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.

I have found where students whose parents don't have 'a bit put by' would struggle is things like the deposits.
My ds's loan covers his halls for the first year with about 50 for him spare. However, last August, after the results came out and we were confirming accommodation, there was suddenly a demand for 300, for his 'deposit'.
Now, all being well, I'll get that back at the end of the year, but, in order to secure his accommodation for next academic year, I had to pay out 330 deposit in January, then another 760 today (1/2 rent for July and August, plus 430 'deposit' for the house he is renting). That means, at the moment, I'm 1390 out of pocket, with him only 8months into University.
Yes, I'll get back the majority of that, in time, but if you don't have a few hundred sitting in your bank account, then I'm not sure what the students are supposed to do.
Week by week, he budgets well, to be fair, and, yes - to whoever asked - of course it's possible to live each week on 25 odd.

Only live in halls for the first year, then out into private rental. I never lived in halls at all because I couldn't afford it.
Organise housemates to cook on a rota and shop together- we fed six of us for forty quid a week.
Get at least one job. I had three in the holidays and one in term time (and 42 hours a weeks lectures and labs plus reading etc)
Look for scholarships etc
Teach them how to live thriftily - we didn't have much money growing up so I think I knew this one already!
If she's in a degree where you can get placements in the summer or an inset year (engineering and most sciences are good for this) then do it! Not only does it save you financially it gives you a massive boost in terms of employability.

My rent was about 200 quid a month for a room in a house share and I lived off about 20 quid a week for food and everything else. It wasn't easy and I'll be honest, I often didn't have enough to eat. Looking back I'm amazed I managed it. I was basically an airplant, and I'm very glad I came out of uni without significant debt. I did live very frugally but I also had a blast, and the money lessons I learned have served me very well.

The biggest thing? Make a budget and stick to it - teach her about budgeting before she goes

It is cheaper if they go to a Northern uni. drop out rates are pretty scary, what a waste of time and money. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122591/More-fifth-university-students-fail-finish-degree.html

But look the spread of those non-completion rates (which, remember, aren't just drop-out rates: it includes failure, illness, family commitments and so on). 2.8% at Cambridge, 4.2% at Oxford (itself interesting), up to 45% at Bolton at 51% at Highlands.

There is anecdotal evidence that for non-selective (recruiting, pick your euphemism) universities, people just sign up, get the loan, and basically never show up. And, bluntly, the reason why drop-out rates are fantastically higher at those universities is that they are recruiting numbers pretty much irrespective of quality, whereas at the other end of the scale there's a queue out the door and they can afford to be choosy.

You could reduce drop-out rates by only recruiting students with good grades in the "right" A levels, rejecting everyone with non A-Level qualifications and getting hard on GCSE grades. I suspect the consequences of that would be political suicide.

DS2 is at Brighton, he gets loan for £9000 fees, plus £3.600 'living expenses' we have to pay his rented accommodation, (definitely cheaper than uni halls) GP's give him the princely sum of £50 a month (nice of them but hardly makes a dent) he works as a dance teacher all day sunday and lives frugally. we pay for him to travel home. DS1 gets loan for fees and a bit more, plus the same from GP's but he lives at home so we are paying for his food and accommodation too good job we both work full time and are reasonably paid (for now)

back for good oh yes, forgot about that, the need for deposits and being a guarantor. great if you get a good crowd sharing accommodation but a worry if any of them create a problem as all the parents are liable.

one of the things that surprised me was that students going into medicine don't pay fees at all. now it may be a stereotype but an awful lot of medical students do come from wealthy backgrounds, I get that we need doctors but we need other professions too so why do they (especially from families able to pay tuition) get it free?

Medical students do pay £9,000 tuition fees per year, most on 5 or 6 year courses. Nursing students don't.

really? apols then thought it was doctors too.

Somebody I know who is doing Medicine only has to pay for 4 years and the NHS pay for the 5th year.

one of the things that surprised me was that students going into medicine don't pay fees at all.

You were surprised because it's not true.

Medicine involves getting standard SLC funding for the first four years, but it's basically not possible (and usually forbidden) to work part time. Terms are longer, too.

The NHS pays for the fees for the fifth year onwards, and there are slightly different arrangements for maintenance.

What makes you think they don't pay fees?

