Looking like both kids are going to Bristol at the same time - how screwed am I?

[CottonOn]

Posting here for traffic.
Two kids, 13 months apart, both want to do aeronautical engineering, one girl starting this autumn, the second the next.

They’ll get the minimum maintenance loan. I’ve got roughly 20k set aside which I naively thought would give them a fairly pleasant 3 years. I’ve only just clocked that actually this isn’t nearly enough.

This is what the calculator is telling me

You could get a £4,767 Maintenance Loan to contribute towards your living costs.
How your Maintenance Loan is calculated:
£10,227 (the maximum Maintenance Loan available)

• £5,460 (the amount you might not be eligible for, based on your answers)

= £4,767 (the amount you could be eligible for, based on your answers)

I’m going to have to stump up £10,920 in the years where they are both there simultaneously just to get to the basic £10,227 and it ooks like accommodation is going to eat up 8k, so even that won’t be enough.

Can anyone tell me how much it’s realistically going to cost to top them up enough to live in Bristol? I’ve been so blithely naive all these years thinking I’d squirrelled enough away. Could kick myself.

Agree very steep.
All my three sons chose hilly Unis, My other at the moment is at Exeter.
They do cycle though, tbh I struggled walking up to the building where his studios are and indeed even around the halls on the North Village site.

@CottonOn I have one at Bristol, it’s extortionate. He shares a large house with 8 friends in BS1! He works around 16 hours per week in quite a well paid work from home bank role so that helps.

Yep, this is where you all need to be writing to your MPs and making noise. It is disgraceful. Especially as it’s a loan anyway!
if everyone pressurised and,lobbied their MP it might get more traction.

Two of mine were at university at the same time - 1st and 2nd degrees. It's hard and much of my salary went on flats in London/Bristol/Newcastle or wherever they were. They didn't have time for jobs in term time but always worked holidays. Child 4 is now at university - I pay her rent and top up the student loan as well and that's in a much cheaper city. She tells me she has friends who can;t afford to eat properly and struggle with their courses because they have two jobs. It's rubbish. I know she and a couple of others feed a couple of their other friends by saying they have spare quite regularly.

On the bright side, we recently celebrated mother's day in London with three of the four children. DH went to pay the bill for dinner for the six of us to find dd1 and her bf had already paid. Very touched. They do appreciate what we were able to do for them. DH and I are of that generation when university was free AND you got a grant and we are very aware of the struggle for many young people now. My older girls would always say look for an apprenticeship or be very very sure that you want to be saddled with that debt and your course is worth it.

As soon as they get their firm offer.
Dont miss the deadline they will give your dc.

No disadvantage in late offer. But if they miss the deadline they will be as they’ll be in the same pot as those who get offers after results day.

They do not allocate rooms until after the last deadline for offer candidates.

Hi OP,

Lots of good advice about scholarships/sponsorship already.

If there is an option of an integrated masters/year in industry, they should absolutely apply for this. Industrial placements typically pay pretty well for 9 months or so of work. I got around £18,000 over ten years ago and this was enough to pay all my expenses for third and fourth year (including course fees) and save a bit.

Year in industry fees are usually lower (or they used to be) and depending on where said placement is they might have cheap(er) housing for a year. (Have seen lots of comments saying aero industry is clustered around Bristol, so might not be a big reduction here.)

This still leaves you with 2x 2 expensive years - it might be that you have to take out further loans. 😬

If a reputable degree apprenticeship exists then I think that would be the preferred option.

I agree that the threshold for getting the minimum maintenance loan is ridiculous and it’s stupid that most kids are only eligible to borrow £5-6k.

i also agree that some of the rents being charged are obscene and exploitative.

However… I have worked in a university for over 15 years and the vast majority of students have a much much higher standard of living than previously. Obviously they all have phones/laptops but I see an awful lot of MacBooks (which are in no way necessary for our course), AirPods, expensive trainers and clothing. Uni accommodation is partly expensive because students expect en-suite rooms and dishwashers and aren’t happy with cheaper options which have slowly been demolished due to lack of demand. The campus shop is bursting to the seams with students buying £5 meal deals at lunchtime, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a student with a lunchbox; most seem to bring a takeaway coffee or other pre-prepared food/drink into lectures. Lots of funky cafes around the edge of campus that are always full of students eating £12 brunches. Our campus has a food fair on Tuesdays and the stalls charge £7-8 for a small main meal like curry or wraps and it’s heaving every week. I don’t mean to blame everything on avocado toast BUT it seems that many young people have become accustomed to a very expensive standard of living.

