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

I'm sorry your mum is difficult OP but it sounds like this is a your mum thing and not a boomer thing. Especially as she is not even a boomer.

When Tony Blair thought it was a good idea for 50% of school leavers to go to university, he really didn't consider who was going to be paying for it. I went in 1974, and my grant and tuition barely cost £1400 in total.

And only about 8% of 18 year old school leavers went. I had AA Merit and I D grade at A level to get in.

I went in 2000s so a bit later but I think it's an entirely different ballgame now
I had no support from parents at all. And I mean none, I stayed in my accomodation all year round except maybe a couple of days each holiday when I'd visit home.
And I managed to fund it with student loans, grants and a psr time job. And my halls were one of the pricier catered ones.
The loans now are designed with the expectation that parents top them up. It's so expensive to go nowadays whereas back then it was a running joke that my parents were better off when I went to uni as they didn't have to feed me!

Also I was the only person I knew at uni with a job. And I really do mean the only one, I went to a Russel grant uni and no one worked and I was a novelty trotting off to my job every weekend

In the 90’s your parents income was assessed and they could be told they should give you £2200 a year, this at least covered costs but that was a lot of money. My parents were assessed as needing to give me half of that, we didn’t have that much spare - contrast that with the £4260 I was assessed as needing to give my dd which was more affordable.

Well quite.

What was the annual salary then?

Only free and with a grant until 1997, you pre-Xennial you!
But they were more or less guaranteed to find a job back then.

I find the expression "Boomer" to be as offensive as a Black person would find the N word. Especially as I am not a Boomer. I belong to the generation before - the so called silent generation. That name was given because my generation were taught to conform to rules and not make a fuss or express dissenting views.

The indoctrination did not work in my case as I rejected all the models which my parents held up to me about getting married and having babies.

When I finally got myself to uni in my early 40s it was still free and I did get a grant. The "university experience" was probably very similar. However we did not have to contend with all this woke nonsense and net zero. Standards have slipped considerably and grade inflation means that 1st class degrees are given out now like sweeties. In the 1980s/90s a 1st was given for exceptional merit.

I'm apparently a boomer and was still at school in the 80s!

No they didn't. Im 52. I got a loan and a grant. This covered all my accommodation. There were no fees and I got a part time job that covered my living expenses. Enough so that I got to abroad each summer holiday. My parents gave me nothing!

I went to UNI in the '90s. There were no fees for the years I was there. Mum and Dad did pay for my halls but they were so cheap compared to now even taking into account inflation. Oh and then I did a masters which you did have to pay for and it was £3k for the whole thing. I don't think it's at all comparable to today.

Also 60 isn’t a “boomer”.

I'm a boomer (apparently) and don't get my state pension until 67

Well unless she was born in the few months between the end of WW2 in 1945 and the 4th July 1946, she is too old to be described as a baby boomer anyway.

And give over with that term, it is ageist and offensive.

That's because no one uses Gen X in a disparaging way. We're not quite old enough yet to be stereotyped as out of touch/entitled/rude/selfish
etc. Our time will surely come though.

I find the expression "Boomer" to be as offensive as a Black person would find the N word.

🤦🏻‍♀️

Every generation think they have it the hardest.

Yes that sounds about right, think I paid £200 for private accommodation in my second year. But a student loan was only £1000 and that had to cover all your expenses including food and accommodation.

Your gen X I think...

Boomer is an ageist slur
no grants in the 90s
costs were relative

Just for info we didn’t all get grants. They were means tested, you only got a full grant if your parents income was below a certain level. I got the minimum grant, which was £50 for the academic year. And no, we weren’t rich. The comparisons with then and now aren’t straightforward, it’s a silly argument.

No, born early 1964, Gen X starts in 1965

And people born from March 1961 get their pension at 67