Can’t afford uni

[Floodedflats]

I’ve got a friend who has 5 children her eldest wants to go to uni next year but because of there income he will only get minimum allowance. He’s considering a job part time but it’s a course that he can’t really work along side due to the hours and extra work it’s a very intense course. She can’t support him as they are stretched financially as a family. He can’t afford to go as the money will leave him short after accommodation costs. The uni course isn’t covered at his local uni otherwise he would stay home. What do people do in these situations.

Is there anyway of commuting? Once he makes friends in reality he’ll be able to go out and sleep on a friend’s floor etc.

Had friends who did 2hr commutes each way - if train works you do uni work on them. Accommodation is the real killer. The loan will pay for trains or buses or if needed a clunker of a car & insurance & petrol.

Or you can try and find accommodation 3 to a room which used to exist at my uni! (I shared 2 to a room.)

The only courses it's not possible is medicine, dentistry or nursing.
I did a science degree 30 hours plus 3 hour pracs every afternoon bar Wednesdays I still worked part time and often did about 30 hours part time work ontop of my degree! It wasn't the easiest at times but perfectly possible.

OP as for your friend they can still afford it if they work full time this summer and save then part time during their course and work extra hours in the holidays.
1 year I had 3 part time jobs in the summer holidays it was tough going but it paid for the following year as I saved most of the money!

This is what I had to do. Is there any reason he can’t defer a year to work?

The tuition loan covers the fees.
The maintenance loan is means tested and this if you family income was over 70,000 you qualify for the lowest amount £4,500.
Dd is in Sheffield, her halls are £6,800. A shortfall of £2,300.
She also needs money to live on. We give her £500 a month and she has a part time job lined up.
It's bloody expensive. It's made us reevaluate everything and we are downsizing in order to be able to help all our kids through otherwise we just aren't going to be able to do it.
I feel for people who aren't able to do this though.

Just to be that person - the system of parents supporting their dc through uni HAS NOT CHANGED IN 50 YEARS OR MORE. This should not have come as a surprise, but they still went on to have 5 kids they couldn't afford. Yes it's arsey of me to say that. But actually pretty shitty for the kids

If they are at University they aren’t ‘kids’ they are adults and their opportunity to go on to Higher Education should not be reliant upon their parents ability - or willingness - to pay for them to do so. Maintenance Loans being tied to household income (and that would include the income of a step parent or parents partner who may have absolutely no interest in financially supporting or contributing to an adult child’s education) makes no sense whatsoever when there is currently no legal requirement for the parent to actually make the contribution in the first place. The loan is the responsibility of the University student to pay back in future if and when their earnings reach the threshold. And that is before you get in to detail of the fact that the loan amount - even the maximum - has not kept pace with inflation and the cost of living. It is a ridiculous system, I note Martin Lewis is making this a bit of a campaign now and good on him. The link between parental income and an adult’s chance to access University needs to be broken.

Year out working & saving. Summer & Easter jobs.

I will say prices have gone up massively.

A house I rented as a student in 2012 was £65 a week, plus £7 bills. House on same street on rightmove is up for rent at £140 a week without bills.

My student halls were £100 a week for an ensuite room, it was the newest and fanciest accommodation. Now a basic room with shared bathroom is £160 a week.

Costs have more than doubled within the past decade, the amount of loan you can get hasn't. I think I got the minimum due to household income and it was about £3800. Now its £4600 - an increase of £20 a week.

They may well have been able to afford the difference at the point where they had 5 kids. Minimum loan would just cover accommodation and bills so all you needed a top up for was food and fun - which you could do on £25 a week at a push - about £1K a year parental contribution or very easy to make up with a Saturday job. Now parents need to find over a grand just to cover the shortfall in accommodation, bills are more expensive, food etc more expensive.

Parental contribution has increased hugely, while their own cost of living has increased for the same reasons. Many would have had 5 kids at the time able to afford it at a push or assuming a saturday job would fill the void very easily. Now they can't.

So unfair. He'll have to try and get a job for the summer holiday before he goes, maybe a job when there (even though op says there isn't time, he might have to) and each holiday afterwards.

