her 2nd year in mid May, although she stayed in the house until June. In a private house obviously rent is due for all 12 months whether they are there or not , first year generally students are in halls which have a shorter contract, iirc ours was 41 weeks.

We live in the same place 😁

He will only get minimum loan but as you say, doesn't mean we have loads of money!

It feels a shame doesn't it, I feel like they get so much out of moving away to uni but it seems so unaffordable

DD has actually taken the tuition loans and on top of that it costs us around £15k per year
She was at private until 6th form so we were paying that anyway and for the 3 years before Uni (Gap Year) we put away the cost of school fees for Uni so its not too painful
It will be similar for DS, although i think he will go to a local Uni so costs will be lower if he is living at home

A day school! I don’t know how much the fees are now, because I don’t ask.

As for teaching DC the value of money, I don’t consider making DC take out student loans and working through university is the best way to do it. Why saddle them with loans at all, if you don’t have to?

We couldn’t afford to support DC fully at university, but we paid £6,000 a year for their accommodation and let them live rent free at home in the holidays. We preferred them to get a first than a 2:2, because they had to work part time. DD2’s health wasn’t up to work part time anyway.