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

[Dowser]

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.

reflectant unis. went from 3k a year to 9k a year overnight

In addition to reflectant's explanation as to why this is bollocks, a condition of charging the £9k fees was that a third of it was spent on supporting students on low incomes. So even less money to deliver actual teaching. No number control though thank God

For some people that will end up being the situation

Not everyone has the choice to stay at home. If you grow up rurally or in a town with no university you have to move away.

True but even then you have the choice between cheaper and more expensive areas of the country.

True but even then you have the choice between cheaper and more expensive areas of the country.

So every cheap part of the U.K. has a full range of undergraduate degrees available to any student that applies with a full range of grades...?

True but even then you have the choice between cheaper and more expensive areas of the country.

It would be interesting to plot a scattergraph of cost of living during degree with lifetime earnings for a range of degrees. I suspect Imperial looks pretty good, even given the cost of living in west London, and (random coastal post-92) looks pretty terrible even given how cheap it is to live there. The sweet spots are probably places like Manchester and Birmingham, but it would be an interesting piece of research.

I never knew how university works until reading this as I never went. I didn't even do A levels as my school wouldn't let me stay on due to only getting c's at GCSE. I didn't know parents were expected to top up. I feel there days like Every one has been so expects everyone knows how it works. I'm dreading my daughter reaching that age as there is no way I can afford it with her two younger brothers at home. I'm barely getting by as it is.

It sounds like schools could be doing a lot more to explain student finance to parents. I only really got the full information when visiting universities for open days.

I've had two at uni together, one has now graduated and working.
They both got loans of about £6000 and we made up the difference to £8000.

Halls are the most expensive but at least they only pay for the term time. Private rentals in 2nd and 3rd years are 52 weeks, even though they only live there for 30 weeks.

No one actually makes parents pay up. Of the youngsters I know those with parents on below £25k were often the best off because they got the full loan and their income was guaranteed.
Some friends of DS really struggled because their parents had a high income so they got minimum loans but got nothing from parents.
I do think that if the loan is going to be dependant on parents income there should be a system which enforces payment.

I'm not finding the top ups as bad as I thought we would
No same here. There is a big saving at home on grocery, utility bills etc.

I find the whole subject so depressing
A child studies hard from 5 to 18 to get good grades to get on a decent career path ...and then gets clobbered at the end of it all..if they have parents who don’t have deep pockets.

What a reward.
There you go.
There’s your degree and £50k of debt!!!
Happy job hunting.

Someone is making a lot of money out of this. I rented out a lovely three bed two bath home out for £425 per month ...and students/ parents are expected to pay £600 a month for one room.

Shocked that this has been allowed to happen.

Why shouldn’t parents be supporting their children? If one is unlucky enough to have unsupportive parents then one works for a few years to save up enough to go to uni or works part time during uni. Lots of people do this. It’s not like they are expected to pay the fees upfront or something.

So every cheap part of the U.K. has a full range of undergraduate degrees available to any student that applies with a full range of grades

No, but then maybe expectations need to be changed. A lot of 18 year old's take almost pointless degrees because it's "expected". Or because they like the look of the course or it's a "good" uni. It is fully possible to take a year or two out and work full time and save up. It's actually not a bad life lesson to learn and then when they do go to Uni they appreciate the opportunity. Because that's what it's become. It isn't a "right" it's a good opportunity IF you can get it.

As I said, I actually don't agree with it. I think the student loan system is terrible! But that is the situation as it is. I had to do my degree as a mature student/single mother.

This is so tough. My 2 dc are only year apart, aged 15 & 14. I earn a decent salary as a single parent at £42k but I have a huge mortgage (to get dc into decent schools). I will really really struggle to give my dc any extra each month. I have saved a small amount over the years which would give them around £150 a month each over the 3 years but that's nowhere near enough for them to live on.

It's crap!!!

