Universities and low income funding

Yet, the poor students at my childrens' universities work it out for their.
They don't have a chance unless they do - but none of the MN's children do I know that!

Dd received a bursary as she lives with low earning me rather than her high earning dad (we are divorced) The money was paid to her directly rather than as support to me.

There are bursaries awarded by Universities for low income households. Definitions of this will vary.

There are scholarships for students but often these will be restricted to certain courses, grades achieved, location or parents occupation. E.g Bill Tutte scholarship for maths and computing from Newmarket area and having achieved grade A in A level maths. Leverhulme offers support if a parent is a grocer, pharmacist or commercial traveller. You would need to search based on your own circumstances.

However if the non resident parent is a high earner they should offer support to their own children so the limited money goes to those who really need it.

Hi @IHE firstly you might want to ask MN to move this to HE.

Not sure if this what you want to know but your DC is eligible for loans. A full loan for tuition fees and then a maintenance loan to pay rent and living exes. How low is a low income? If it’s less than £25k then they qualified for the full loan of approx £10k if at uni outside London.

BUT you should or they should look closely at accommodation costs as these can vary. I started a thread in HE on this but basically halls and private houses can cost as little as £4-5k pa in some places and as much as £10k or more (that is sometimes self catered too) in others.

My point being that it’s worth looking at that if you won’t have much ££ to offer support. Nothing wrong with considering the cost IMO.

Anecdotally cheaper places for accommodation include Sheffield Leicester Newcastle Lancaster Warwick and Oxbridge. Halls in Leicester for example <£100 pw.

£££ ones inc Bristol Bath, York Exeter. I’m not saying all accommodations in Bristol is costly nor am I saying don’t go there, but worth bearing in mind IMHO.

This varies by area though and those cities with many large Universities are overrun with students trying to find part time work

It also depends on the course
Time heavy courses allow little time for much else
I have one ds required to do many hours of lab work. He can’t chose to fit that in at night after work, he has to be signed into the lab. That’s on top of lectures etc etc etc
Its widely known that students are failing whilst trying to fit in work on top of Uni commitments for some cources.

Better to try to find summer jobs if possible or take a year out to save

In terms of housing it depends
One of our dcs didnt need a guarantor, they were fine with his Student loan funding as proof he was a student
Our other two both needed us as a guarantor, one in Exeter and the other London
The area of course is irrelevant as it depends on who you’re renting off. So it’s a case of shopping around if you don’t meet the criteria as a guarantor.

A gap year to work hard to save up money is a way to do it. Work in holiday, evenings and weekends during studies. A university close to home to reduce costs on transportion and living.

A lot of parents on MN complain that young people can't find work but the poor kids at my childrens' universities did. They weren't fuzzy. They simply had to and they spend less on parties, going out and clothes.

Im also interested in support for low income families. Got two that will potentially be off to university in two years and worrying about what support I can give them.
One thing we have found is that our local university do an access to university course for y12 (have to meet criteria of either looked after, young carer, free school meals etc). If they complete it they get a conditional offer, if they accept and make it their first choice they'll get £3500 over 3 years to support them. Ones a lump sum to buy essentials when starting then the rest in installments.
Dc3 is also looking at degree apprenticeships but theres so much competition I'm not relying on them getting one.
Dc2 I will stay at home to hopefully reduce cost.
Im concerned about being unable to be a guarantor for housing (how do they secure housing?) I'm a single parent living on disability benefits and a small ill health pension. So got no way of increasing my income and I'll loose the uc top-up when they leave school which means they have no choice but to support them selves.

generally the parent the student most lives with earnings need to be put on the SLoan application

If that parent lives with another person as a partner that can also be accounted for
this will affect how much maintenance loan a student receives ie whether they get the maximum ( in increments ) or not.

Uni fees and lower maintenance loan are paid irrespective of earnings.

And which year is DC in?

Hi,
Are you divorced from the high income parent? As in they’re not part of your household.