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Original poster

Can’t afford uni

181 replies

Floodedflats · 25/10/2023 13:01

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.

OP posts:

Foxesandsquirrels · 26/10/2023 13:53

Ginmonkeyagain · 26/10/2023 08:44

Well I assume it is because most 18 year olds in full time education have little or no personal income. So if support was assessed on student rather than parental income, pretty much everyone would be entitled to full financial support.

Seeing as it's something they all have to pay back I don't have a problem with this. Maintenance loan is grossly unfair as it makes the assumption that just because a family earns that, they'll give it to said child. There's many many kids who would use uni as an escape from horrible home lives and they simply cannot afford to or have to live on a meal per weekend. To class yourself as estranged you have to prove you've had no contact with your parents for a year. How can most kids do that. They grit their teeth until they can leave.

Over 25k a year is nothing, and if you're not in a good place with your parents, forget it.

endlessfall · 26/10/2023 14:00

Ginmonkeyagain · 26/10/2023 09:56

But even in the good old days of grants these were mean tested based on parental income and parents were expected to make up the difference.

How is this different? (apart from the amount which I fully accept has clearly not kept up with the change sin the cost of accomodation).

I agree with this.
This dc's parents needed to make plans decades ago to set their dc up for Uni.
Yes, there is some financial support but for those with decent parental incomes there has always been an expectation that they will get financial assistance from their parents.
It is no use waiting until dc are 17 and then acting shocked that you have to support them with Uni.

steppemum · 26/10/2023 15:37

I went to uni 1985-1988

We paid no fees.
We all got a basic maintenance grant.
The rest of the grant was means tested on parents and they were expected to contribute.

My mum went to uni in the 1960s. It was the same, only her father had retired the year she went ot uni. So his means testing was based on previous years income, before he retired. They couldn't afford to support her. Her first year was tough.

No loans available.

in1980s, if you got the full grant (and many did) it was possible to live on, as long as you didn't smoke or have a car. But only outside London and only if you budgeted well, and you needed to work over the summer.

I went back to uni in 1990/1991 and we were amongst the first group to get offered loans. They were quite restricted, and again, didn't need to pay fees as there weren;t any. There was no grant at all. I lived from my loan, got nothing from my parents. But it was only one year, and I might have had some savings.

One thing that I really noticed with my kids going is that the subsidised student union doesn't seem to exist any more.

We had a massive cafeteria with cheap hot meals, and a bar which was about 1/3 cheaper than a pub. We all ate in the SU cafes. They were all subsidised or zero profit to provide cheap food etc for students. Even things like the laundry in the SU building was zero profit.

That has all long gone.

Interested in this thread?

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Higher education

SilverGlitterBaubles · 26/10/2023 19:39

Given that most households are experiencing higher mortgage repayments, higher rents and generally higher living costs this will undoubtedly impact their ability to afford to save for and fund their DCs university. What might have seemed doable a few years ago is no longer possible. Then we are also supposed to be saving for retirement at the same time 😂

EveSix · 28/10/2023 11:51

BeyondMyWits · 26/10/2023 08:05

That's fine if your study is all in one place or your allocated lab hours are weekday daytime. In Dd(21)'s house share, 2 are doing nursing, one dentistry, one physiotherapy and she is doing pharmacology. She is the only one who is there all week, the others have various placements... but she still has lab hours at the weekend, and some have them on odd evenings... these vary throughout the year. You'd need a very flexible employer.

Show quote history

You're right, that's a definite exception. Students in those situations face real challenges.
I studied education, and while I spent long periods on placement, it was at least regular hours. And the callcentre where I worked was definitely flexible, a sort of 90s forerunner of the zero hours contract...
Wishing your daughter and her friends every success.

Acinonyx2 · 28/10/2023 12:28

I went to uni in London early 80s - full grant - and you could manage in London especially with a summer job. Now we are paying dd's rent as she is on a minimum loan which is way less than even just her rent. It's a crippling amount for us and we are not poorly off. There is no justification for not having all students on the same max loan (which is still tough to manage on) - I don't know how we would manage if we earned less or had more kids.

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