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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

UCAS utterly unfair

626 replies

Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 18:25

My third child is filling out his UCAS form and as happened with his sister he has to put the highest earner in the household on the form, which will affect his loan, this isn’t me it’s my DH who is not father to any of my children.

He is still paying maintenance for his own children and is not financially responsible for mine, how on earth is this fair?

OP posts:
JinglingHellsBells · 17/12/2019 20:51

@Iwasneveragoddess I think you misunderstand the loans system.
The tuition fees are repaid once the student graduates and earns over £25K. That is the bulk of their loan.

Their other outgoings are for accommodation, food, travel etc.

There are many young people at uni who do not have parental support to pay this. They either have a student overdraft and / or work during term time in order to pay for their living costs.
Some parents can top this up, others can't.

One way round this is for the student to go to a local uni and live at home. If they combine this with part time work or full time work during the uni holidays (they are usually only in uni for 30 weeks a year) they can pay a lot of their costs themselves.

I'm sorry but when you remarried your new husband took on responsibilties and one of them was to pay for your children unless of course you pay?

What's stopping you coughing up if you share finances? Maybe that means you get a better paid job?

Andy why won't their birth father pay? Has he divorced his children as well as you? Put your efforts there.

And by the way, fixed outgoings like a mortgage are taken into account when they award the loan.

MyDcAreMarvel · 17/12/2019 20:52

And this is why kids from poorer families stay at home to study, and aren't afforded the same opportunities as those from wealthy families. The system perpetuates inequalities.
Quite the opposite , poorer children get a full loan, it’s middle class children whose parents refuse to top up the loan that suffer.

Fairyliz · 17/12/2019 20:53

Sorry op but you seem to be contradicting yourself. So six children, 2 are adults living away from home so presumably don’t want to go to uni? 2 live with their mum so your DH’s income won’t be taken into account. Then one DD doing OU?
So in fact it sounds like you only have one child considering uni?
Who do you think should pay the taxpayer I.e the rest of us?

lifeisgoodagain · 17/12/2019 20:53

Ps my kids (2 at university) only get the basic loan. There's no way I can afford to give them £4500 each a year!

Original poster
Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 20:54

I have bought my children up alone and always worked and paid for everything for them and never had free school meals or benefits.

OP posts:
rhubarbcrumbles · 17/12/2019 20:56

They get plenty of opportunity to work depending on their course, my friend's DD (doing biology) is in her 3rd year and only has 12 weeks of lectures in the whole academic year (and still has to pay >£9000 which is appalling but that's a whole other thread)

JinglingHellsBells · 17/12/2019 20:56

We can’t afford to pay,

That doesn't really make sense. If you cannot afford to pay, then your child will get a good loan.

Have you actually sat down and done the sums? You would pay towards their rent, not the tuition fees.

If it means you have to cut your cloth differently in order to fund uni, then maybe you need to think about that.

OR your child can consider taking a year out, (deferred place) ,working and saving so they can fund their own living costs when they go to uni.

Original poster
Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 20:56

I think his LOAN should be based on MY wage (his biological parent) not my OH, who is not his parent, and paid back when he hits the wage bracket.

OP posts:
Trewser · 17/12/2019 20:58

I dont see why. You are MARRIED. So of course his wage is taken into account.

Original poster
Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 20:58

That doesn't really make sense. If you cannot afford to pay, then your child will get a good loan

How can you not understand that just because we are over a certain threshold it doesn’t mean we can afford to support an adult through Uni for 3 years.

OP posts:
TabbyMumz · 17/12/2019 20:58

"Their other outgoings are for accommodation, food, travel etc."...there are two parts to student loans. A loan for fees, which goes straight to the uni, and a maintenance grant loan, which goes to the student for accommodation, food, travel, books. This is based on income. So if a family earns less, the student gets more.

cultmaskid · 17/12/2019 20:58

Is the loan means tested

Or do you mean the grant

If he will be living at uni isnt he the earner

Original poster
Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 20:59

I earn 30k a year.

DH married me, he didn’t take on responsibility for my children because they have living fathers.

OP posts:
Canyousewcushions · 17/12/2019 20:59

I totally agree with you OP- it's a really weird system, when the loans available to "children" who are over 18, and therefore viewed as adults in every other sense, need to be reliant on their parents/parental households for university funding. It seems bizarre and even slightly inappropriate when they are responsible adults in their own right.

Trewser · 17/12/2019 20:59

So if you get the lowest amount, 4k, for living costs, that means your household earns over 60k. Even with 500 child maintenance you should be able to afford another 450 a month for uni.

rhubarbcrumbles · 17/12/2019 21:00

How can you not understand that just because we are over a certain threshold it doesn’t mean we can afford to support an adult through Uni for 3 years.

That's not what you have been saying, you've been saying that you cannot afford to put six of them through university and ignoring the fact that you won't have to because they don't all live with you.

JinglingHellsBells · 17/12/2019 21:00

You can think what you like but it's the highest earner- whoever that is. In your case it's not you. Tough, but that's reality. If you are married you share finances, so why does it matter? You have created legally a new family unit. You can't cherry pick at which benefits you get simply because they don't suit your thinking,

Or is this marriage under strain of it? Does your new husband not want to pay ? (Although in theory surely it's all coming out your joint income/ account) so it's theoretical.

Original poster
Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 21:00

There is no grant.

OP posts:
Butchyrestingface · 17/12/2019 21:01

How can you not understand that just because we are over a certain threshold it doesn’t mean we can afford to support an adult through Uni for 3 years.

It’s not clear to me from your posts whether you can in fact:

afford to support ONE child through university but not FIVE
OR
not afford to support ANY

TabbyMumz · 17/12/2019 21:01

"Just because we are over a certain threshold it doesn’t mean we can afford to support an adult through Uni for 3 years."
No, but it depends on your outgoings doesnt it. If you earn a lot, but spend a lot, you probably will struggle with the additional cost But if you lower your outgoings, you will have more money spare to help your child through uni.

cultmaskid · 17/12/2019 21:01

Why are they means testing a loan is that new?

How stressful

Original poster
Iwasneveragoddess · 17/12/2019 21:01

OMG it’s not a benefit - it’s a loan?!

We can not afford to suppprt any of them through Uni but we feel that if we did it for one it should have been an option for all and it was not.

OP posts:
rhubarbcrumbles · 17/12/2019 21:02

There is no grant

Not true. There are grants for some students, at least in England. No idea about the rest of the UK though.

JinglingHellsBells · 17/12/2019 21:02

DH married me, he didn’t take on responsibility for my children because they have living fathers.

So speak to their fathers.

You have 3 children with 2 different fathers?

Have they disowned them?

Men I know who became stepdads felt their responsibility was to their wife's family as well. It's part of the package.

Is yours protesting?

TabbyMumz · 17/12/2019 21:02

"There is no grant."
There is a maintenance loan. In my area it's called a grant.