To be a bit worried about paying for DC university costs!

[rollonthesummer]

How do people manage it-how does it all work?!

In my day-I had siblings at university the same time as me-and we qualified for one grant between us! That paid for the accommodation and my parents gave me £125 a month to live on-I never needed a loan.

What happens now? Do they/you apply for one set of money (£9000 a year?) for the tuition fees and a separate loan for living? Is the amount you can borrow based on what your parents earn? If so-what is the current cut off??

Those with children at university now-what are you paying out on a monthly basis???

its interesting that most kids do live away from home whilst at uni in England

here in Scotland, most of ds's friends stay home when at uni, it helps a lot that we have brilliant uni's within travelling distance

the ones who have moved away all have parents with 2 professional jobs

maybe us Scots are just tighter

I think there is an affluence issue about whether you go away or live at home in England too. Many of my older ones less well off friends remained at home and went to uni locally. In some area the 'Aim Higher' programme means local,children from poor backgrounds are supported to get to university but often remain with the familiarity of the one they have worked with.

Yes SSD - most do. Most consider the 'living away from home' to be as much a part of the experience as the course. I know of 3 people who have gone to the University in our City (as it's a great University) and each of them have moved into student accommodation, to disguise themselves as "proper students"
I personally think you miss out on so much if you live with Mum and Dad, whilst all your peers are living in student accommodation. I presume it's different if there is a culture of lots of people going to their local university.

Where I'm from, it's quite common to live at home to attend Uni.
I feel very uncomfortable with the expected "rite of passage" view of university that English people seem to have, about must-live-away or you didn't do Uni correctly. Somehow "missed out." In my culture, we don't feel we "missed out" on anything (except higher student debt) if we students lived at home.

Also, I got my degree from a Uni with a huge "Party" reputation. I felt utter contempt for everyone who prioritised that "Party" experience at Uni. Is it like the English passion for binge-drinking? Somehow in the same culture that extols "Must keep standards up", the same people who can have kittens over people using cutlery "wrong" at the dining table?

Like The Stiff Upper Lip comes from the same culture where constantly people trip over backwards to avoid any confrontation or upsetting each other. Just ARGH. Stop it with the contradictions, would you.

I'm glad ds is at uni and lives at home, as most of his friends do

he simply couldn't afford to live away for 4 years with a loan, as we can't help him out and he'd have to work so much it would affect his degree

I know some kids do it without parental help and get a good degree, but christ it must be hard going

Ours will be using student finance. We'll be sorting out rent for them if they choose to live away.

Your children are lucky to have a decent university locally. Our local places in Kent just weren't an option for our girls' subject choices (though great for other subjects before anyone has a go!). People commute to London from here, but the commute is equivalent to rent.

Personally, I agree with the whole living away from home thing if possible.

yes they are lucky to have a decent uni an hour away

I dont really agree or disagree with them living away, its like living away with your parents still supporting you, so I dont think its as much a big deal as its made out

when I was 18 I was living and travelling abroad, responsible for myself totally and living by my own wits, in the days before cheap phone calls or skype, or going home at Christmas......totally different from a student living a few hours away from mum and dad and with mum and dad sending them regular money and probably visits

Tehre are interesting differences. Scottish law obliges parents to support children until age 25 I think and English not (although Cameron was bringing in that no own flat provided by state benefits until you were 25 which is slightly different, in England). Yet in Scotland children go at 17 to university not 18 and don't have fees to pay.

We live in outer London and most of sons' friends are Asian (often Indian) but born here. Plenty of their parents expect the boys to live at home at university (and until they marry) so the London ones (some of which are of course some of the best there are LSE, UCL, Imperial, King's) are popular although some boys do then move into a student flat nevertheless. My son (not Asian but likes his home probably too much), by years 2 and 3 was driving to Reading (where he went to university). He did not have the same university experience as his older sisters but perhaps he had the kind which suited him. Everyone is different. It was certainly cheaper for me as I didn't have his rent to pay in those 2 years.

I do think living away from home at 18 is a good idea. My DD comes home quite frequently and she is a much more pleasant person these days and seems to appreciate her Dad and I now she has experienced semi real life.

Mind you....when I was her age (approaching 19) I had no parental support and was just entering into a mortgage with DH. I wasnt able to go to university as even then grants were decided by family income and my parents were very wealthy - mother just turned to me when I was seventeen and told me that I had until the end of the school year (first year of A levels) to get a job and start supporting myself. I couldn't work enough to pay the rent she wanted plus living costs AND still have time to study so I dropped out never completed my A levels and never went to uni.

That is why I will make sure DD has as much support as we can give her to get the education she is capable of and deserves.

I think my son will be living at home for uni or maybe going to another EU country to save money. I don't want him to start his working life with a huge debt.

