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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think uni students should pay council tax?

205 replies

alwaysreadthelabel · 22/05/2019 20:57

I live in a uni town. We have massive areas that were non student resident housing areas but are now mainly student areas. I cannot get my head round why students don't pay council tax. They use all the same services as non student residents, admittedly not for the whole year but at least for 9 months. They use the roads, bins, libraries etc. .... why do they not have to pay council tax?

I know some will say they can't afford it but that could be said about any household bill. It really confuses me.

OP posts:
shitpark · 22/05/2019 21:10

YABVU
shut the fuck up

00100001 · 22/05/2019 21:10

OP, if your children go to university. I'm sure you will be fully on the students should pay council tax bandwagon.
And won't see any issue with your offspring working part time and earning minimum wage, and struggling to pay rent, bills, council tax, food.

I'm sure you'll still have the same opinion.

Sparklesocks · 22/05/2019 21:11

Well these people don’t pay CT either:

children under 18

people on some apprentice schemes
18 and 19-year-olds in full-time education

young people under 25 who get funding from the Skills Funding Agency or Young People’s Learning Agency

student nurses

foreign language assistants registered with the British Council

people with a severe mental impairment
live-in carers who look after someone who isn’t their partner, spouse, or child under 18
diplomats.

Why do you not disagree with students not paying in particular?

Students also don’t pay income tax. They can’t work full time and are often living on loans. I don’t mind them not paying because they are studying for degrees which will eventually get them jobs where they’ll contribute to the economy - including things like CT. And I know not all graduates manage this, but overall I think it’s a fair system.

StoneofDestiny · 22/05/2019 21:12

Reallybadidea .........👉🏿😳😳 What a thought, stuff of nightmares

Original poster
alwaysreadthelabel · 22/05/2019 21:12

Wow the abuse on this thread. And comparing me to Maggie Thatcher is frankly fucking laughable. Everyone on here moans about cuts to services, but yet no one wants to pay anymore.

I think its wrong about the tuition fees, students now are being screwed by them. If they choose to live in the local community surely they should contribute like the locals do.

OP posts:
Sparklesocks · 22/05/2019 21:14

Not to mention students often only live at their student accom for part of the year - should they also contribute to their local council when they go home as well?

DippyAvocado · 22/05/2019 21:14

They are studying ergo they do not have the ability to earn a full-time wage.

ZippyBungleandGeorge · 22/05/2019 21:15

Students are already skint and most work 20 hours plus a week on top of a degree they are paying £9k a year for, just to live on value noodles and beans. The days of grants are long gone. Most of those graduates will then go on to pay a good amount in tax, and interest on the hefty student loans they have to take to cover the ever increasing tuition fees. YABU

Italiandreams · 22/05/2019 21:17

It’s ok because those with rich parents will be ok as they can pay it, and those who don’t ... screw ‘um

Maybe think about why students get discounts for things ...

CannoninD · 22/05/2019 21:17

I tell you what OP.

How about the government fund the University fees (like they do in SCOTLAND) and we’ll use some of that £9k per year we save to pay for council tax! 😬

(Mature student who would place a bet that you did not attend university...and it shows)

Original poster
alwaysreadthelabel · 22/05/2019 21:18

And all of those saying when my children go to uni. I have had one go to uni. We are a low income household, they still didn't get the full maintenance grant but we helped when we could. They worked through uni, and they did ok. Those saying that they couldn't afford 120 a month. This could be split by all the students in the household so unlikely to fall on one students shoulders. Round here it is at least 4-6 per property.

Anyway. I am bowing out now. I don't use MN to be told to fuck off when I was asking a genuine question. Some of you need to find manners and learn how to answer in a more polite and debating manner.

OP posts:
Starlight456 · 22/05/2019 21:18

Biscuit have a biscuit . They are already getting into enough debt.

I pay very little single parent , dc with SN’s and work but low income . Maybe I should go to the workhouses

Gomyownway · 22/05/2019 21:18

Op how do you realistically expect students to pay? They don’t receive a wage. Their maintenance loan is tiny. They have to pay rent, and food, and transport. Same as everyone else.

When I was at university 6 years ago, I didn’t have £50 extra pounds a month. There’s no way I’d have been able to afford council tax.

MissConductUS · 22/05/2019 21:19

It's like Maggie Thatcher has returned from the dead

Maggie's dead? clutches pearls

Langrish · 22/05/2019 21:20

ATM I might agree with you. In a year or 2 years when my son is choosing his university, I probably won’t Grin

Sparklesocks · 22/05/2019 21:20

It’s not students responsibility to make up the cost for services that have been cut to ribbons by the government, or those councils which grossly mismanage their budget.

RedPandaMama · 22/05/2019 21:20

if they choose to live in the local community

I'm from the north west. Got fantastic grades in school and college so I went to the best university that was reasonably nearby - Lancaster. It would have taken me and hour and a half+ to commute each way - not doable. So I had to live in. I chose the cheapest house I could find with bills included outside the city - near Morecambe, 4 miles from uni, involving a 15 min walk, then 20 min bus, then 10 min walk, just to attend uni. Frankly it was a shit hole - flooded basement, bug infestations, broken heating, damp and mould. For £5k a year. That literally was the cheapest option in the city.

I had no other option - other than not go to uni which would have been an absolute waste of ability.

Frankly can't believe how arrogant and out-of-touch you are OP.

Gomyownway · 22/05/2019 21:21

A six bedroom house is unlikely to have council tax for as little as £120pm Op.

Asdf12345 · 22/05/2019 21:21

Council tax is a rather blunt instrument. I live in a house with eight adults all earning a decent living, yet the total bill for council tax is only marginally more than when I lived in a household of two last year.

Langrish · 22/05/2019 21:22

I’m possibly being thick, but won’t the landlord be paying community charge if they’re in rented accommodation?
We used to let a flat out (not to students) and had to pay.

CherryPlum · 22/05/2019 21:22

Generally they're not earning, so how would they pay?

Cariadne · 22/05/2019 21:23

You could turn your question on its head, OP. People on low incomes don’t pay council tax - why do you think it should be different for students? They are almost always low earners too.

Gomyownway · 22/05/2019 21:23

Might shock you OP, but in Manchester care leavers don’t have to pay until they are 25. They use bins too!!!!

whitehalleve · 22/05/2019 21:25

This is a massive misconception about Council tax. It's NOT a service charge it's a tax.

Cariadne · 22/05/2019 21:25

Also, would it not be a huge access issue? It would just make university even less affordable for poor students. That’s hard to justify.