To ask how do you/your child pay for uni?

[wishparentingwaseasy]

My eldest is off to a central London university in the autumn and I have just completed the student loan calculator.

We (as its household income not students income or lack of) are entitled to £9,000 for fees and £6,500 for living expenses. The cheapest halls is £5,000. I daren't look how much for non halls accommodation. Leaving £1,500 for everything else including food, books etc. £37.50 based on 40 weeks.

AIBU to wonder if that is doable?

It is certainly unlikely that they will be travelling home.

Weeks, not wakes!!

I find it bizarre that if you live in an EU country there are no tuition fees to study in Scotland - unless you live in England and study in Scotland, then you have to pay

I rented a room in a shared house privately (East London). It was much cheaper than halls. I didn't work but I had couple of thousand in savings before I started, and I got something like £1000 / year grant from the university for being a mature student.

morethanpotatoprints - if you're eligible on household income, you don't have to take out the maintenance loan to get the maintenance grant.

"So people who claim they didn't realise that they'd be expected to find some or all of the costs must have had their head under a rock."

I had no clue at the actual amount I would be expected to find was so high and was very shocked. I thought I may have to contribute a few hundred, but not thousands of pounds a year. Both me and my husband are on less than average incomes, yet to give my DD the same amount as a student from a low income family we would be expected to find £5k a year. Take that £5k off our combined wage and we would be at the income level where she would be entitled to bursaries and a grant!

It works out at £125 a week during term time and on top of that we have to support her when she is back home. We just don't have that kind of money and many people in the £40k-£50k bracket won't either. I did originally promise her she would be no worse off than a low income family student, but I can't keep that promise and will do the best I can. It has crossed my mind to give up my job to give her the best chance we can as that would take us under the magic £25k.

One of ours is at university at the moment, he is in the final throes. Funded through a combination of

Working PT
Maintenance loan
Home funding (we pay for his accommodation and train tickets home)

Working hasn't caused his results to suffer, he'll walk out with a first (guaranteed before his dissertation is handed in and marked, due to the way his modules work, he has accrued enough his marks to qualify for a first, regardless of his dissertation mark).

321jenny321 if you gave up work and I'm assuming things here but would dropping income by say £1,500 a month really be worth receiving the extra £433 a month your DC might receive. It also depends on the university how much bursary is awarded and the eligibility criteria.

When mine started in the dreaded 2012 year, we didn't know about it and she got £1,000 but was in halls so no rent due when home. £3,000 was a fee waiver, then they changed it to £3,000 in cash or fee waiver from 2nd year onwards, which was a no brainer. I think we would have struggled without and DD taken a job in term time or me a second one to help.

Both me and my husband are on less than average incomes, yet to give my DD the same amount as a student from a low income family we would be expected to find £5k a year.

Not quite, unless you're including university bursaries as well.

Student living away from home, no siblings at home, not studying medicine, social work or teacher training, not living in London, parental household income one million pounds per year: £3610 maintenance loan.

Same student, parental household income £10000: £3862 loan, £3387 grant, total £7249.

So the richest parents are expected to find 7249-3610=3639 (of course, in many cases they don't take the loan).

Average national income is £26500, you say you both earn less than that and (by implication) less than £40k, so let's say your household income is £35000.

In that case, £4808 loan and £1494 grant which is £6302. So you're expected to find 7249-6302 = £947.

Where on earth do you calculate £5k from?

Just out of curiosity - does the means testing of income take into account HB, tax credits and so on?

There is a big difference between £40k and £25k. If your income was below £25k a year. your DC would get the maximum loan.

does the means testing of income take into account HB, tax credits and so on?

It takes into account taxable benefits, but not non-taxable ones like HB or WFTC. The benefits that are included in household income are these:

• Bereavement Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Contribution based Employment and Support Allowance
• Graduated retirement benefit
• Incapacity Benefit (only include the amount received after 28 weeks of incapacity)
• Industrial Death Benefit
• Jobseekers Allowance
• Statutory Adoption Pay
• Statutory Maternity Pay
• Statutory Paternity Pay
• Statutory Sick Pay
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance

Details here:

www.sfengland.slc.co.uk/media/851499/sfe_pff2_form_1516_d.pdf

But namechange aren't you assuming that the full loan is sufficinet to cover all living expenses, including accommodation?

