Affording Uni

[bustybetty]

My daughter (year 13) is considering uni. We are a normal family with no parental help (handouts) hubby is on 50K and my work is about 20K, we live in a modest house and have three teens as well. My question is I have just looked at the maintenance loan she would be entitled to and it doesn't even cover the cost of the accommodation - how do people afford this? We don't have spare money and I coupon where I can, we don't have phone contracts or gym memberships. I don't understand how most people afford to send their children to uni. Currently I'm thinking she will have to take a year out to work to be able to afford it.

ideas anyone?

@Seeline thanks for understanding our position. You have hit the nail on the head that many people here have not seen. I looked up the loans yesterday and was shocked to realise they don't cover the accommodation even. She does work part time and has had experience of a few jobs locally but none would go anyway to making up the short-fall. I had naively thought that the loan would cover the accommodation and we would be providing the food and pin money. I don't think many people realise how much they will have to fund this. We don't live on credit and HP like many do and live to our means, we don't have expensive cars and in fact my children laugh at my 'old banger of a car', I sometimes think I am missing a trick other parents seem to afford everything and I can only think its maybe family money? Anyway, I am hoping she gets an apprenticeship rather than uni although her 6th form seems to be encouraging her to apply to uni despite the costs!

You don't just have a couple of lessons these days. Not sure how old yours are but our lessons are blocks of 10 hours for £280. They need quite a few to pass too, I have four teens!!! - there are driving instructors who will do just individual lessons or groups of five or whatever and no, not everyone needs loads of lessons to pass. DS1 had about 6, otherwise he was out driving with us, DS2 to be fair needed a lot more but you can't assume that they will need loads, and your kids shouldn't just assume that they are all going to be paid for! Alternatively they may have to wait until they can afford to pay themselves. Very few 17 year olds NEED a driving licence, it just seems to be an expectation on the part of teens nowadays. If you/they can't afford it, it will have to wait.

In terms of paying for uni, everyone may need to be a bit realistic here. Yes, your daughter may need to work for a year beforehand or she (or your other teens, depending on their age) may need to get a part-time job. She may also need to expand her horizons beyond Durham which is one of the more expensive uni cities. And they may need to look at dropping some activities? Very few people nowadays can have it all - the sports, the driving, the uni, the job etc etc.

I worked part time all the way through uni. Went to a uni in a cheap area.
Lived at home one year and made the hour and a bit journey.

I feel the gov make out as if going to u I is open to all but there's loads of barriers. I think some parents save and are conscious of costs so say have a cheaper mortgage than they can afford. I thin people also think about it before the child is due to go. Not to be too harsh but it must have been discussed before now. Also though people are much more likely to think about it if they went themselves. Did your or your oh go to uni?

You want it all, though (in a limited way, I’m not taking diamond shoes )

The driving lessons... just no. If they seen their dream job and can’t get to it? Then they get a house share somewhere commutable by public transport or on foot, and then as a working adult they learn quickly.

You say you’re a “normal” family, but you have 4 teens. That’s part of the choices you make - how can I afford uni contributions for my stepdaughter? By not having another 3 teens at home. Obviously not suggesting you do anything about that but you can’t be wide-eyed “how do people afford it?” when you have 4 teens. If you’d saved the entire cost of child 4 for the last 13 years, uni support would be covered.

Is your oldest, working teen paying lodgings? If not, consider that.
Don’t be above asking grandparents to help.
Part time jobs.
Year out to save first.
Not spending a £20K salary on clubs.
Extending mortgage.

They get jobs? Even the teens doing STEM degrees have jobs at my Uni. You teach them how to budget.

But frankly if you fritter away most of your salary on fun stuff for your DC, it seems like you're not the smartest money wise.

My dd goes to the local uni as we couldn't afford to top up. She also has a part time job which she's had since she was 17.

We earn a bit less than you but DS gets the minimum, in the first year (in halls) this didn't cover his rent with a deficit of about £1000 for the academic year. He chose a Uni where the campus was in the city this cut travel costs. He was able to transfer his weekend job to his Uni town and we gave him fairly minimal living expenses around £40 a week. We send him with a stock of storecupboard food toiletries etc. Year 2 his accomodation (private halls) is cheaper. We have three other children and we ve had to cut costs at home, mostly we're forgoing our usual foreign holiday.

Do your four teens have jobs now?

Yes lots of weighing up to do with choices of uni town, rents etc.
DD didn't bother trying for some places because of v high rent costs.

You have started to look and plan, you may have to make some changes to outgoings. Seriously look at that.

1 pay for their own driving lessons/ clubs.
2 get a job - term-time & holidays.
3 live at home and study locally.
4 take a year off to work and save.

Same as everyone else? Student loans and get a job?

Struggling to see what the issue is here tbh. I came from a household with a much lower income. I got a student loan... Had a weekend job... Worked in the SU a few evenings a week... Now am paying off my student loan like normal?

Also I worked as a teenager and paid for my own driving lessons... Your children sound very very fortunate OP.