DS1 has a fairly heavy timetable and also travels every day which adds a couple of hours every day. He doesn't have job at the moment for reasons completely unrelated to not having the time. It would be good for him to have one and will need to get one soon but not really just for the money. He's quiet , shy, socially anxious and spends too much time in his room. last year he broke up from school and exams at the end of April and didn't start uni until mid Sept. he finished at the end of November, for exams but didn't have any to do. He went back mid january and is due to break up for exams at end of March. 2 week hol and 5 weeks for exams, except he wont have any. He's then not due back until late September. He has every evening and weekend free. he has stuff to do but generally completes it in 10/15 minutes instead of the 2 hours or so allocated. he's clever but not a genius. we are in Scotland so he isn't paying fees but i'd be pissed off if I was paying £9k for that. To be fair he was offered to skip the first year but we all thought it wasn't a good idea as we thought the lighter work level would help him to get integrated and settle in without too much pressure. Some people on the course who haven't studied the subject before are struggling a bit, so I don't think it's pitched too low. He could easily fit a job in as well as lectures, tutorials and labs.

I think they could all work to some level especially at the beginning. Neither DH or I went to Uni from school and me not at all (he went as a mature student)

You don’t need every cheap area to have a university titchy, you just need a handful of universities in a few cheap areas covering a broad range of subjects and entry targets. And yes that probably is the case - it does mean that students from middle income homes may have a more restricted choice though.

Years ago when parents moaned at the cost of top-up fees I used to blithely say “if you could afford to keep your DC in food, clothes and pocket money when they were at sixth form then you can probably afford to give them the same when they’re at university (all other things being equal)”. But since then the maintenance loans have not kept pace with student rents and hence no longer cover accommodation costs so some parents really are unable to provide sufficient top ups.

I didn't realise it was supposed to be topped up, I was living on £200 a term after a grand was spent on my accommodation. I had living on £20 a week down to an art (including travel, stationary, etc) after the first term where I hadn't budgeted before and spent the last 6 weeks eating the breakfast provided as my only meal each day.

I would have had a much less stressful time if I hadn't been watching every penny.

I find the whole subject so depressing
A child studies hard from 5 to 18 to get good grades to get on a decent career path ...and then gets clobbered at the end of it all..if they have parents who don’t have deep pockets

But it's been this way for about 70 years

DS1 in 1999 excellent halls north of England cost £60 pw. DS2 in 2002 cost £70 per week in Wales for meh halls. DS3 2019 will cost £160 upwards in ok halls north of England per week.

Now I don`t know how that equates with inflation not being a mathy type.

A child studies hard from 5 to 18 to get good grades to get on a decent career path ...and then gets clobbered at the end of it all..if they have parents who don’t have deep pockets

Some of us did that and still couldn't afford to go to Uni even back in the full grant days. Because some of us needed to earn to contribute to the family pot. Such is life.

Just checked the cost of living calculator put in £60 1999. In 2018 was £102.14 with 2.8% inflation. So accommodation has overtaken inflation.

www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

Where are there halls at £60 per week? None of the universities we looked at had them that cheap. We only looked in the North of England as well.

I fee conflicted about loan or grant entitlement being linked to parental income. Not everyone has parents wjo are prepared to contribute or able to. Kust because you earn over a certain ampunt doesn't mean tht money isn't alll committed for example to child care for siblings, having 2 cars or high commuting xosts. All of which enablrs the parents to earn that higher sum. I certainly remember (my self being one) people who got less loan due to parental income and others who hot tge full amount having more money to fund their life. Where i had a job. On the other hand I strongly believe education is vital for social mobility. I think people from the lowest income families would be put off going as their parents genuinely can't help.

Where are there halls at £60 per week?

1999! :o

Warwick had halls as cheap as 67 per week last year if you were prepared to share.
warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/studentaccommodation/campus_rents_20172018.pdf I assume that the bargain basement ones are first come first served though.

I have a 5 year old. We started saving for her education when she was 18 months old. We will only have one child as we can't afford more than one. This thread is terrifying and I'm bloody glad we started saving when we did.