SO, according to my boomer mum, sending a child through uni these days is the same as it was in the 90s

[PotteringAboutIn]

Because apparently they didn't have the wages back then

Ffs
Drives me nuts

What when uni was free, accommodation wasn't anywhere near as expensive and you even got a grant

What, with your mother? Pretty steep to hold her personally responsible for the path of global history and economy since WW2, no?

If she's over 80 she's Silent Generation not a Boomer. The oldest Boomers are just hitting 80.

Shall we talk about divorce being frowned on, not being able to sign for a loan, or work after your marriage, your money becoming your husband's, and rape not being an offence within marriage? No, probably best not. Much better to say it's been hard in different ways being human since we started being human and maybe not scoring points off each other.

Sure. She’s a millionaire a few times over, assets and cash, has been for almost 40 years. She has not had things hard financially, at all. She chose to be tight, chose to be the type of rich person who buys yellow sticker food. May have stemmed from a childhood of not enough food to go round but she became rich in her 30s. She’s now in her 80s. That’s 50 years to grasp her “new” reality, 50 years to look around her and read the room. She chooses not to. She wants to moan and complain. It soothes her and makes her feel like she’s on solid footing if she feels times are tough. I understand it - it’s warped, but I get it. Her internal logic makes sense to her. Just not to anyone else. Especially people who aren’t as rich as she is.

I don’t have it hard at all. I have way, way less than her, and I consider myself extremely fortunate in life. There’s no competition in my mind.

I'm also a boomer (ony just) and your mum’s wrong, I’m afraid, sending a child to university now is nothing like it was in the 90s, especially for a working‑class family. BUT standards have significantly changed since the 90's and the provision and standard of accommodation was significantly lower in the 80's and 90's than they are now so accommodation costs are accordingly much higher.

In the 90s, there were no tuition fees, maintenance grants existed, and students could realistically cover most of their living costs with part‑time work. Parents weren’t expected to contribute thousands, and graduates left with little or no debt.

Today, students face £9,250 per year tuition fees, £45–£60k+ debt on graduation, maintenance loans that are means‑tested on parental income, parents expected to contribute £2–5k a year, student rent that’s often triple what it was in the 90s (but far superior), living costs that simply can’t be covered by part‑time work anymore. Working‑class families are hit hardest because they fall into the gap of “not poor enough for full loan, not rich enough to top up”.

So no, it’s absolutely not the same. The financial burden today is far higher, far more complicated, and far more dependent on parental contributions than it ever was in the 90s.

But in the 80's and 90's working class students expected to work their holidays, lived in slumy accommodation with little privacy and few ever got holidays. I know this is an old example but look up the tv programme "Rising Damp" for examples of student accommodations.

Nowadays, student accommodation is comparatively luxurious but then you get the comparative debt to go with it.

I would also say the chances of paying a student loan back are also harder because as the years pass and the expectation of a degree becomes mainstream even for relatively junior rolls, less jobs pay the type of income that facilitates speedy payback of the student debt.

I mean giving up my job would have cost more than the childcare costs.

Absolutely! I posted similar thoughts earlier. Students lived on basically nothing and ate very basic food. It was very different - expectations were much much lower!

I agree, it should be free.

As a person who is early 60s, I don't identify at all with the Boomer moniker. I was still in school in the 80s.

The Generation Jones bracket is more comfortable

I recall many people in years past living in student digs as they were known. Often pretty appalling.
These days student rooms are all en-suite and frankly, some students would think they are slumming it if they are living in a penthouse suite of purpose built flats. Overseas ones will anyway.

I walked to school myself involving crossing 2 roads from 7. Then at secondary school I had to get a train all the way into town from the sticks on my own + change to another line then bus. ( private school so local kids didn't go... i was the only kid in our village who went)

It taught me a lot of independence although admittedly wasn't great when I was flashed at by a perv at 14 again on my own. But in those days no one really took those things very seriously.

I moved to my university city several months in advance and was lucky enough to get a 3 bedroom council maisonette all to myself. It was on a very tough estate (think drugs, prostitution and occasional stabbings and shootings) but close to the uni campus. I was robbed once. Second time someone broke in I confronted him with a freezer knife and he was so scared he jumped off the balcony and limped away. Needless to say it was a complete culture change from my nice middle class flat in my home city. The estate no longer exists but they filmed a series called "Cracker" there. Later when I stayed on to do postgrad I moved to a tower block and then to a new build HA flat.

I worked part time for most of my undergraduate years - mostly in call centers doing sales, debt collection and market research. I also had an interesting experience working as a dominatrix on a telephone chat line. That provided the material for my second year dissertation. The younger students lived in halls for the first year and then in shared houses. Most mature students lived locally and had working partners and children. I think they envied me because I had no children and was more or less free to do what liked, They did not envy me the council estate.

I never returned to my home city because I was offered academic work immediately I got my Ph.D.

My thoughts exactly.

Funny how everyone is more offended about the use of the term 'boomer' which is a recognized sociological descriptor based on shared experiences across a generation but everyone is bypassing the nasty ignorance of the comment you quoted.

I went to school in the 60s and 70s. All the mothers were SAHMs, where I lived; and working mothers were in the minority for the girls I knew at secondary - because my school took children from all over the county.

Agree. I'm a boomer your Mum is chatting shit @PotteringAboutIn I went to the equivalent of Uni and got a grant and had a 45 year career as a result. Had I not got the grant. My parents would not have been able to support me through it and I would have been in dead end jobs my whole life I imagine.

I hate being called a boomer, I hate all the GenZ, Gen X shite. We all know what we have all been through just by our ages. The labels have become pejorative.

I went 95 - had loans last year - worked summers and had some grant. Didn't have fees on top.

DH few years earlier got more grant and no loan and didn't work.

Sister few years later no grant and fee came in though parnets income had dropped so she avoided at time.

It's not the same at all now - but without it career jobs ie not short term p/t low wage no secuirty -here are near impossible to find.

MIl used to drive me mad with house prices and depoists - still can occaionally when it comes up with the kids. She hasn't moved on - though occaionally she updates her world view more with people knows stories - so sometimes she realises and sometimes she doesn't think it through still.

I'd try a firm no it's completely different now and change the subject.

Have you considered the possibility that it's not fine to say it if it upsets people of that age group? You may never have meant it to be an insult, but a lot of people do use it as one, as in 'Ok, Boomer

I don't like being called a Boomer. Baby Boomer is the correct term which I don't mind at all. I've never heard just 'boomer' used in anything but derogatory terms.

I do agree accomodation for students is often better these days - and safer but they graduate into massive debts unless parents are rich enough to avoid.

They start adult life in massive debts with high rents and with wages buying less and less - and then have to save for ever increasing house prices - no wonder they are increasingly disenchanted.

Absolutely! I posted similar thoughts earlier. Students lived on basically nothing and ate very basic food. It was very different - expectations were much much lower!

Mince and spaghetti. Warmed up. Every day. And not even real mince.

The grants of the late 70s were dependent on parents income. You only got a full grant if your parents had a low income. Many of our parents did not top up our grants so students were frequently in debt and left in debt. I know we were lucky to get grants at all but we were not just handed fistfuls of money.
We shared 4 to a room,no single accomodation and certainly no ensuites.Our baths were in long rows with only a partition between as were the basins which were two floors down .
They were three of the happiest years of my life!

I don’t even think at 60 you are a boomer, and by saying it we all know what she means.

This x 1000.