Well obviously a bit late now, but my kids are 1 & 4 and I'm putting away £50/month each for when their old enough to go. As you have 4, all already teens it is going to be tight to say the least. Then again your family income is at least double mine, so I'm sure there will be some corners you can cut to save a bit of money.

For a start you will no longer be paying for her schooling/ clubs (she can join uni group's) so that's a bit of a savings. Also look at the different colleges at Durham, some have cheaper accommodation then others. Personally I would have prioritised help with uni over driving lessons (if budget doesn't cover both) but as you have already paid for the older kids, it would be unfair to stop now.

@youdidask
@Marmite133
@Therealjudgejudy
@Wejustdontknow

And all the others who say Just get a loan.

Hahaha.

As a parent who has been supporting 1 or 2 students at university for the last 5 years and will be doing so for the next 3, I can assure you that the maximum student loan available DOES NOT COVER ACCOMMODATION COSTS.

My 2 have both been at northern unis with relatively cheap housing. Our household income over this time has varied from allowing ds1 to get the maximum loan to ds2 now getting the minimum. They both stayed in halls their first years and private rented after. Never once has the loan been enough to cover both their housing and their food/travel and bills.

OP, the answer is part time student jobs and an allowance of what you can afford to give based on what you would have spent if they were at home.

Either she works part time, stays at home and goes to a local uni, or goes to a uni in a cheaper area, or delays going to uni when she has the money. Accommodation costs are ridiculous, most of my friends needed their parents to top up their accommodation costs and we all worked throughout uni.

My teens started working in y12 so were used to working and studying by the time that they went to uni. They both work at places that are national chains so work local to my home during the holidays and near their uni during term time. They work more hours during the holidays than during term time too.

The government expects you to be able to fund the difference between the loan and accomodation cost (3k)

DS has just gone to uni and his loan didn't cover accommodation and we earn half of what you earn as a family. We've had to tighten belts and he has been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to get a job. He has lots of experience but is competing with adults who've been made redundant recently etc.
We're having to pay his bills, food and spending £, which I didn't plan for. DD goes next year so I'm trying to save as much as possible now for her.

Why is everyone saying to get a student loan? The maintainence loan is often not nearly enough to cover the cost of accommodation, never mind actually having money to buy food and a bus ticket, or anything else. It even says in the OP that the student loan is less than half the cost of her rent for the year.

Your income and family situation is similar to my sisters. She works masses of overtime and her son has holiday and weekend jobs. Perhaps you need a personal loan yourself if you haven't saved for uni living costs? You need to cut your cloth as others have said. We all make our choices in life as to numbers of children, holidays abroad (no such thing as a cheap foreign holiday imo), cost of cars, homes we live in, university choices, and each of these choices has a financial impact.

my daughter only get the maintenance loan. she uses this to live off. we pay for the accommodation. unfortunately she is not allowed to work during term time (cambridge) it’s a very expensive time. the year her and dd1 overlapped we had to borrow from my parents

I worked part time through uni but decreased my hours as the years went on. Year three is particularly intense for students and it's best not to work more than one day a week I found as the studies can suffer.

In a lot of student towns, shops need weekend staff who can then work more over the summer holidays and half terms (when the older staff book off annual leave to spend time with their kids over summer). I always covered the holidays/half terms as I was a student working in a shop which had a lot of staff who were mums and wanted half terms off. So it worked well.

Remember uni students tend to get a lot of time off over Xmas and summer which is a good opportunity to increase hours.

@bustybetty

I think you are living beyond your means with all the extracurricular activities plus driving lessons for four teens. You have a comfortable income but it seems like you are living as if you have a much higher income.

You need to either cut back on some things or she needs to go to a university close to home so she can live with you. You don’t need to put four teens through driving lessons if you don’t have the funds for it. My parents couldn’t put me (or my three siblings) through driving lessons either. We paid for ourselves when we could, for me this meant learning at 22 after I had finished university and had a job. I am 50 now and I have never felt disadvantaged because some people learned to drive a few years before I did.

We earn a similar amount to you but DS is at a university (RG) with cheaper accommodation. If your DC is set on that one, they should know they are choosing an expensive one and will have to get a job. We made up the £500 shortfall in hall fees and give £50 a month for food etc.

Having 4 kids is over average though-presumably you knew things like this would get expensive, especially with them doing expensive clubs and hobbies

@OP are there any apprenticeship schemes that may be an option for her??

my niece in Ireland has just got into a paid apprenticeship program in microbiology. It's with a global pharmaceutical company...2 days in uni, 3 days in work.€25 per year, paid uni fees, a substantial bonus each year, paid health insurance, 10% employer pension contributions, and a laptop. All straight from school at age 18!! I couldn't believe it when I found out!! Why are there no opportunities like that in the U.K.??

will we ever be reasonably off

You are joking, right?! You esrn £70k per year. Thats about £44k more than my household makes. I'm sure somehow you will cope.