How much financial help did you give dc at uni?

[candle18]

My oldest is moving away for uni and I have another two who are younger, 13 and 15.
It obviously depends on what someone can afford but did you fund quite a bit of your child’s time at uni or did you expect them to work as much as needed to subsidise student loan.
Trying to decide what would be reasonable.

Paid all their living costs, so only loans for tuition fees. Saved from when they were born.

We'll pay their rent and they'll have to fund their spending and bills from p/t job and reduced loan.

I've been saving for a long time to do this, and I've extended my time abroad in order to finish saving for this. Zero contribution from biological father, who decided, when my children were 6 and 2, that maintenance wasn't something he would like to pay.

They are adults at the end of the day and should pay for their own life choices like any other.

Its funny how many on MN don’t take that attitude when it comes to having children - there are numerous threads by posters, complaining that their parents and in laws don’t do enough to support them, with their children, even though they had no say in that decision! They don’t take enough interest, offer to babysit, have grandchildren for sleepovers, provide free childcare to make work more financially rewarding…..you name it, women expect support to make their lives easier in their own life choices!

We pay accommodation and food.

In the first year both were in catered halls so it was one bill (£1500 per term for DS and £2200 for DD). DS has been self catering since so gets rent paid and £50 per week for food.

Then they get the minimum loan for everything else - socialising, clothes, books.

We have had a savings pot since they were born and knew that two would be the maximum that we could afford. Turns out things are even more expensive than predicted!

We made up the difference between the amount the maximum amount and the amount offered. DD lives in an expensive city so her accommodation costs have been £6700, then £7300 for second year (cold draughty flat with a tiny shared kitchen). She's lives 660 miles away so a return train is £200+ (unless she can get a cheap flight and late night train back). Very hard for students to get a job where she it, but she made a good chunk of money while at home for lockdown so does have that for unexpected bills. Next year her accommodation is looking more likely to be £8000pa for another draughty flat, so with the cost of heating (they hardly have on though) and food going up, she won't manage on the loan and what we give.

First world problem though. Plenty manage without the bank of mummy , they have to . Though hard to believe some families wouldn't have the ability to save from the moment of conception to pay for everything uni and maybe a deposit for a house because that would be horrible to see them not getting on the housing ladder. Loads of other options besides going to uni to get a good career. If you have the ability to pay fine but don't have a go at those who can't.

Enough of the guilt @pixie5121!

I didn’t get any parental support from my degree - my parents couldn’t afford it.

No big dramas!

I worked part-time in term time and full time in the holidays and took the full student loans.

Granted, tuition fees were much less then.
University is an investment in your future…

This is as good a life lesson as any, IMO.

I do think government need to step up however and provide financial assistance for areas where we are experiencing a skills shortage however, like midwifery, medicine, dentistry too iirc.

Finally an income of £25k seems low to be asking for parental contributions. That could be addressed - although but with this government’s chumocracy approach - this is looking unlikely.

It's a difficult thing to compare with others really, as they all get different maintenance loans, and some degrees are more demanding than others.

The idea is you're supposed to top it up to what the full maintenance loan is (ours got the minimum which was about £3500 at the time, so we topped up the rent then gave them £50 a week for food) they managed fine on that, probably spent about £25 on food and used the rest towards socialising. We also bought them an annual bus pass and paid for train fares home.

One got a part time job because their contact time at uni left them with 2.5 days free (obviously they're expected to do some uni work but it gave them more flexibility with p/t job) the other was in labs all week so they only worked in the holidays. This gave them the back up fund for any extras they needed/wanted.

My DS received the minimum maintenance loan so he had that to live on and we paid his rent, around £5 - £6k per year. He worked during all his holidays but not in term time. We felt that by us paying the fixed accommodation cost he had to learn to budget for his food and entertainment!

I went to uni at 21, my mum was on a low income with my younger brother still at home so I got the maximum loan and grant. I got myself a job in my second year and worked in a restaurant for extra spends. My mum would send me £30 or so every couple of weeks towards my food shopping and would pay for my train home to see them. I never went without anything and it worked out ok - I liked having my own money coming in and made friends where I worked too.

My parents paid my fees (were £1k a year at the time), rent and £150 a month allowance for everything else - this was 20 years ago though! I will want to do similar when mine go to uni.

