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.

Can I ask OP where your DD is hoping to go to university and what her course is (in general if you don't want to be too specific)?
I think you're getting a bit of a hard time here to be honest but knowing more about her situation might help with constructive suggestions.

So what? The conversation has moved on to summer jobs in general.

I give up, I just can’t get my head around these people who claim to not be able to find a job, to have a good wage but not be able to save to their children’s educational or who choose to live in a rural location and then bleat on about public transport.

The idea of accountability for choices seems alien to so many people now.

Internet included in accommodation
text books - use the library
launderette - max £10 a week
train fare home - once a term or a national bus, or parents collect
prescriptions - buy for £2.50 per week if regular
Laptop, cooking utensils, duvet and covers - one off purchase, use from home.

If a household earns £80k then the loan is £4524 (outside London) - which normally covers the accommodation costs in first year and hopefully years 2 & 3 slighly will be slighly cheaper. A student could earn enough for all their other needs through limited work in term time or holidays.

the Loans count as income as does summer work so many don’t qualify for free prescriptions

OP’s DC will be getting minimum loan and hasn’t had a summer job, so will be under the threshold for free prescriptions unless they have savings/get a job with income that takes them over it.

internet isn’t always included in halls no

What university’s halls don’t include internet?

are you saying they don’t need any clothes?

Read again, that is not what I posted. They don’t constantly need new clothes and presumably they have clothes now they can take with them as they don’t wear uniform at weekends or holidays.

There’s generally one copy of a text in the library, the essential ones require purchase and can be around £100.

Not in my experience, university libraries often have more than one hard copy and more and more resources are put online. For the ones that do need purchasing if it often possible to pick them up second hand.

Is your proclamation actually based on experience?

Yes, as I posted earlier DD2 will be going in to her final year. Is yours?

You do also realise that most students don’t live in halls?

The vast majority of first years do.

Internet - often in Halls as a first year, if not, then use the library, should be ok so not needed.

Text books - Yeah they can be expensive to be fair, but again use the Uni library, they will have alot of what you need. if not you might find some online 2nd hand.

Launderette - needed, but you can be frugal with when you use it, for example bring clothes home towards the end and rationing out the clothes to ensure the min usage of such facilities.

Laptop - same as the internet, not needed and can use library computers. Not ideal, but again a possible solution to save money if needed.

Food - Just a case of finding whatever is cheapest out there, lots of basic/value brands, lots of pasta/rice based meals where you can bulk buy. Still there are limits I suppose with how cheap you can go with no freezer.

Train fare home- if you book well in advance and for specific times you can get very cheap fares if you know where to look, even these days.

Prescriptions - options out there for low income people.

Utensils - you can budget stuff for a pretty low price, so won't contribute much at all to 5k a year that is suggested.

Duvets/blankets - same as above, just get a supermarket basic version, will do the job for a year or two.

Clothes - Primark, or keep an eye out for heavy sales. May not be the most fashionable, but on a budget you make the most of what you've got.

Social events/takeaways - probably the hardest thing here. They just have to say "no" sometimes and have some self restraint. If you can't afford it, then just like in the adult world, you either put yourself in debt to pay for it, or the better option, don't do it at all. I totally understand that will feel unfair whilst their uni friends can go out, but you have to cut your cloth accordingly. I knew someone at uni who lived off of about £10 a week (probably about 15-20 adjusting for inflation.) they were mega careful with food spending, only went to free events and maybe had 1 coke that lasted as long as possible, no takeaways, etc. Eventually they got a part time job to allow them to have some sort of lifestyle.

Again its not ideal, and the student has to make some sacrifices. But then again thats life. Its not fair and you have to learn to life within your means and not expect the govt/others to keep bailing you out because you don't want to find a job/cut back on the lifestyle.

I am saving . That's the point I was making. Internships is a long step from discussions about the OPs DD. I think we both agree that parents should know their own obligations.
My point about getting a summer job us that it is harder in some areas than others, which remains true . I wasn't talking about term time in a university city.

Why on MN do people believe that poor public transport only blights those in splendid rural isolation? It us a genuine issue for lots of the population which affects the young, and those on low incomes the most. And not just in rural areas. My area isn't rural . It's right next to a big road so huge reliance on cars.

It's not "the Government" that would provide the money because no Government (of any political persuasion) actually HAS any money. What you mean is that you want everyone else (ie taxpayers) to subsidise your adult child.... er, no!

I don’t know what field the OP’s DD is in. In STEM there is a nationwide trend away from required textbooks. Required and recommended texts for virtually all HE studies are readily available secondhand, both online and in many university areas, for a fraction of the retail price. In some fields this is a savings of hundreds pa

My kids generally bought their books at the Student Union book sale and then a year later sold them on. They also chose the cheapest halls, no en suites for them, and then they all worked although we topped them up. It never occurred to me that we wouldn't be giving them financial help even though I left school at 15 and had no idea about grants/loans etc.

Three of mine took gaps years and worked and went off with money in the bank.

