to feel so sad for my DC re university

[oldinboden]

We are really poor ( ie entitled to working tax credits) My Dc are all fairly right.The eldest is doing GCSEs this year and has always assumed he would go to university,He is at GS and nearly everyone goes.But I really don't think he will be able to .I mean tuittion fees just for a 3 year course will be £27,000 and then living costs on top of that.
I went to Cambridge and it scarcely cost me a penny.I got a grant and huge bursary from the college.

It'll be in the form of loans though. Don't get me wrong, that's still bloody disgusting, but he won't have to come up with the money in advance...

Is every University going to charge 9k/year in tuition? I think that even now a few are charging under the 3k current max.

My son has given up on the idea, and to all the cries of 'Better job prospects' he snorts and points to the graduate unemployment levels.
He's in Y11 too, doesn't see the point of huge debts for little outcome.
We both went to uni, OH was at Oxford, we left poor but not in debt.
How can things have got so very bad so very quickly?

It's like that in the US. Even if you are very very poor, you never get full grants, only partial. The rest is loans.

Sad, though.

I don't plan on mine going at all, tbh. I don't even encourage it. I'd rather they get a good trade behind them.

I went to university and it was a waste of time, IMO.

He needs to be fairly certain that a degree is what he wants and will take him down the career path he wants to go down. If it is, there will be a way, which involves loans, yes, but it will be worth it as long as it is right for him.

Please dont be discouraging about it for him. Please just focus your dissapointment at how bad that sounds on finding out how it is done.

oldinboden - have a look at the proposals for children from low income families. You will be pleasantly surprised. Your son can most definately go if this is his choice and his grades are appropriate.

ragged - this is an England only policy.

But he won't have to repay his tuition fees unless and until he is earning in excess of £21,000. In addition, any university charging more than £6,000 pa will have to demonstrate that they are not excluding poorer students; so he is likely to either be given a university incentive, or to have to pay fees of £6,000.

I don't think this is terrible. We have 3 children and I think it is do-able (just) for us to help them with their living expenses and then they will repay the govt. loan when they are earning enough.

Why is this unfair?

So, at 15 mine has no defined career path.
DD is studying a subject she loves at uni, but has no planned career either.

He won't have to pay it upfront though- I was a student last year and I had my tuition fee loan and around six grand in grants and loans and bursaries, which I topped up with part time work.
So I do owe alot of money, but it's paid back when I earn over 15 grand a year
please don't be put off, I think it will be worth it in some professions, what matters more now is top quality grades

So every Uni in England will be charging 9k/year? (to English students, I know they charge more to foreigners).

Maybe ragged- I know the metropolitan uni's are fighting it very hard (I work at a major one in the north and they're doing everything they can to stay at 3k)

The proposal is that 9k per year is the maximum. About 7.5K per year will replace the money that universities lost in the CSR so I think that will be the minimum.

YABU there is still no reason why your dc can't go to university. They can take a loan to cover the fees and they won't have to start paying it back until they earn 21k.

YABU

Where there is a will there is way.

My dd is in her 3rd year at Uni. She has a part-time job at weekends. I wanted her to give up her job this year and concentrate on uni.

Her answer? She is keeping her part-time job as when she finishes uni at least she will have some work to go to.

It breaks your heart.

8.9% 17 year high BBC link

That doesn't meant that the other 91% are in graduate level jobs mind

I also think YABU, again where there's a will. You could go down the loan route (here in NZ it's standard). Although, my parents couldn't afford to send me to Uni (in UK a long time ago!) so I got a job and studied evenings and eventually had paid study leave 1/2 day/week. Yes I missed out on the student life and it took 5 years but I wasn't poor and at the end had both a job and a degree.

I'm now looking at doing a Masters distance learning while working as well.

Depends on motives for going - for the qualification or the student life/degree.

While it's still possible for them to go, I feel very sad for this generation that they will be saddled with so much debt at the start of their lives. Both mine want to go (DS wants to be an architect which is about 7 years or something ).

I know they don't have to pay it back until they earn £21,000 but I think it's going to have an impact on their ability to save for a pension.

what subject does he want to study?

I thought Vince Cable's graduate tax was a good idea (one of his few) We know having a degree improves your earning prospects for life. Once your salary has reached a certian level, because of the advantabges your education gave you, why shouldn't you pay a small (less than 1%)extra income tax charge to recognise it?

Loans aren't that different though, as graduates only pay them back once they are reaping the benefits of their advantaged education.

It's go to be paid for somewhere.

Graduate education is hagh because in recent years far to many places have been on offer at university. If a degree is to be worth what it should, it needs to be restricted to the most able. The 50% target was mad.

If you are in receipt of WTC you may qualify for financial help in any case.

I didn't go to Uni straight away as back in the day my parents dad refused to fund me to go (one of my friends mothers still refuses to speak to him because of this!) it was hard at the time,as I had to watch my friends go off and enjoy themselves at their parents expense, whilst I had to get a job to pay my way. However it taught me a good work ethic, and a few years later I started a part time degree course, which I paid for myself, whilst still working. Yes it was bloody hard work, but I managed it and have reaped the benifits of it since. Another friend of mine was in a similar position and went onto a fulltime uni course during the day and worked full time at a well known fast food branch at night - a slog, but again she managed it and the hard work paid off in the end. I guess I'm trying to say if your kids really want to do something they will find a way to do it, regardless of what the 'cost' is and they'll appreciate it more in the long run.

I mean tuittion fees just for a 3 year course will be £27,000

On the news it was saying the cap was £6K pa except for institutions which took measures to help poor students in which case they could charge up to £9K pa

Your DC still may get cambridge bursary if bright and poor - don't give up hope.

To Ragged, home/EU students pay the same.Overseas students pay a lot more, it varies by university and course, the most expensive I have ever heard of was 18k for a year long MBA at a red brick uni.