Many students don’t work part time or during the holidays (I know as I write numerous references and see a lot of CVs), some do but most are very reluctant to because they’re either too anxious, and/or have very little initiative to actually go out and look for work and/or don’t want their summers of fun interrupted by having to work. I do get the odd student who clearly works their bum off trying to make ends meet but the majority do not. Many also spend small fortunes on holidays/festivals/travelling during the summer breaks. You only have to work around 10-12 hours a week to take home £4-500 a month and students can also easily work full time during the holidays if they choose to and save the money if they are living at home.

Sorry to sound like an old cynical moaner but the point of my post is a) most students probably don’t need as much to live off as they think they do and b) they can earn most of the shortfall themselves

Although I commented on getting jobs in term time, as PP have stated, that’s not always feasible.

The engineering and aerospace companies clustered around Filton do take on summer interns on a paid basis so worth making contact with them early.

Bristol has a thriving festival and events scene and they might find they can do one off day events (8 hours ish) over weekends/bank holidays and pick up a decent wage (most are real living wage) for pulling pints or stewarding (and get entry to said events others are paying £100 a ticket for).

Yes the accommodation is a PITA but other things can be cut down on.

They’re smart girls so they’ll work it out. In the end it’ll be so worth it. The industry needs more women!

Thanks for posting this @CottonOn as I have been saving a similar nest egg for my DC when they head to Uni but I hadn't really thought how eye wateringly high rent is nowadays.

It make me think I should encourage mine to a cheap city and buy an investment property they could share with friends. Though I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to share with each other!

The financial burden seems to get worse not better as you age. I am lucky that we are financially secure and would be classed as a high income household but what with a massive mortgage we are trying to overpay, pensions that are way way off where they need to be and kids that are a constant money pit it doesn't seem like we are ever going to be financially comfortable.

I have a 14 month gap , 17 and 18. The eldest decided Uni wasn’t for her which was a bit of a relief but the youngest is keen to go. I’m hoping he’ll choose our local uni but if not it’s going to be tough financially. I hope you get it sorted.

I’m adding a Cat username to this. Those areas are rough and I wouldn’t want my daughters living there.

Ours are 9, 6 and 4 years old and we are saving already for possible uni fees and I know PIL save for each of them. It's madness. Universities are businesses now. They pay ridiculous salaries to 'leadership' people. They make profits from accommodation, own significant businesses/property in cities and are generally very very wealthy institutions. As ever, the public are the paying customers and fleeced.

@Whereareallthemillionaires when you say 'if they miss the deadline', what deadline do you mean? Is there a deadline to submit accommodation choices between time of firming an offer, but before A- results?

Many thanks for info 😊!

I suspect that the students at your university come from well off backgrounds if they are spending that much. My DC are at a universities where a large proportion of students went to private schools so their parents are able to give them more money. However, many students want cheaper accommodation and don't care about ensuite but there is very little available and they don't get much choice. Never heard of accommodation with dishwashers. All my DC's friends work in the summer so if they don't at the university you work at that may reflect a different demographic to the majority of students at other universities.

I went full time at work to support mine
I did not want them working term time
We had a 1 year overlap
No fees as in Scotland
We paid /pay £1100 a month each to cover rent and living expenses
They worked holidays which paid for extras and my in-laws chipped in
I was a very skint student myself back in the day and did not want that for them

Yes - UoB give a date that you have to submit accommodation choices by. DS had to choose 9 and he got his second choice (the most expensive of course!). I seem to think the deadline was in June but I can’t fully remember.

it’s better than some unis where it’s first come first served even if all the offers haven’t come out yet.

This!

Students take out loans to get themselves through it.

It's very entitled of the students to think their parents will pay for all of it, or even some of it.

It's very foolish for the parents to think they should pay for all of it, or even some of it.

@penjil if the parents earn over 25k they aren’t allowed to borrow enough. The parents have to pay.

I went to uni in Bristol, graduated in 2010. My parents didn't have any money to give me, I worked 25 hours per week, got a first. Didn't pay council tax, lived in Clifton village in a lovely flat and had a great time. Not a brag post more of a they will be fine and don't worry about it.

Why foolish?
My money ,my choice
Their ability to take out a loan is restricted by their parents’ income

Incase it wasn't obvious I took out student loan and maintenance loan

🤣🤣
what is it with Bristol and cats 🤣 on MN.

Lovely barge for sale 3bed in BS1…..just spotted on rightmove. I’m assuming BS1 isOK

I’m In that industry and would advise to definitely look at summer placements. Not only will they be better hours and better money than bar jobs, but ours is essentially a pipeline onto the grad scheme so provides great experience and opportunity for employment afterwards (as long as they work hard obv). It also might be worth looking at degree apprenticeships. If my kids want to go into engineering I’ll definitely steer them towards these instead of the traditional uni route as you can work and study at the same time, minimise debt, and many of our apprentices out perform the grads at the same career point because they’ve got years more experience. Just a thought if they love the industry but aren’t wedded to the idea of university- there’s so much industry In Bristol they can still get the lifestyle, but whilst earning!