If it doesn't, then funds need to be found to bridge the difference to full loan plus what a student actually needs.

word

This is a valid point.
I couldn't have afforded to bridge the gap if my ds1 had gone to uni elsewhere.
It was fine as it turned out as he stayed pretty local and luckily was able to continue with ft employment. I realise many are unable to do this.
We know even now where dd would like to go and realise we have to save for the extra commitment, luckily i think we have enough time.
I also think its important that a new government can change policy from one year to the next and in the future we may well be looking a fees being scrapped again.

It's not the fees that are an issue - a non-means-tested loan covers those, so whether they're scrapped or not, it makes no difference to the money in your DC's pocket.

It's the maintenance where you need to bridge a gap.

But namechange aren't you assuming that the full loan is sufficinet to cover all living expenses, including accommodation?

I was responding to the claim that someone earning less than national average needs to find £5k in order to put their child in the same position as a child whose parents are very low earners and therefore receives the maximum support. If that sum of money isn't sufficient then that'a a different problem, which affects the child of the lower income parents all the more.

namechange - The OP has an income of £40k. That is much higher than the national average.

I couldn't work with my undergrad degree because it was 9-6 every week day (plus weekend courses once or twice a term) and had assignments due every week. Hence having a bank loan. There are courses where students just do not have the time to do a part time job as well - no one on my course worked as well and managed to graduate.

Regarding paying back loans, do not assume students need a decent job to pay it back. My loan was sold to a debt collection agency and benefits are included as income (except DLA). It's entirely possible to claim the same amount in benefits needed to begin paying back a student loan.

I didn't realise assessed income for the 25k which is usually the cut off for university bursaries didn't include certain benefits. I dont claim benefits btw. I think Jenny was referring to the bursaries available which can be 3k.

It is a shame that working is impossible, I was going to suggest doing what DH did when he travelled down from the East Midlands to go to university in London (he went to UCL), he became a football steward at both Arsenal and Spurs as they never play home matches on the same day.

It helped him afford University in London, but as working on the course is impossible, they really need to be looking for work to start when their A levels are over until they move to London.

I think Jenny was referring to the bursaries available which can be 3k.

Yes, including bursaries, grants and loans a low income student can be getting £10k plus, most of which wont have to be paid back. We have a household income of £45k meaning the max loan is approx £5k. That leaves £5k for us to find to make my DD equal to someone on £25k.

Having £20k extra a year may sound a lot, but when you take into account loss of tax credits, running 2 cars so we can both work and no access to low income perks like college and uni bursaries we really arent much better off with both of us working.

Yes, £20k is a lot extra. Jenny, I suspect you have no idea what a family on £25k and less usually lives like.

Yes, £20k is a lot extra. Jenny, I suspect you have no idea what a family on £25k and less usually lives like.

I certainly do as its only been for the past 3 years we have been a dual income family. We survived on £15k and less for many years. I really am not much better off, plus we have the stress of us both working.

I also think its important that a new government can change policy from one year to the next and in the future we may well be looking a fees being scrapped again.

Not in a million years. If the fees were scrapped, then all EU students would be entitled to study here at the same (subsidised) cost. Given we're the English speaking capital of Europe and have a bunch of rather good undergraduate universities, I suspect the middle classes would be distinctly unhappy at the grade increases that would cause. Twice as many applicants per place? Three times? Remember, EU students are in direct competition with your child for places at English universities; it's not like non-EU students whose full-cost fees cover marginal places.

At the moment, there are a handful of EU students at every open day and applicant visitor day, normally from families who can show habitual residence in the UK and therefore are eligible for loans. Imagine what application to UK universities for first degrees would look like if they were financially attractive to every student in mainland Europe?

And in any event, as Scholes34 points out, that still doesn't make a scrap of difference to the money that parents need to find in order for their child to go to university.