Details here:

www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/doctors/training-to-become-a-doctor/undergraduate-medical-education/financial-support-for-students-on-degree-courses-in-medicine/

I know the NHS pay tuition fees in the 5th year of study but does anyone know whether the maintenance loans/grants come from SLC the same as other years?

Like many others, my DD did not qualify for any grant.

So we pay the rent on her shared house (nearly finished year 2), and her loan is used for all her other living expenses.

Plus she works part time to bring in extra money.

We occasionally do a food shop for her and give her the odd £10 or £20, but it's down to her really.

She's also been lucky enough to get work here at home, during the longer holidays.

I went to uni ten years ago as a low income student with full loans and grants.

I now earn approximately 40k.

I owe £30k to the student loans company and unlike those taking out loans now, my debts will not be written off after 30 years.

I have to say that I've never had as much disposable income as I did when I was a student.

Our household income will almost certainly be above 62k when my DD is old enough for uni.

There is no way that I could afford to pay her accommodation costs or give her any big sum of money. She will have to live at home and go to our local uni.

What is unfair, is my friend who 'earns' under 20k but with tax credits and housing benefit and everything else, brings home the same amount of money as me each month...

... Her daughter will get the full package and mine will get the minimum.

I think you can find cheaper halls. My DS paid about £3500 for his, right in Gower Street.

But FrizzyPig, a brief glance at the statistics for the proportion of children of graduate parents with household incomes of £60k who go to university versus the proportion of children of non-grsaduate parents in low-income households heavily reliant on benefits will show you that your "will get get full package" complaint is rather begging the question of her going to university in the first place.

I also think the statement that you couldn't afford four grand a year for three years out of a household income "above 62k" in, presumably, ten or so years time is rather pessimistic.

My DD is doing an NHS funded degree, which means that she gets her fees paid and also gets a non-repayable bursary of £1000 each year. This means she will leave with debt of "only" her student loan (about 11K).

Interesting thread.

I started Uni the same year that Brookside first aired, so quite a long time ago. South East but not London itself. I can still remember having a cheque in my grubby little hands for my hall (catered) fees for that first term. £330 or just under - so almost £1000 per year. In today's terms that would be just over £3120. Just had a quick look at the current costs at my old Uni - cheapest rough equivalent just over £5,500 for 40 wks.

Have to agree with those that argue that it is the living costs that are the issue - in the short / medium term at least tuition fees are neither here or there - and the fact that not only have accommodation costs vastly outstripped inflation but for many since the banking crash there has also been a significant pay squeeze.

AYBU to wonder OP ? Not in the slightest.

Cheapest Unis in terms of living costs quite possibly are Cambridge and Oxford

Surely a lot of students don't HAVE to move away from home and live in halls to go to Uni? Why isn't living at home and going to a local uni an option?
I appreciate it isn't doable for a number of kids, but likewise surely it's an option for a large chunk of them?

Because there's a hierarchy of universities, 19lottie82 and lots of students (and parents) buy into the idea that a degree from a "lesser" university is worthless, hence people will move away and get into debt to attend a more prestigious (in their eyes) university.

Part-time work is the solution. It's important for students to take some responsibility imo, I know I paid for uni partially by working part-time, it makes a big difference and I defy anyone not to have time for at least a couple of evenings work per week.

My DS is in his 2nd year in London and we don't give him a penny, sometimes I send him a box of food if he is starving but other than that it is up to him. I am furious that our income is scrutinised for a 23 year old man to get any benefits. He chose to go to London where the streets are paved with gold shit and pay twice as much for everything to end up with the same degree he could have got elsewhere, so we refused to help him out financially. He has massive debts and struggles to make ends meet but still I see pictures of him smoking and drinking on FB so he must be doing something right. I want him to feel when this is all done that HE did it not us, that way he will be proud of himself. (She says hopefully!)

I think that is exceptionally tough on your ds. You disagree with his uni choice so penalise him like that? Can you actually afford to help him?

bamboo this isn't my thread, but no not really we cant afford to give him money, he works down there as I say he smokes and drinks, he's doing ok. I certainly couldn't afford to smoke. I disagree with the choice purely because of how much it costs in relation to other universities that is all. These kids are being ripped off down there. He pays 140/pw rent on a prison cell. Disgusting in my view.

sorry that should have said £170/pw