AIBU To judge parents who refuse to pay their contribution to student maintenance loan at Uni?

[ThunderandPharoah]

Have got some friends who are not going to stump up for their parental contribution when their DD starts Uni this year. Can't help thinking that this is a pretty low thing to do as they are not exactly short of money. Would you judge?

Thank you.
So, idiot me, I'm very slow

What happens if they need more money for rent than the maintenance loan? Does this mean they could need a lot more money, and if so would a pt job be enough.

Oh, sorry I do think parents should contribute if they can. i don't believe in giving kids more than they need though. They need to know you have to work for luxuries.

We have started saving but will have nowhere near enough to help out much. Studying in London will be out.
I suppose you have to give them thousands to afford those prices.
Does anyone study in London, anymore?

You get a higher loan for a London uni.

My goddaughter studied in London. Because she wanted to work in journalism, which is increasingly competitive and freelance, she spent much of her spare time writing for free for online journals and vanity projects that "couldn't afford" to pay her.

The big scandal isn't the tuition fees/ maintenance costs - it's the assumption that young people will work as "interns" for nothing more than the experience and the detail on a CV

If the loan isn’t enough the student has to work if they can or parents have to pay the shortfall.
Rent isn’t a luxury. Our DDs savings are for her ‘luxuries’ of nights out etc

Ben

Definitely, I did mean luxuries and not rent. We will obviously cover what we can financially. I think a pt job will have to happen though, if more is needed.

Do you know a typical short fall? I've just read about it on here a couple of times, if anyone has an example.

Ours is £2250

But she is going to fully catered halls for first year so more expensive.

Thank you very much, that's really helpful, I know it will depend on circumstances but an example is brilliant
we'd have saved earlier but never thought it would be like this when dc was a baby. It was the opposite, no loans to pay back, then it all started.

Yes I’m in the same boat. Eldest DD and I didn’t go to uni so it’s all new to me.I had assumed you got a loan to cover the full amount.😳 It’s been a rude awakening! I have extended my hours and just put the extra money in a separate account for uni costs.

My friend's DD is 19 and at uni, my friend and her husband give her £80 a month for food ( they make sure she buy's food) £20 a month for her mobile phone, and pay for her monthly bus travel, DD has a partime job 25hrs a week goes toward's her rent, she has student loans, when she's home at holiday times and some weekend's she doesn't have to pay anything, birthday's and christmas Shes given a gift and cash to help her out.

We had significant additional costs for her year abroad too.
We make them use the loans so they get a better understanding of money handling and administrative tasks. Our intention is to pay them off after graduation, if they’ve passed with decent results.

We pay accommodation and a few other things like phone, travel, contact lenses and a clothes shop during holidays. We also top up the maintenance loan by quite a bit. We did a car for our eldest as she needed it to get to placements from third year onwards.

never thought it would be like this when dc was a baby. It was the opposite, no loans to pay back, then it all started.

As has been said repeatedly, the notion that parents have to pay their student offspring maintenance is not new - it was the expectation way before loans were introduced. Very few got grants.

'Very few got grants'

Until about 1986, everyone got a grant^ but not necessarily a full one - the grant amount varied according to parental income, and parents were meant to pay the difference between amount of grant amount and actual costs.

Minimum grant was abolished mid-80s, and between then and the introduction of loans, parents were meant to pay the entire living costs of their DC in full time education (no tuition fees then, but that's not the key point - all students can get the tuition loan, it's the living costs that the parents are meant to co-pay)

Until about 1986, everyone got a grant^ but not necessarily a full one - the grant amount varied according to parental income, and parents were meant to pay the difference between amount of grant amount and actual costs.

No some people didn't get anything.

No - up till 1986 everyone did NOT get a grant. Where on Earth do you get that idea from. They relied on parental support.

In the late eighties if your parents were wealthy there were no fees and your parents were expected to pay your maintenance. For people who’s parents for whatever reason didn’t get support from their parents the arrival of the loan made university much more accessible.

"No - up till 1986 everyone did NOT get a grant. Where on Earth do you get that idea from. They relied on parental support."

I got the idea from being a student at the time that minumum grant was abolished! OK, fair enough, before 1962 grants did not exist at But from when they were introduced, they were for all, until it changed in the mid-1980s. Not full grant, but a grant.

Until 1986 (? might have been a different mid-80s year) all students got a gran, even if that was the minimum grant. Which was of course nowhere near enough to live on (just under 1/4 if the full grant IIRC)

I got the idea from being a student at the time that minumum grant was abolished! OK, fair enough, before 1962 grants did not exist at But from when they were introduced, they were for all, until it changed in the mid-1980s. Not full grant, but a grant.

I was at university then and I didn't get any grant. My parents had to give me the lot. It wasn't really discussed with other students so I'm not my friends would have known this. They probably thought everyone got some money.

When I went to college in the 1980s there weren't tuition fees but I only got a minimum grant of £200 a term so my parents had to pay and I worked in my holidays.

Now my DD will get students loans but the minimum maintenance amount so we, her parents, will pay her accommodation. She will work in the holidays to top up her income and pay for holidays.

Would I judge? Yes maybe a bit, secretly, if my friends had loads of money and were living it large - but in most cases no - I really don't know enough to judge most families financial set up. And my really rich (sorta) friends aren't bothering with loans.

Depending on when you started, you might not have received a grant in the 80s, for that is the decade when minimum grant was abolished. It was national policy, and in the headlines when the Thatcher government changed it.

Until abolition of minimum grant, the grant was universal (though the amount you received was dependent on parental income). But I don't think it was compulsory to take up the grant that was on offer.

I also have a vague recollection that it was the parents who did the financial paperwork then (as the eligible rate payer), though the grant was paid by cheque to the student.

I suppose people only really talked about grants (including their own) at the time that removal of the universal entitlement was in the news. Though I suppose that might depend on how political your friends were, or your university (generally, or via active Union, for NUS was of course very vocal in campaigning against the changes in the run up to abolition).

Depending on when you started, you might not have received a grant in the 80s, for that is the decade when minimum grant was abolished. It was national policy, and in the headlines when the Thatcher government changed it.

That must have been early 80s then. I didn

Anyway to get it back on track,,,,

I find it very surprising that parents are expected to contribute. We did, and were delighted to be able to, but having come from a shitty background myself I'm fully aware that parents exist who even if they can't, won't.

And there are some degrees that working is very difficult. My daughter did law, and yes it was a heavy workload, we would not have expected her to work at rhe same time.

This means for some kids it becomes very very difficult and much harder than for those who are supported.

It's a shit system and parents should be asked if they are willing to contribute and if not, the student able to take out the full loan. After all they are expected to pay it back with interest. It's not s gift from the government.

You got housing benefit towards your rent in the holidays too - certainly up to 1985, and unemployment benefit if you weren’t working, in a little brown packet with cash in (now I feel old...)

should only rich kids become doctors
Actually it's often the poorer kids who are better off because they qualify for maximum loan. Those from wealthy families whose parents earn over £60k can be worse off if the parents choose not to pay.