I believe if you have lived in Scotland for 3 years the university fees are greatly reduced, I am seeing 1.8K on the Internet

People outside of Scotland have to pay the 9k

There’s generally one copy of a text in the library, the essential ones require purchase and can be around £100.

Not true. Essential ones are put in short-loan so that one person cannot take it out in October and keep it until May.

I'm in a similar situation, with my DD starting uni in September, but I'm not entirely sure why your DD will need £500 per month if her accomodation is covered by the loan? Dds loan will cover her accomodation, and we're expecting to give about £250-300 a month. That will cover food easily, bills are included in accommodation, a bus pass a week, train back every 6 weeks with a rail card. books and stationery are an outlay at the start but not really ongoing. Stock up on clothes before starting.

I expect any adult to go to uni to fund their own social life.

When I was doing my nursing degree it was impossible to rely on the library. You need different books based on your modules. So the book may become available after a couple of months but you don't need it anymore. I requested books before term started and still couldn't get hold of many. And as long as you are willing to pay the fine you can keep a book as long as you like.

Sorry op l completely disagree, if your DD wants to study at Uni she has to make it work, l don't want to pay more tax to fund her.

I have two younger Dcs they will also have to find a way to make it work as we are also the 'middle' but they are also looking at apprenticeships, work training degrees etc.

@Fl0renc3 - what hours will she be doing at Uni? (Or placement?) How many weeks off a year?

Most students can work. My nursing degree meant almost full time in Uni or full time on placement and only 7 weeks off a year. Most did bank work at the hospital.

If there are mental health issues it could make it harder but she may be able to work a bit?

Most unis have digital libraries now where books, articles, academic journals etc can be accessed online

Scottish residents are funded by the spending choices of their government and don't pay back the reduced £1.8k tuition fees that the government pays the university. They also manage the cost of this by capping the number of Scottish student places that are available. RUK and ROW pay the full tuition fee.

But, I don't think that is relevant to this thread which is about the cost of halls and maintenance during uni which is the same in Scotland. If England paid their students tuition fees that money would be removed from the loan, not given for halls/maintenance.

Also you could apply this to those who eligible for the full loan. Shouldn’t they also “get jobs”?

I don't think anyone has suggested they shouldn't. Many do.

@Fl0renc3 from what you've posted it seems that:

• your DD will be going to a uni outside of London;
• your household income is such that she will receive the minimum maintenance loan,
• and, although the minimum, that loan will cover first year accommodation costs. Presumably self-catered, uni halls?

You've referenced £500 per month to be found; not sure if this just term time; or applies to a full twelve month period.

Assuming the latter might an alternative approach be for you to pay her accommodation costs (something less than £4500, although likely fairly near that amount I'd guess) and let her live, more than comfortably, off the minimum loan, which is just over £4,500 - assuming 31/32 wks actually away at Uni, that's leaves her just over £140/wk during term time. Which really is a very comfortable amount. If your finances are really tough leaving her with £100 per week; and re-directing c.£1200 towards hall costs could be another avenue to explore.

My teenagers get all their clothes dirt cheap from charity shops and look great.

the Loans count as income as does summer work so many don’t qualify for free prescriptions, internet isn’t always included in halls no, are you saying they don’t need any clothes?

If a student requires regular prescriptions then prepaid is the way to go..£2.50 a week. I have never heard of Internet not provided and in a shared house it's divided amongst the 4-5 students. Most have lots of data on their phones anyway.
Clothes should be charity or 2nd hand or ask for vouchers for birthdays.

If the expectation of students is to have the same standard of living in Uni that their parents have at home, then obviously parents will have to fork out. However most students know that their 3 years will involve work to pay their way.
In 2nd year if house sharing some students stay on, rather than go home for the whole summer and ramp up work. Where there is a will...there is a way.

Bank of mum & dad doesn't need to be there.

This.

OP I totally agree with you that the loan shouldn't be based on the parent's wage. My DD didn't get the full loan and as a single parent I could not afford to support her - I certainly couldn't afford give her a monthly allowance. I bought her an online shop once a month at the most (about £50). Although she struggles with her mental health (has been on anti-depressants since 6th form) she had a job throughout her degree and worked during the holidays. She made some good friends through her jobs (at one point she had 3 jobs at once) and I'm sure her experience in the workplace has helped her to get her first full time position. She got a first in her undergrad degree and went on to do a masters - not boasting but just wanted to show that is is possible to work and get good results. Good luck to your DD.

Students can't get free prescriptions. Libraries don't have hundreds of copies of every textbook so if one is required by every student on a course, the great majority (if not all) will have to buy it. Accommodation is very expensive and the minimum loan is usually not enough to cover it.

The kids I know from “poor” families choose unis close to home because they can only afford it if they live at home. They work part time, some even take a year out to work and save up money first. Yes they get a bigger loan but that just means more debt when they graduate.

Whereas middle class families seem to have this sense of entitlement that their kids should be able to go to whichever uni they want, not have to work because mental health, course too intense etc. and the taxpayer should foot the bill because why should they have to put aside part of their £60k+ salary to save up for uni for their kids? And then try and blame the poor people for their problems.