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.

Since you're on WTC but well-educated and able to help him do the research you should be able to work something out - there are quite a lot of bursaries out there.

It's the teens without well-informed support networks I feel sorry for.

Oh that sounds really unsympathetic now I look at it - so sorry, it was actually meant to be reassuring.

tbh I'm more worried about school than university, not for mine necessarily (as we are in a position to move house if we have to) but for the children who are stuck in sink schools. With university it will be a huge PITA for them to start life with such massive debts but the loans will be there if they need them. It will at least be their choice. With schools, the kids don't actually get any choice.

I don't think many families are going to have £60,000 spare to put an average of two children through University.

But nobody needs to do that. The student pays the loan back if and when they have a reasonable income.

DS gets a bursary for being poor, plus an excellence bursary. He has to pay neither back

Well if you're really poor then you may be entitled to a bursary.

I didn't go to university, wasn't regarded as clever enough even though I went to grammar school and no-one in my family at that point had been and I managed to make plenty of money and do again after being a SAHM for 8 years. If you were clever enough to go to Cambridge surely you should have been clever enough to make some money.

Agree with Janajos post of 17:25

The system will be set up so that you only pay money back when you are in a position to. If you don't get to that position you don't pay it back.

Am currently paying off my student loan on the current system. I got no help from parents as they couldn't afford it, so took the full allotment of loan and a part time job.

Only started paying it off once I started a job that paid over £16k a year, and at a small % of the amount OVER AND ABOVE £16k (so it you are getting paid £16.5k you only pay a small % on £500). It gets taken out of wages before it hits your back (like taxes).

Very manageable - and in no way should make it not feasible for your DC to go to uni.

I work in a Uni and all hope is not lost. We offer a range of fees bursaries and living support grants to those students who are in the most financial need. We also help coordinate part time jobs in the local area for those who are looking to supplement their income.

What we are seeing is an increase in the number of students who take degrees with a specific career at the end of it rather than general courses. The more the course leads to a specific job, the better the chance of avoiding unemployment at the end of it.

The NHS courses are really popular, particularly in shortage areas where the fees are paid for the student. If they are willing to consider Nursing, Midwifery, Diagnostic Radiography, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy etc they could end up with minimal debt and a good chance of a job at the end of it. Teaching courses, particularly in secondary subjects are also popular and also come with bursaries.

The other courses that are growing in popularity are those that are part time and taught through distributed learning - e.g. the Student has a job, but learns in the evenings & weekends and uses VLE (virtual learning environments) to access course content and materials. Yes, you still have to pay for your course, but you pay over 6 years instead of 3 so can spread the payments. You can also avoid the debt from living expenses. These are also subsidised for lower income families.

I know I have gone on here, but I'm trying to say, please don't despair. Higher Education is not out of reach, it just won't always be the same for our children as it was for us.

is a really alarming prospect,and yes likely to discourage the less prosperous applicants

The leading universities will go to £9000, they are the ones that want the increase anyway (in general). The loans will (probably - I don't trust the government one bit on this) cover the money but does anyone really want to be starting their working life with about £40000 of debt hanging over them. Its not just the tuition fees - living costs will still have to be paid for. you only start paying them back after you are earning a certain amount but realistically anyone with these loans is looking at decades worth of debt. This is before morgages etc are factored in. How many people here who have degrees would have gone if they were looking at mountains of debt at the end of it?

If you feel that strongly about it start protesting. Protest marches, letters to your MP, reminding the Lib Dems they are lieing hyprcrites etc. Its not just your child who has just watched their future plans go up in smoke.
www.demo2010.org/
I'm going and at my uni all of the coach seats for the trip down (from the other end of the country) sold out in under 24 hours.
Labour have said they are voting against this bill so anyone who is against this has to try and ensure a lib dem rebellion.
I wonder how many of them haven't sold their souls yet...

I have just emailed my MP on this topic

I found him at

findyourmp.parliament.uk/constituencies/reigate

my concern is this, yes the very poorest look to be protected, but households say in the 20-30 000 income bracket who aren't really able to save for this kind of money will be worse off. rich people will be able to help their child pay back the money quicker therefore avoiding the interest payments. students that go on to be accountants in the city, investment bankers will soon pay the money off and therefore pay less. the social workers and teachers of the future will be paying off debts for years with increasing interest, unable ever to buy a house etc etc. i think it is totally unfair on this group.

i really would be worried too if my child was bright enough to go to a really top uni but then had to go a not so good cheaper one because they were frightened of debt. i would be gutted. it should be on merit, not finanical confidence / willingness to get into debt.

i also worry about the message it sends that huge amounts of debt is ok. it is no wonder so many in their 20s are going bankrupt these days.

YANBU.

It is also a thinly veiled plan to simply cut university funding and make them rely on tuition fees. The universities will not improve just because you're paying.

If they're very bright they could try the top ivies in the US. The ones I'm familiar with offer grants not loans. AS a rough rule of thumb, if your family income is below $50,000, you'll probably pay nothing. Non US students don't qualify for any federal funds but private universities can give their money to whoever they please.

i would rather see 20% of people going to uni and it being better funded tbh.

Rosettaroo - I believe London Business School charge over £30,000 for a one year MBA.

My DS has plans to do one after a few years of working (he's currently doing his Masters year). Not sure how that's going to work out then, never mind if he is thinking of eating during taking an MBA.

OP you say that nearly everyone goes to university. That's been the problem for a while...expectations and to be honest there aren't a lot of jobs out there for many of them.

I think those who decide not to go to university and instead do an apprenticeship/training on the job are going to be the winners in the next few years.

A couple of the most successful people I know (CEOs of multinationals) never went to university and just worked their way up. If someone has potential that is usually noted.

US universities are much better set up for students being able to work during their degrees. My 2 sisters both went to US universities and there were even on campus jobs available.

I took a degree with the OU a few years ago as I'd left school only with GCSEs. Although in the work I do I have got past the point where anyone would care if I had a degree or not, I fancied the challenge so took an arts based degree. I'd recommend anyone looking at that as an alternative particularly if the degree you want doesn't have an obvious route to employment (eg: Humanities and Arts). You can get a degree AND 4 years of work experience while doing it. In addition with the OU, you can put the degree on hold if a good job offer comes along and so on. Really worth a look.

OP you need to look at the facts. If you are poor, ie at working tax credits level, then your dcs will be able to borrow the money they need, and it wont need to be paid back until they are earning a certain level.

Tbh it's the kids of middle income parents who are truly stuffed, as they cant even get a full loan. Our dd gets a loan for tuition fees, but cant borrow the full maintenance loan as we both work and apparently earn too much! She works sat and sun, which worries me as it must surely affect her uni studies, but even so, with her rent over £300 a month plus bills plus food... We frequently have to help out- as well as paying all our own housing costs and bills.

TBh, if you're either at the richer or poorer end, uni is more likely to be affordable