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

Meh. It’s all relative. I was earning, full time, less than £8k in the early 90s. Bit different to now.

And congratulations! You just showed yourself up as ageist. Good for you.

I agree. It’s like Karen insult.

Student loans did exist but they were much lower. I paid £20 per week in Birmingham in 1991 for student accommodation. Available for first year and final years only. Life was cheaper and more simple in many ways, but you had to work harder for your degree. No personal pcs, no google, no recorded lectures, students drank lager, no ensuites.

I think my generation have it easier than the next, in terms of jobs available and lower much lower house prices, so I personally don't agree every generation thinks they had it worse

And ibthink there's reasons boomers have earned a bad reputation based on behaviour and attitude

would you say the same about snowflake?

Exactly. Giving up a full wage is generally more expensive than nursery fees.

It's all relative. I'm sure that for some it is easier to put kids through uni these days, because they are wealthier than their parents. For some, it will be harder. You can't compare a whole generation when it's individual circumstances that make a big difference.

Boomers were born 1946 onwards. If shes over 80 she must be Silent Generation unless shes over 98.

She’s not a boomer for starters, at over 80 she’s the Silent Generation.

Yes negative behaviours and attitudes of the following generations, who somehow think’boomers’ were neglectful absent drunken parents, none or which is true.

It was Mike and the Mechanics who sung the song that goes, "Every generation, blames the one before...". To true.

You don’t seem to have taken any notice of this point, OP. Your mum isn’t a boomer, any more than my DM is. (She’s 86. There are things about her that annoy me but she isn’t a boomer.)

I went to uni 2012-2016. Estranged parents so accommodation costs and living costs was all on my shoulders. I worked full time accross 2 jobs while at college and at uni. When I say I SCRAPED by i really mean that. The cost was so high. I dread to think what it would look like now in terms of cost.

I know not the point of the thread but I sometimes get a little sad when I see posts about parents and paying for the cost of uni. It's nice they have that but it makes me wish I had someone doing that and supporting me. It's hard for parents trying to get thier kids through it but even harder for kids who have to do it themselves.

She said 60 something, the youngest boomers are 62 this year

Agree, I have had it easier than those younger than me. The average MNs user is likely to be a “boomer” though so criticism does not go down well. if

@OakleyAnniesnowflake is not a term for a generation though? Millennial or Alpha would be the equivalent

If she’s in her eighties isn’t she silent generation rather than baby boomer anyway? I thought I’d recently seen that the oldest baby boomers are turning 80 this year and the oldest Gen X are turning 61.

My impression is there are more Gen X ers around here. My parents are boomers.

I tend to think that, between the generations, some things are easier and some things are harder. Economically, I think it's generally harder these days (but I'm better off than my parents and my married DD is better off than I am).

Agree with this. My DM is nearly 80 so early boomer. Like many of her post war contemporaries she has faced very difficult times, but she is completely switched on to the specific challenges facing millennials and gen Z and I think she would be the first to say that her generation had it better overall (even though she as an individual is far from the stereotype -rich boomer).

Likewise I feel very sad for my late gen Z/gen A children because it is absolutely inescapably obvious that their life chances are measurably worse than my own.

One difference I always think about from the 80s (when I was a student) is that people lived with much less material stuff, just spent less, expected less. Students would notoriously be living on beans on toast and eeking out their grants as most didn’t work - I just didn’t see my own DC having this lifestyle as students (all graduated in last 8 years). People mostly live differently now, have different expectations of what the minimum needed to get by on is - I’m not talk about true poverty here, just average people. I don’t think I ate out in a restaurant till I was about 16 for example.

So when you try to compare costs and cost of living etc, you’re comparing very different things - I don’t think students now are prepared to survive on 75p a day and live in (relative) hovels. It’s just not the same.

The 80s were quite shit in lots of ways!
🤣
The TV show The Young Ones was not entirely exaggerated 😬

If she is over 80, she is not a boomer. The oldest boomers will be turning 80 this year as boomer generation began in 1946.

Giving up your job to stay at home is more expensive

She isn't a boomer, she is Silent Gen. She is too old to be a Boomer. Boomers were post war.

Women's wages were often pooooooooooor even in the '90s. My mum was from the Silent Generation and worked for both the council and the NHS. Equal pay was the law by then but women still often earned less because female-dominated jobs were paid less than comparable male-dominated ones. The NHS faced equal pay claims over this for years.
We also spend a lot on crap these days. What I spend on TV streaming apps and snacks is a disgrace. Constant snacking and endless subscriptions are relatively recent habits and they're an easy way to waste money. We also often have two cars now instead of one family car. It's no wonder so many households feel like they're constantly spending.

I had a grant in the 90‘s. Only for my first year though. £666. A bad omen… Wrong career chosen😂.

1964 would make you a member of what is sometimes called Generation Jones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones