To think the government needs to something quickly to help families financially supporting children at Uni.

[Fl0renc3]

Mortgages are going up( ours will by 300 when we remortgage v soon), energy bills will be going up hugely, ditto food, petrol etc…. Already making all the savings we can.

We have got to start paying our child £500 a month to live on from October on top. It was already going to be a squeeze.Her bills will be rocketing too so who knows if what we were planning to give her will be enough.

We don’t have a money tree and have 2 other children due to start Uni in the next few years. I know the poorest and the richest will be ok re funding for their child at Uni but there is a massive band in the middle who won’t. Whether or not you can go to Uni shouldn’t be decided on parental income( thanks Tories) but those already there and just starting are going to be in dire straits as are the families supporting them.

Job shortages aren't evenly distributed around. Hotels and restaurants in affluent towns with a small/nonexistent student population might be crying out for staff, but in big cities with multiple universities there's an oversupply of cheap labour. It's famously very difficult to get a minimum wage job in my uni city for this reason. I did a bit of part-time work at uni, so I'm not making excuses, but the fact is that the cost of rent/bills/food is now so vastly disproportionate to the minimum wage that you'd have to really compromise on your academic outcomes in order to earn enough to live off. I think it's batshit that someone with 3 siblings and a parental household income of £60k would get the same loan as an only child whose parents brought in £250k.

Parents helped me out occasionally but paid my way through uni myself and so did my sister. I would never expect them to pay my way for my choice. I worked as much over the summer and Christmas holidays as I could multiple jobs. Took on part time work at uni. Came out with debt and lived out my overdraft most of the time but happy I paid my way.

I don't live a rural middle class lavish lifestyle. I live in a pretty crappy dormitory village of an on its knees market town.

Public transport gets one to that town and nowhere else.

Its more surprising to me that so many MNers thinks it's odd to live somewhere where public transport is shit.

A source of the problème IS that Tony Blair decided that 50% of the nation's 18 year olds were going to university to cut the youth unemployment figures drastically. This was done without being thought through and the previous system of grants couldn't cope, so loans came in.

I'm not with OP on many levels, but lots of posters do keep using examples form their own uni days - public transport was better, loans were different or non existent, rent was often really cheap.

It is definitely hard to get a job in some areas, especially a low hours or temporary job.

Oh no, imagine the damage that they will suffer if they end up in anything but the best accommodation!

Too late for you OP but the way to avoid the problem is to start saving for their uni days when they are babies. Set aside a few pounds every month to go into their savings accounts. As you clearly did not do that your DC will have to get jobs and try to get some income themselves. As a taxpayer I don't want taxes raised to pay for uni living costs. I want taxes reduced so we can keep more of our earnings to spend how we wish. The uni courses itself they should get a government loan for. You could tell DC they have to apply to local uni so they can continue to live at home.

No, again, lots of places are unable to find enough staff. Lots of jobs, too few people. That means it’s easier for teenagers, not harder.

This literally is not happening. Both DSs have been turned down for multiple hospitality jobs because others had experience (and could work way more hours or were able to be permanent)

But the OP was talking about not being able to get to work this summer as they live rurally? Fully appreciate he probably won’t be able to have the car at Uni but it will stay here so he can use to get to work when he is home . Uni towns are more easily accessible on public transport than where we live so he won’t need a car there anyway.

still maybe it's different where you are? I accept some places are struggling to recruit. Here there are loads of applicants for jobs.

I genuinely didn't say that but hey ho.

Some complicating factors when looking for a job at uni:

• Some courses, such as physics, have practically full-time contact hours. Others are generally very intense, involve (unpaid) shift work, and have much shorter holidays in which to work for money (medicine, nursing, midwifery). There aren't thousands of seasonal summer/christmas jobs going in each town.


• Courses with fewer scheduled contact hours, such as arts and humanities degrees often have their contact hours spread out awkwardly throughout the week, so complying with any business's shift pattern would be pretty much impossible. There aren't a great many Saturday jobs.


• Students don't tend to have cars, and this really limits where you can get to and how quickly you can get there.

I think it's great to work a bit during uni. But there aren't enough suitable jobs to go around.

I think that a lot of the excuses, special pleading and moaning on here is absolutely pathetic. So many posters who simply can’t understand that life involves some effort, and compromises.

Their children are going to be close to unemployable in a few years when they are explaining that they can’t be expected to come in on time as they have undiagnosed MH issues, live too far away, and anyway someone else should pay for their petrol costs.

They have no chance whatsoever when competing for professional careers with the sort of young people that I get applying for jobs, and it’s their parents awful attitudes that they have picked up that will cause this.

OP; find the money, or don’t. It’s ni-one else’s issue, and no-one is going to dig into their own pockets to help.

Try to teach your children to plan for the future better than you have.

