AIBU to give my niece money for uni

[Almostslimjim]

when I may not be able to for other niblings?

My niece is due for uni soon, she is a bright and intelligent girl and wants to go to uni but currently is refusing to due to the level of debt she will accrue at the end. I believe, based on her academic record that she would do well there.

We currently have the means to give her some money towards uni, equating to roughly half. I would like to discuss this with my sister (DNs mum) however my only concern is I may be unable to offer the same support to my other nieces and nephews - I currently have niece, 1 nephew (3) and 1 nibling on the way but have lots of younger siblings who are not yet having families but likely will in the future.

I also have 2 children of my own, whose uni funds are already accounted for.

The amount I have available for niece would make a big difference to her, however split between my siblings (e.g. I divided between 5 for them to use for their kids) would be very small, almost worthless.

WWYD?

AIBU to offer the help whilst I can? Knowing it is unlikely to be possible for the others?

Is university her only option? Is it required for the field she wants to work in or can she train while she earns in some way? There are a lot more ways to earn a degree now than full-time university courses.

I'm not sure you can pay uni fees in England, if you are in England?
I am a lecturer and my understanding is that you have to take the fees loan.

If talk to your sister, but if the other kids are so much younger right now the whole situation of uni could well be completely different by the time it comes around anyway

Could you offer it as a loan? That way it could be seen as fairer in the future if it was a loan and not just given?

And if you do get the money back it’ll be available for others too, although you could put little pressure on to repay it if you don’t really need it back.

Keep the money for you're dc op I think you would be opening an can of works and cause resentment. My auntie as single and had loads of money but never her expected to help me at uni if you want to go to uni then people tend to get into debt for it. She got me the odd shopping when she went to visit to hl but I got a job alongside me nursing course.

Unreasonable I think, likely to cause resentment and it is possible for her to take out loans, she's just choosing not to. What if she ended up dropping out?

@worstofbothworlds

I'm not sure you can pay uni fees in England, if you are in England? I am a lecturer and my understanding is that you have to take the fees loan.

Really? That’s crazy if you have the money available!

I would strongly recommend you read Martin Lewis' advice on paying for university and the nature of student loans. By paying off the loans early it can cost MORE in some circumstances...

www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes/

I wouldn't.

I think it's reasonable but only because of the massive age difference.

@Amira19

Keep the money for you're dc op I think you would be opening an can of works and cause resentment. My auntie as single and had loads of money but never her expected to help me at uni if you want to go to uni then people tend to get into debt for it. She got me the odd shopping when she went to visit to hl but I got a job alongside me nursing course.

We have plenty of money for our own kids, that isn't an issue.

What if she ended up dropping out?

Each years funding would be dependent on successful completion of the previous year.

Looks like so far most people are in the 'no' camp, which does make me quite sad, but I can understand it.

How lovely that you are able to help her out! How about having a plan that she pays you back once she's working, and that money could then go towards the siblings/next child in line for uni?

As a mother to those siblings, I would perhaps struggle with it, it would feel unfair if only one kid gets to go, but from an outside perspective, the whole family could benefit from it.

Well that money could be used for a house deposit for you're own dc aswell as you providing for their education. As much as love my neices and nephews they aren't my own children. I think it would be unfair to favour one niece over the others.

@worstofbothworlds You can pay the uni fees yourself. Most people recommend not to even if you have the money because unless you are going to become a very high earner you won’t end up paying the whole loan back anyway so best to take the loan (I think Martin Lewis said this? but check link that PP posted up thread - I believe he said if you really want to put some of your own money towards it then don’t take out a maintenance loan and pay your own way for that but not for the tuition fees)

You can pay uni fees in England, as we did for ds's BA and MA. He had neither a tuition fee nor a maintenance loan. Some universities offer a discount on the fees if paid direct in one hit.

@LawnFever it's not crazy if it's more expensive to pay up front.

@worstofbothworlds

I'm not sure you can pay uni fees in England, if you are in England? I am a lecturer and my understanding is that you have to take the fees loan.

That's not true - lots of Muslim students pay in full upfront as the student loan is Sharia compliant.

It isn't always a good idea to pay it upfront, as lots of people don't pay back their student loans in full, so saves them money in the long term.

I've done lots of work with her on future planning as I am the only one in my family to go to uni and have a professional career.

Going against the grain here, but I think it's really kind of you.

As your other nieces and nephews are so much younger, I think it's quite different to a situation where there are others just a year or two younger. So much could happen in the next 15 years or so.

I know it's highly unlikely, but what if they scrapped tuition fees by the time the others are old enough. Then your niece would be the one who's missed out. I don't really think they will get rid of fees, but none of us know what will haopen. Or the others might not even want to go to uni.

@thegcatsmother For a first time around studying? I wasn't aware of that - it may vary by university then.
Honestly you would have been better off taking the loan for undergrad (Masters is another matter).

If she's bright and intelligent then she should look carefully at things like the Martin Lewis link which a PP has posted. Most university debt is a theoretical debt as it only kicks in at a certain income level so it's completely different from credit card debt etc.

If she doesn't want to go to university as she doesn't think the course is worth the debt repayments then that's a different thing.

I'd also think that choosing to help the first niece which would then take out most of your bucket of money to help the younger ones could be a bit divisive.

@Amira19

Well that money could be used for a house deposit for you're own dc aswell as you providing for their education. As much as love my neices and nephews they aren't my own children. I think it would be unfair to favour one niece over the others.

We already have house deposits for our children, our children have all the money they will need. This is extra money. If it doesn't go to niece it will remain in savings.

There would be absolutely no point paying the uni fees up front unless you pay the whole lot. The interest accrued on them would mean the difference between the whole loan and half a loan would be wiped out very quickly.

Just consider it a graduate loan and the price of uni. It's still worth it if it leads to a better career.

You'd be better off topping up her maintenance loan if you decided to do it.

OP I really wouldn’t, I don’t know anybody out of my large circle of friends who have all been to uni who feel that the uni debt massively affects them. Maybe instead of giving her money you could spend some time helping her research the debt and look for other opinions on forums from ex-students to hopefully put her mind at rest?

There is also the issue of her maintenance loan potentially not covering all of her expenses. You can use an online calculator to work this out and if her parents are high earners she might only get about 3 grand (maybe even less now?) So perhaps you could offer £1,000 a year to boost this a bit? If it meant she didn’t have to work lots of hours alongside her studies and could concentrate more on uni etc.

But really in terms of paying the fees I just wouldn’t bother. I probably could’ve paid a chunk of DCs fees but I felt my money was better used elsewhere (house deposits and driving lessons etc). DD has been at uni about 6 years so will be so far in debt but I haven’t even heard her mention it!

You sound very lovely OP Very kind to think about your family like this

I think if I was the other nieces and nephews I’d feel very resentful; my DHs grandparents did something similar and it’s caused a lot of problems

Why doesn't she want to get into debt? Does she not understand student finance and paying off the loans? You could sub her £50 a week during term time for food but students I know have jobs in the holidays to cover that. It's nice you want to do something for her though.

It is also possible that in 15 years when next one is due to go we have more money to offer- the issue is if my other siblings start to breed like rabbits!