I think that most universities publish what they think will be the cost of living on their websites. It is a good idea to look on there and then adjust accordingly and minus the student loan e.g. they may have added cost of bus pass but if your child is living within walking distance they may not need one etc. I think it will cost about £9,000 a year for DD to go (minus the loan). I would give the money each term rather than weekly.

I graduated uni last year, only qualified for minimum maintenance loan. My course was very intensive and so I couldn't have a term time job, but I worked all summer (about 11 weeks) and over Christmas (7 weeks) plus got £200 allowance a month (this was stopped when I was home for the holidays).

The thing that helped me the most was obviously the allowance, but also at the beginning of the term my mum would do a £50 shop of just meat which I then froze and lasted all term, it really cut down on my food bills. I also lived in a very cheap area where housing was only £250 a month, so my maintenance loan covered this. I also had a big interest free overdraft which I dipped into, I had jobs over the holidays so wasn't too bothered if I was in it.

The poster above who talks about their daughter being hard up on £250 a week or similar, this is so different to my experience as a student. I very doubt she is hard up but has become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. However if you can afford it and everyone is happy that's the main thing.

Tbh at the time I didn't think so, but now I reckon I easily could have balanced a part time job and uni work. I managed without and don't particularly regret it.

Another thing to look out for is financial aid from the uni. I applied once and got £500: they budget a certain amount (mine was £80 a week) and if your income falls below this then they can help with grants etc. They said they get more applications from those who only qualify for minimum loan.

The whole system is ridiculous. At 18 and leaving home there should be enough to get by!

It all depends on what they want to study. Teens with 3 As at A Level can do paid apprenticeships at some really big companies which give them a degree/qualification - IBM, PWC/Deloitte/E+Y, BAE Systems, GCHQ, Harvey Ingram. But they're only worthwhile for engineering/IT/Accounting and Law and only for those who would qualify for a degree anyway.

This thread has been an eye opener. DS is only one and may not want to go to uni and who knows what funding arrangements will be by then but DH and I need to ensure we can at least pay his rent by the sound of this thread!

I believe the small grant to the very badly off has now gone and everyone simply borrows the money or works or finds a relative to pay.

On top of fees one university mine probably will go to (A level grades permitting) says most students need/ get £9k a year to £15k a year for their rent and other costs when away at university.

By the way do not be conned into thinking an apprentice at 18 in law is as good as the more usual degree. If you want a job at the best law firms you are better off continuing to get nito the best university you can. That does not mean some people won't find apprecnticeships at 18 are okay particularyl for lower paid law jobs but you will probably not find it as easy to rise to higher levels of pay unless you go to one of the better universities in the usual way( no need to read law however at them unless you want to (I loved it) as 50% of those going into law don't read law at university)

Means tested loan for DS2 - the 9k fees are paid directly to the Uni.
We pay his rent and phone each month (320) and the loan covers the other bills they share and food, train fares to home etc. He can walk to Uni and into town so no extra fares there and just has to stock up with essentials.
He will come out with a lot of debts. I have a friend whose child also receives a bursary to help with rent and a bigger loan as friend is single parent. Another year and a bit to go!

Enormoustigher Solicitor apprenticeships now exist which enable apprentices to work for a law firm, gain a qualifying law degree and the LPC. BPP is one of the main providers - they're hardly a second rate institution...

Anyone can go to BPP who pays the fees and has their degree - it's never been an institution other than one that takes money! I know you can do legal apprenticeships but it is very likely that if you want to get into the biggest firms on the whole you'd be better with an Oxbridge degree.

raspberryrippleicecream
they even take into account your other dependent DCs savings! But you also get an allowance for the them!

Raspberryripple, or someone else, where is this stated in the student loans info. I have never heard of this, and we used the student loans co last year as DS is in his first year. My understanding is that it is based on household income, not savings, and certainly not sibling's savings.

Does that mean if siblings have an inheritance, they have to use it pay for their sibling's living costs? Totally absurd if true?

One of the loopholes in the system, from what I have heard, is that parents running Ltd companies, can elect not to pay themselves anything, and thus maximise what their DC gets as a maintenance loan. Similar with retired parents, like pussycats DH, from my understanding, less household income will result in more loan entitlement.


This does not stack up if savings are taken into account somewhere??

I don't know a single legal apprentice who isn't earning six figure salaries. Apprentices and graduates aren't so different - the top ones will progress no matter what. It's harder work but companies recognise this.

Has anyone who went the new apprentice route got through to 2 years post qualification yet? I thought it was a new thing so I woudl be surprised if they were on £100k yet!

Kath , it's investment income from savings. Sorry, not the actual amount of savings. It was definitely in the form I filled in for DS, also in his first year. It was any interest in any investments. I guess because they are looking at household income. In our case it was something like 50p from bank savings account, but I had to ask them to go and look.

I think there might have been something about regular jobs too, but can't remember.

Yes, it is household income, but if you are just applying for the minimum if household income is over a certain amount, you just tick a box, no details required.