If you’ve got another two, I’d suggest you move to a bigger town that has a variety of higher education institutions and send them all locally. There would be more jobs and more options for all of you.

Being so rural seems to be a large part of your problem.

I don’t have much sympathy. It’s not a god given right to attend university. If you really want it you have to push for it and make some hard decisions.

Why not consider an apprenticeship instead?

We are a high income family, my kids can afford to go wherever they choose but the chances are they will both go local and live at home to save money.

With things as they stand, unless they choose a vocational subject I’m not sure I can see the point of paying for other subjects.

There are thousands of degree holders out there with little prospect of ever earning good money.

Some degrees these days look like very poor value for money.

We will actively be looking at apprenticeships for both.

Uni can happen a few years later when they understand how the world works.

That’s going to be a “them” issue though, not a jobs market issue.

DH’s narcissist dad wouldn’t assist him financially to go to uni and because of his income DH wouldn’t have qualified for much help under the new rules. The only option open to him was an apprenticeship.
My DS’s friend moved in with us at 16 as her dad wouldn’t support her to continue school let alone uni. Both middle class families, both decent incomes. I agree the most help should absolutely be available to low income families but how do you get around situations like this if it’s only based on parental income?

I really don't think a priority is to help parents with children at Uni. That's a much lower priority for any government.

The loan should cover all accommodation with something left over. Most people, unless super rich, have to base Uni choices on finances (amongst other factors). It has always been that way. None of mine went/will go to London as its just unaffordable.

Funding a young adult to the tune of £125 per week, every week is excessive and a person choice. Ahead of Uni everyone should be working and using cash saved as their socialising fund . They don't need expensive clothes or gadgets so I can't see that an student will spend over £100 per week on food and essentials.

Draw up a budget and with money from working they will be fine. We seem to have lost the concept of the "struggling student" as parents don't want their young adults to have a drop in living standards from home to Uni. They need a small food budget, cheap phone and transport home once a term. If they want more they work for it.

It really doesn't help your young adult if you make Uni too financially easy.

You don't know my DCs , but OK. Yes it is a 'them' issue because they have no experience, because they haven't got a job! (if you look back you'll see DS2 has been applying since May so it's a combo of area and experience)

DS1 does now have a summer job (Clarks is one employer that does do summer work) and DS2 has volunteered before. Good for the CV, not so good for the bank balance!

But I am a parent who accepts that I ca afford to top up the minimum loan to the full amount,and that this is what I am meant to do. If DS2 gets a job at uni, that'll be good. If he doesn't ,it's student overdraft for him. He is unlikely to lead a lavish lifestyle anyway as he is not in the slightest bit materialisitc.

Our children luckily found accommodation that was covered by loan. We have an allowance of £100 pm for food and paid for uni resources. They got jobs to fund social life.

Agree on the cheap phones. The tech some teens insist on having is insane! It is about living within limited means, wherever those means come from

It really looks like you just wanted to come on here and have a moan, fine, but lots of us just don't agree with you.

Going to uni is like anything else you WANT, it's not compulsory, it's a choice, like anything else you spend your hard earned cash on. If you can't afford it, you can't have it, it's as simple as that. Yes others may have it better than you, but that is life all round.

You don't have a money tree, no, nobody does - and that includes the government. I'd sooner see funds being directed to the NHS, transport, social services, etc. than your DC going to uni.

Either suck it up or don't but you're doing yourself no favours with the pity party you're throwing.

Both of mine are at uni. One entering third year, the other second year. We are firmly in the squeezed middle (and also supporting a MIL with dementia). The "kids" just about get minimum loans.

BUT...we knew we'd be in this position from about Y6... when the kids showed interest in education. So we started saving, going on cheap holidays, not upgrading anything.

They both took gap years. They both worked during them, one in a school doing invigilating and reprographics , the other in a call centre doing tech support. So both paid decent wages... most of which got saved. They both do the same work at end of uni year for a couple of months for extra money.

Gap years gave both many advantages. They knew their grades, and got in early for accomodation choices, as well as helping them live independently, grow up a bit and be more confident amongst their younger peers in first year.

Is your daughter ready to go to University with her MH,would it be better to wait until she is better and find a job for a year and save.I don’t understand why she needs £500 a month when her halls are paid for.Teach her budget veggie cooking ,making do like most students do.My grandson has worked his way through Uni and now starts a Masters he will continue to work when able.He has funded a trip with a rail pass through Europe,never asked for a penny.It can be done.Also very good impression on the CV.

"Fl0renc3 · Today 10:34

Bullshit. My other 2 have jobs. We don’t have holidays and have been cutting back hugely. Can’t do so anymore. Would have been able to cope just without the huge global issues we are seeing now.£500 a month is £18k per child overall"

Surely you aren't planning on £500 pcm? During their holidays? Max. difference between loans is £4471, so saved £4500 per child there....