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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To consider moving to Wales, to avoid tuition fees?

56 replies

serin · 25/08/2011 23:04

We live very close to the Welsh border (crossing it most days), and it just seems so unfair that my kids will have to pay uni tuition fees yet if we moved few miles away they might not have to. Although I am aware that this situation may change in the future.

Anyone know how long one has to be resident there to qualify?

OP posts:
Mumwithadragontattoo · 25/08/2011 23:05

How old are your kids?

Original poster
serin · 25/08/2011 23:09

9,10 and 14.

Husband Welsh.

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 25/08/2011 23:09

How do you even know your kids will want to, or be able to, go to Uni anyway? It is a hell of a move to make for the sake of something that might not even happen.

thenightsky · 25/08/2011 23:09

Yes... go for it. I would.

Original poster
serin · 25/08/2011 23:14

Not really a hell of a move. Just a few miles.

DD very focused and straight As at present. Wants to study engineering but of course that may change and she is free to live her life as she feels fit!

OP posts:
Doilooklikeatourist · 25/08/2011 23:14

But it's not free, just less than if you live in England ,
I think capped at the £3 grand a year
( could be wrong , I live in Wales, and the gcse results here are lower than those in England, so it's not all good )

FabbyChic · 25/08/2011 23:16

Where is the best uni to study engineering? It does matter where you get your degree and there is nothing to say that a Uni in Wales is the best place for her to study.

As my eldest says Uni fees and student loans are negligible when you consider the amount of remuneration you can earn when you have a degree from the right Uni.

Mumwithadragontattoo · 25/08/2011 23:16

Well it might be cheaper to pay tuition fees (bearing in mind they'd be entitled to a loan to cover them paid back over many years) than to pay stamp duty and other costs of moving house. But if there are other reasons for your move and this is just one thing you're factoring in then I don't see anything wrong with that. You are right though that things may have changed by the time your kids go to uni (especially the younger ones) or indeed they might not actually want to.

Original poster
serin · 25/08/2011 23:21

Yeah, you are very right dragontattoo! there are other things to be factored in, the countryside for one!

Good point Fabbychic, (but if only it applied to DH with Phd from Oxford and job as a teacher! still he is very happy)

OP posts:
OldLadyKnowsNothing · 25/08/2011 23:24

Move to Scotland and try to send her to Herriot Watt.

maypole1 · 25/08/2011 23:29

How very silly

For he last TIME THEY WON'T PAY UNTIL THE HAVE A FULLL TIME JOB THats OVER A CERTAIN amount
And it comes out of their taxes

£60 a month or that a bouts seems very fair for a degree people spend more of fags a months

Unless your planning for your children to do David Beckham studies with no job at the end

Scarletbanner · 25/08/2011 23:29

Your dd would still have to pay fees in Wales, but not as much as if you lived in England. I think that the Assembly will pay a grant to cover the cost of any fees over about £3,400. And that this will apply to all unis in the UK, so she wouldn't have to go to a Welsh one necessarily.

If you want free fees though, move to Scotland!

Original poster
serin · 25/08/2011 23:35

£30 grand is £30 grand Maypole, whichever way you repay it!

OP posts:
Original poster
serin · 25/08/2011 23:36

Thankyou Scarletbanner.

OP posts:
chopchopbusybusy · 25/08/2011 23:39

Maypole1. How very silly. FOR THE LAST TIME. It's still over £45000 of ACTUAL pounds that has to be paid back.
What bit of £27000 plus three years of living expenses PLUS INTEREST is not real cash.
Apologies for shouting but it does seem to be the way to communicate with maypole (and some others that don't seem to understand POUNDS)
OP - YANBU. A few miles you say? I'd move.

Scarletbanner · 25/08/2011 23:44

Maypole has (a bit of ) a point though. Graduates don't have to pay back the loans until they are earning over £21k per annum, and then at 9% of income above that. So your weekly repayments are the same however much you borrow, you just pay them for longer.

Of course it is real money, but it would be a crying shame if this policy put poorer students off HE altogether.

If fees really are a terrible deterrent, then steer your dcs in the direction of Maastricht or similar universities (equivalent to a Russell Group uni, has courses taught in English, and very very low fees). Or move to Scotland...

purits · 25/08/2011 23:44

It's not silly, maypole. A debt is still a debt, and if they are not earning enough then the interest charge will end up being more than repayments. I believe that the figure is that you only start to make a dent in the debt once you earn more than £35k.

OP, if you have three children then you are talking about 3x 3x £6000. That's £54,000! Or £72,000 if they all do Masters. Shock It's got to be worth thinking about. Downside: do they have to learn Welsh or do classes in Welsh. Or can you live in Wales, but send them to their present school in England, and still qualify?

vanfurgston · 25/08/2011 23:49

if its a few miles u shd move

Original poster
serin · 25/08/2011 23:52

Purits, they do know a bit of Welsh but are nowhere near fluent.

I am not sure if they could reside in Walesbut be schooled in England and still qualify and rather hoped someone on here might know!

Feels very cheeky to ring up the education office in wales and ask.

OP posts:
cjbartlett · 25/08/2011 23:55

Yes but by the time they're earning 21k+ they want to be saving for house deposits and a car etc not spending it paying off debt
I was 35 until i had paid off my student debt

bittentothequick · 25/08/2011 23:56

You will probably move and they'll change it all anyway. But if it is just a few miles I would certainly do it! Worth the gamble!

MJHASLEFTTHEBUILDING · 25/08/2011 23:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

FlubbaBubba · 25/08/2011 23:58

Less cheeky way to find out would be to phone up the English education office and ask - especially if it would genuinely only be a few miles difference, you could ask if your DCs could continue attending the same schools they're at now, even if you moved over the border.

btw, Scots unis have recently said they might still charge English students as it's where the students come from, not where they'll study that counts?!!

chopchopbusybusy · 25/08/2011 23:59

Scarlettbanner, Maastricht (and others) has a small number of degrees taught in English. It's never going to be the answer for everyone.
A graduate with a decent degree will start on more than £21k and will quickly progress. Yes, they will be earning good money, but will pay of their loan in full - REAL CASH.
A graduate in "pointless studies" may never earn over £21k or just a bit more and never earn enough to pay it off. Is that fair? I don't think it is.
If students live abroad after graduation will their loan be liable to be repaid? I'm not sure it can be. Brain drain anyone??

furtree · 25/08/2011 23:59

The free tuition fees come at a cost to other services, especially health, cancer treatment in scotland is far worse then in England and so is spending o n Police.