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

Nor can I. I am profoundly aware that I had free education and I have had to pay £££ for DC's, as well as them getting into debt. Not comparable. I am technically a boomer though that tone deaf attitude was much more prevalent ime, in what got called the 'lost generation' - war children, who didn't have the adult stress of coping with wartime, and grew up in an era of free everything: dental, medical, eyesight, along with cheap housing, stable jobs, CoL that allowed a family to exist on a single income, great pensions and homes that rocketed in value by a thousand percent or more. Yet they fail to see that this was not sustained for those (include late boomers) who followed them. I've always found this trait more prevalent in pre-boomers.

Then she is a 'lost generation' not a boomer. Don't tar us with their brush

Don't forget the windfalls from privatisations/demutualisations, endowment policy windfalls, MIRAS - income tax relief on mortgage interest, much lower indirect taxes, etc etc.

Unfortunately they don't get it. My DM didn't get that my DS had to go to kindergarten so I could work. I never told her the cost. I don't know how she thought as a single parent with no money from my ex we would live let alone thrive.

Then she didn't get why I wasn't "forcing" my DS to stay at private school (that I paid for) rather than him going to a selective state school that he wanted to go to. Or that he didn't want to go to uni and how much it cost because I paid for my own uni as an independent adult.

My DGM didn't get how hard my life was because she compared it to hers (with a hands on husband who did childcare and cooking, a cleaner and an ironing lady) and yet she "managed".

Some cannot visualise things they don't experience.

This is just an anecdote - that your parents had a very hard time and were skint (and couldn’t drive?)

About 45% of households owned 'one' car. 8% owned more than one.
Nobody on my housing estate had a car. I was never even travelled in a car until I met my partner at 17. Vast majority of women didn't learn to drive until much later in years. Hard to believe? You had to be there.

Not every woman left school with no qualifications and only worked part time minimum wage jobs

Only 10 - 12% of the population went to university in the 70s.
Not everyone even stayed on for GCE O levels.
Apprenticeships were more the path to getting a good job.
Mostly for men though.

did you grow up in the 60s and 70s? If not, don’t tell me what it was like where I or DH grew up! It’s not an anecdote, it’s the society in which we both grew up all around us

That childhood was mine too. Washing was done in the sink until mother got a twin tub when I was 10ish. No telly. Radio with valves :) Only oven was the range oven by the fire. Try temperature controlling that! Tin bath in front of the fire on a Sunday night. Toilet block up the street.

I find it quite funny now. It was awful but we didn't know or mind because it was normal. The idea of my father being able to drive, let alone having a car. . . well!
We'd have been the talk of the neighbourhood.

I was a newly qualified accountant in 1990 on £17,500 p.a. I could easily afford a nice (relatively newly built - 3/4 years old) flat for £21,000!

Today, newly qualified accountants in my area are on £35,000 p.a. and similar "nice" one bedroom flats are £150,000.

All the comments about cars, washing machines are etc mere background noise compared with the massive hike in housing costs over the past few decades compared with pathetically small rises in wages. Wages doubled over the same time period that homes have increased in cost six fold!

Yes when I left school in 1976 it was very much still the boys do woodwork and girl do needlework kind of thing. A girl apprentice wouldn’t have been an option.

Thanks @Badbadbunny Actually im now remembering I had a relative who became a chartered accountant without going to university, he was born in the 1930s. I think he studied whilst also working and raising a family for several years.

For accuracy:

The ‘lost generation’ were born between 1883 & 1900 and generally lived through two world wars.

The ‘greatest generation’ from 1901 to 1927.

The ‘silent generation’ between 1928 & 1945.

Baby boomers from 1946.

Can’t have been too great to be alive during two world wars. Every generation has had different tough times, including the young today.

In fairness, I would argue the lack of a twin tub or modern washing machine was probably something that impacted your mother more than you? Likewise even the lack of a car. I'm not saying that means you had it easy. But I would argue that a lack of material things growing up, and then those things becoming cheaper and more available as one reaches adulthood is the experience of the baby boomer (no slur intended) generation that is often referred to. That sort of progress is part of what makes it feel like life is "getting better" for people. Although we still have technological progress- rise in social media, smart phones, AI I think there is less of a sense (rightly or wrongly) that this is making life better/easier than eg washing machines did.

Different era. They changed the rules. My first boss was similar age to that (born 20/s or 30s) and was a "chartered" despite not having been to Uni (very few did back then). But by the 70s/80s, things were different and it had become more "elite". Then I think in the 90s/00s they changed the rules again to open up the qualification to non-graduates.

I started my training, as a graduate in 1980. Most of the intake in my year at my firm were non graduates, who took 4 years to qualify, compared to the three years for graduates. The years below me, during my training there were also mainly non graduates. One became a partner and another set up his own firm, after a spell of post qualification experience at one of the Big Four.

If you worked for a few years and waited until you were 21* or over, you were treated as an "independent" student and your parents' income didn't come into it. You got the full grant and travel expenses regardless.

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

No need for the agism. I was born in the 50s and have grandsons at university, I understand the problems perfectly well. Not everyone is like your mum.

And me!

Remember house prices going through the roof?

In the early 70s, some friends bought a tiny terraced house in South Croydon for £8k. Within a year, it was worth £15k.

Two friends of mine who became chartered accountants without going to uni were born in 1952 and '53.

Remember house prices going through the roof?

I don't remember specifically then but I lived in the NE so it wasn't as dramatic.
I do, however, remember that a woman couldn't get a mortgage without a male guarantor!

Actually I remember (all too clearly 😭) buying a flat (West London zone 4) in 1988 for £65k and selling it in 1995 for £38.5k.

Had friends who had their houses repossessed...

I went to uni in the 90s, about 10-15 percent of people went and less than 1% of people got Firsts.
So a person with a degree was someone really bright and well-educated and quick on the uptake. A First denoted true excellence.
Sadly this isn’t always the case now given nearly 50 percent of people go.
I’ve had interns come in with a degree and strings of As who just didn’t seem…that bright. Not thick but zero initiative or ability to think. It’s not the identifier it once was.

They didn’t. My dad earned around £12K a year when I went to uni (he was a university academic) and I qualified for £500 a term grant which covered my rent. Mum and he made up the recommended £250 extra per term. The rest I earned in part time holiday jobs. (I was very frugal and spent about £10 a week on food.)
When my sister went she got the full grant, which was really a big help.
As you can imagine, that £250 per term or £750 per year was a big stretch out of £12K. The personal allowance was much lower in the early 90s so he will have taken home quite a bit less than 12K. Mum had a part time job.

So I think your mum is right, though not expressing it very well.

If she’s over 80 she’s silent / boomer started in 1946 so maybe borderline. Big difference I find.

I went to Uni as a mature student when loans were introduced in 1992. There were many on campus demos and an occupation of the Senate IIRC.
It wasn't easy, I had 2 children and a flat to pay rent etc, on.
I guess it just depends on individual circumstances. I can clearly remember standing in the queue at the on campus bank though, as a young undergraduate paid in a cheque for £30,000.