Did you get the minimum loan though? You may not have needed any help if you got a full or nearly full loan, particularly in the past when things were a bit cheaper than today. It's much much harder for students who only get a minimum loan and considering that only happens because of parents income,
I think a parent should feel guilty if they don't top it up to at least the amount their child would have got if they didn't exist..

I went to uni in 2008 I got the minimum loan and £250 a month to live on off my parents. In 2-4th year I lived at home rent free. They also paid for my phone, car and insurance. I worked bank shift for extra money. We will have paid off my student loan by the end of the year, DH did the same course but he got the maximum and still has years left to pay.

If DS wants to go to uni and live out we will pay DS's rent and he can live off the minimum loan. We will also cover car + phone. We debated using the money we save for him now towards uni but will keep it for a house deposit as he will pay the same per month whether he borrows X or Y for uni, we will help with his repayments.

I really wish everyone got the same loan which was enough to cover halls. Our local uni charges double the minimum loan for accommodation

It’s really a shame for students whose parents don’t make up to at least the full loan amount

Don't be ridiculous. The student loans system is very unfair in the fact that it takes parents income into account but not their outgoings. Not everyone can afford to top up to the maximum amount.

In DS1 first year he got just under 5k which didn't even cover accommodation costs. We paid the rest of that and sent him 40 a week to live on and he found a part time job to supplement it. We couldn't afford to top up to 10k.

By the time DS2 was in his first year we were financially less well off so he got the full 10k maintenance loan and we didn't need to top him up at all.

But they're not 'being penalised'. There are ways to make university work if that's what the young adult wants to do. Working in holidays or a gap year, or working during term time. Doing a degree apprenticeship where they earn a wage and their employer pays their fees. Studying somewhere where accommodation costs are lower and/or where they're more likely to find work.

They're the one who's going to benefit from going to university, so they should be the one primarily taking financial responsibility/making lifestyle sacrifices.

It's no more reasonable to expect your parents to fully fund your higher education when they cannot afford to (remember that many will have younger DC at home, mortgages etc to fund) than it is to be provided with any other discretionary item that many cannot afford such as holidays or driving lessons.

I am saving in a junior stocks and shares Isa for both of mine so hopefully they will have a lump sum if they want to go to Uni. My parents were against me going (this was before student loans existing) and refused to pay their share of my grant so I lived at home and then they charged me rent and I ended up dropping out of uni as it was too stressful (and they were pleased I dropped out🥲) luckily I discovered the ou and did that later while working

Up to everyone what they do,but I think not at least making up the difference between what they get and the full loan should be the exception not the rule

The situation for medical students is particularly dire.

It has suited successive governments to say 'all can go to uni' but clinical students really struggle:

For a final year medical student, most of whom are 23 or 24 years old by this time, whose parents earn over £62,000 combined (sounds a lot but is only the same as each parent earning just above average) they can only get this for the whole year. They have no opportunity to work another job due to the hours and lack of any holiday time.

It needs a lot more publicity- how are they supposed to survive?

NHS non-means tested bursary: £1000
Student finance max loan (if parents earn above £62,000): £2,534

So a total of £3,534 for rent, food, travel etc. from end of August 2022 to end of June 2023.

First term Tuesday 30 August 2022 to Friday 16 December 2022
Second term Monday 2 January 2023 to Thursday 6 April 2023
Third term Tuesday 11 April 2023 to Friday 23 June 2023

So 2 weeks at Christmas to revise for finals and 1 week at Easter. Placements in different towns so move around in final year.

They are being "penalised" if they are not able to take out much of a loan because of the parents income though. It's a bit laughable that you think it's so easy for students to earn thousands in a low paying jobs while studying full-time
but you don't think it's possible for relatively high earning parents to save any money when they have had several years to do so.

I have 2 going in Sept - they both get the full loan - and will work (can transfer from their current PT jobs) I aim to give them £50 a month each - that's all I can afford really !

I should add their dad will also give them the same so £100 a month each

My DD is able to stay living at home for Uni thankfully, Me and her dad pay her fee's. She doesn't have a student loan, she has a part time job to pay for her own clothes/nights out etc

We paid accommodation and food (basic food allowance). We expected them to work to pay for their socialising, phone, beer etc. 2 dc and each took different approaches. dc1 worked all summer / christmas etc, banked the money and used it throughout the year so they didn't have to work during term time. They also had very moderate lifestyle requirements. dc2 had anything upto 3 jobs throughout the term time. They had a lavish party and social life and needed 3 jobs to fund it - but still managed to get a good degree.