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Original poster

How can this be right? It isn’t . Martin Lewis on uni costs.

293 replies

Dowser · 28/01/2019 21:06

Watched Martin Lewis tonight as grandson is off to uni in two years.

So...it’s £9000 a year tuition
Then the highest living allowance is presently £8700 per annum

So...if your parents earn over £25k , your maintenance loan is reduced.
Some parents didn’t realise that they were expected to top up to the full amount
One poor lad was attempting to live on £4K . His parents hadn’t realised they were meant to top up

Then there was a young girl who had to leave uni because her mum got a new partner. The students loan went down from full to low and this guy who wasn’t her father, had only been with the mum was expected to pay for someone else’s child. I think there was a shortfall of £5k

Martin Lewis rang up the student loan company and was told it was correct.

He’s looking into it.
I was shocked at that.

OP posts:
MyDcAreMarvel · 28/01/2019 21:10

It’s household income thoughbe no differebt for tax credits for example. It’s very wrong that those parents left their ds living on £4K. Of course people know.

Somewhereovertheroad · 28/01/2019 21:11

I didn't see this. Where was it on?

Notajourno · 28/01/2019 21:13

It’s been like this for at least a decade as it was the same when I was at Uni.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General money
Puggles123 · 28/01/2019 21:16

You apply and get a decision and breakdown, I saw mine was low even though I got the maximum amount so applied for loads of jobs the summer before starting and topped my money to live off of up. Unless you do a placement heavy course no reason this can’t be done; it’s never been easy living off of a student loan!

Luaa · 28/01/2019 21:17

Surely it's not always a case of parents not realising they are meant to top up, butparebts genuinely can't afford to top up? Loads of people don't have a spare 5k a year to give to their children! And what if you have more than one at uni?

TheZeppo · 28/01/2019 21:18

The bit with the mum’s new partner was shocking. They were basing it on his earnings in the year 2016-2017: Using is earnings BEFORE they were a couple.

I can understand it if he was living there at the time, but that is frankly ridiculous.

JeanBodel · 28/01/2019 21:18

It was like this for me in the 90's. My parents couldn't pay anything. I had to prove I had lived on my own for three years and was therefore financially emanicpated from them before I could go to uni.

Comefromaway · 28/01/2019 21:19

I went to uni almost 30 years ago and parents were expected to top up maintenance grants according to household income. It’s not new.

Bishalisha · 28/01/2019 21:19

I’ve got a long while yet until I cross this bridge. Can I just clarify

  • maximum loan is £8700 assuming this is if parents are on less than £25k
  • if you’re on more than £25k it’s reduced and parents have to top up £8700?
  • what is parents refuse? Do they legally have to top up?
  • if child has parents who are no longer together and lives mainly with 1 parent, does the NRP have to support them?
Bezalelle · 28/01/2019 21:19

I've never understood this. The vast majority of students are over 18 and therefore independent adults. Parental income shouldn't even come into it.

hidinginthenightgarden · 28/01/2019 21:20

I had this when I went. I had to get a job to support myself.

Mormont · 28/01/2019 21:21

It's is made very clear on the forms that that is how it works.

Cheesycheesytwist · 28/01/2019 21:21

It's alway been this way. I got minimum loan due to my parent's income even though my dad didn't help me out with a penny. Whilst friends with lower earning parents got the full loan plus lots of help from their parents.

Tiredeyes21 · 28/01/2019 21:26

It’s nothing new just the costs are higher, ie at uni my parents income was taken into consideration , income around 40k. They weren’t in a position to be able to support me... loan for living from SLC was £3k uni accom was 5k...: I had a shortfall.
Uni accom was paid in installements... I worked to cover the excess!

It’s always been like this....

Original poster
Dowser · 28/01/2019 21:29

Bishalisha ..don’t know about split up parents.
But figures are correct at time of writing.

If child goes to London university parents may have to find £17.5 maintainance top up over three years of household earnings are over £70k
If you’ve got twins ...there’s not much of a reduction
Basically if a young person with no support from his family he’s racking up debt at £17,700 per year
So basically my grandson will leave uni with £53k debt aged 21

Our mortgage has never been that much.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dowser · 28/01/2019 21:33

Yes but what about the woman with a partner of a year
Her daughter was in her second year at uni when she had to leave because of the change in her living allowance

I bet she’s never really got to know the new man in her mums life.
Why should he be expected to pay for a child / adult he barely knows.

That’s the bit I was referring to in the header.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dowser · 28/01/2019 21:36

My son’s income is less than £25k ...there’s nothing extra to pass my grandsons way...and two other dependent children

It’s time the whole university system was overhauled
Bringing it from 3 years to two would save the youngsters £17.5k

OP posts:
SinceYouAskMe · 28/01/2019 21:36

When I was at university pre-loans a mate of mine had a parent in the creative industries with a very volatile income. One year he wrote a book and had a pretty good income on paper. The next year: nothing. My friend had his grant slashed based on the previous year’s assessment and father simply couldn’t afford to top it. He lived in the scummiest cheapest bedsit I’ve ever seen and paid for it by doing the 2am cashing up shift at McDonalds which paid pretty well.

IWannaSeeHowItEnds · 28/01/2019 21:40

It's outrageous but true. Personally, I think the mother shouldn't have allowed her new man to move in unless the pair of them were willing to make up the financial shortfall to her dd.
This system takes no account of parents who have more than one dc at university or families where a step parent has his own DC to financially support or where parents or step parents are unwilling or unable to pay to support adult children.

Fiddie · 28/01/2019 21:40

It's rubbish isn't it?

The maintenance loan doesn't cover the accommodation cost in most cases.

Having two at uni is costing me a fortune.

BowBeau · 28/01/2019 21:44

It should be based on the income of the student’s legal parents or guardians. Not on the income of whatever random boyfriend happens to be living with mum. The bf would quite rightly refuse to pay for a kid that isn’t his!

Redlocks28 · 28/01/2019 21:47

It’s horrific. Tuition fees are abhorrent and education should be accessible to all.

dottycat123 · 28/01/2019 21:50

Students who qualify for the full maintenance loan are often much better off than the students who get the minimum. My ds graduated last summer, the maintenance loan just covered the cheapest uni accommodation in first year and a room in a large flat share after which was truly grim. We could only afford to give him £50 a week for food and spending. He got a bar job in his uni town.

Touchmybum · 28/01/2019 21:50

Student finance is a joke. Doesn't even begin to cover accommodation never mind living costs. Takes no cognisance either of having more than one child in uni at a time. We've two at once. TG one of them lives at home.

BowBeau · 28/01/2019 21:56

Then factor in the rubbish tuition that students are receiving from overworked lecturers who are often on zero hour contracts and receiving poverty wages to cobble together teaching materials. It isn’t worth the high tuition fees that students pay.