The parents need to see what they can stretch to. They must have thought about this before. How much can they afford each month? At least a little bit to send to him? Most parents plan this or at least consider it.

Plus she's got 5 kids. How is she going to cope when dc 2 or 3 wants to go?

The whole university system is a clusterfuck (thanks to Tony Blair). But a student can get a full maintenance loan by declaring that their parent/s refuse to support them. They then get saddled with a massive debt, obviously, but that's just the same as it is for 'poor' students whose parental income is so low that they are given the full maintenance loan.

OP stated the course is intense, and Im sure they know what they are talking about. My course was neither of the three and I still was not able to work.

It really isn't as simple as just saying 'my parents won't help me' and you get the full loan!!

It's a false argument too to argue that those with the full loan have more to repay, because repayments are linked to earning.

Two students could go to university, one getting minimum and one getting maximum loan and if they never reach the earnings threshold, neither would repay anything. So the supposedly 'poorer' student who was loaned more money is effectively getting a free hand out while the other student hasn't.

I also wonder about all these people who claim that they have been planning to pay for their children to go to university from birth, but haven't planned to pay for school fees. Why is it ok to pay for an adult child to be educated, but the vast majority of parents don't consider it for children who are still children? FWIW, I blew all my money on school fees, so all my DC have had full university maintenance loans.

University education ought to have absolutely zilch to do with parental income.

If your choice is work alongside an intensive full time course or not attend uni then it is possible (medical aside due to placements) and many do exactly that. Teaching can fall under the placement side of things but several friends still managed evening bar work.

It's tough going but many manage it.
I had a lecturer tell.me I should quit my job but explained that meant quitting the course and I still got a 2:1 and had a bit of a social life (usually after I had finished a shift).

Yes - obviously I know that. My point was that, in theory, a student whose parents have paid for their maintenance will never have to repay the maintenance element however much they earn, whereas a student who has had a full maintenance loan will always have to repay it above a certain income threshold.

And it is very straightforward for a young person to say that their parents refuse to fund them. It's a crap position to be in morally and psychologically, but it's perfectly possible.

Pass his A'levels and then work full time for three months, June thru August. He should be tax-free if he doesn't plan to work the rest of the year, so can save £4,500. Then take the full student loan available. That should see him through the year.

Expect to work full time, every summer and do the same. It is doable.

University education ought to have absolutely zilch to do with parental income.

Agree. But back in the real world...

Everyone is entitled to a loan, its just not enough. The maintenance aspect has hardly increased in over 15 years but compared the COL now to then!

Well, yes. We're in fantasy land, where only the really academically able young people go to university (which is what should happen), and those whose abilities lie elsewhere have decent, respected alternatives.

In the real world, every young person is told that "uni" (which is different from university, to my mind) is just the next step on the educational treadmill.

What came as a surprise to us was that rent is often payable from Aug/Sep right up to July even though most students are only there Oct - May at the latest which feels lie 2/3 extra unnecessary months rent. The student loan maintenance payments are paid 3 times a year in Oct, Jan and April from memory. So either the student or parents need to have cash to bridge the gaps. Oh and then there's the deposits to pay too. It is not cheap.

He will just have to get a job. I got a law degree from a good university and worked 20 hours a week evening and weekends in a supermarket. . I had colleagues who were medical student and other law students so it can be done you just have to be organised. Maybe even take a year out and save to give himself a bit of a buffer.

My daughter has gone to a local uni and my youngest will do the same next year. She's loving being at home for the course and access to all her comforts and my car!!
Not for everyone but it's a way round it

Is there no local unis so could live at home?

Other option is distance learning such as Open University, you still get a degree and they are well respected.

See, I think it's pants for students to live at home. University is so much more than just doing a course. Much as I would like to have my children here to keep me company, they need to fly.

It is certainly doable but only if they take a year out to build a cash buffer and work part time weekends and holidays.

In an ideal world, university would only be for the academically very able. There would be excellent alternatives for those who don't actually want or need a university degree, which would prepare them for the world of work without racking up debts. Those going to university would be given a grant- not means tested by parental household income. And in this ideal world, private schools and grammar schools wouldn't exist; there would be a genuine comprehensive system and university entrance would be based on genuine ability rather than gig