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.

She will need to work

dc is already looking for work pre university- it’s a good habit to get in to

There is some fiscal drag though and whatever the limit is could change upwards to reflect that

Absolutely not.

The government should be supporting the most vulnerable and in-need people, those who can’t feed and clothe their children, those who will find themselves homeless etc. plenty of students go to Uni with £0 worth of help from parents. it’s not a given by any stretch that parents should help their adult children. and children from families well off enough to have £500pcm spare certainly are not a vulnerable group

I was with you when I read your OP, but you've lost me with your subsequent posts as you seem to be saying your DD shouldn't have to get a part time job but "the government needs to do something"! Plenty of students work to support themselves through uni and always have. As for her course being intensive, I've worked with student nurses who were doing 12 hour shifts on the ward as part of their degree but still managed to work part time in the holidays.

Loads of people will be able to afford to eat out. Not everyone is stretched to the limit and will stop spending.

Hospitality and other industries are still crying out for staff - there has been so many vacancies - but you're dismissing this as an option already before it's even explored. Bizarre.

I don't disagree that the loans system is absolutely bonkers!! Needs seeing too.

but stop making excuses as to why your DD shouldn't work to contribute to her cost of living.

@Fl0renc3 “why should those in the middle have the stress and impact on their future degree whilst those either side can just focus on studying”

You really having got a fucking clue from your squeezed middle bubble 🙄 Because yeah, the people with less income than you have got it easy. Not a fucking clue. Like I said, 3 years ago had you given a second thought to the young adults from lower incomes than yours who couldn’t afford university?

So she's not working at the moment then?

She is and has been helping herself. Has been applying for jobs, we’re quite rural and transport an issue. Not actually that many jobs around. The pandemic was really hard for us as a family and then she had to work hard to catch up and do her Alevels. Like many starting this year. We knew it would be a squeeze and cut our cloth. We didn’t foresee a pandemic, a war, Brexit and an energy crisis.

The system is utterly shit anyway. They should all get the same. Why on earth should adults have their future depend on what their parents earn?

In my area (a Uni town) there are bars and restaurants closing for the night because they can’t get the staff to do shifts. It’s not like it used to be, service jobs are ten a penny round here. Has she tried looking for jobs?

She is applying for jobs but has been struggling with poor mental health. Like many we’ve had a shit few years. We both work full time so can’t ferry her about. Petrol is ££££ now too , buses unreliable and £££.

Your posts are coming across as very entitled. There are loads of jobs out there. Surely she has worked already and has something saved.

It’s very defeatist - all my DC worked through sixth form and university
DD is a mature student on a course that involves placements she also works part time as a carer and does bank work for her old job whilst having to manage own child care

She could have got a job when she finished school back in May, worked full time the whole of June, July and August (the restaurant's where I live have been desperate for staff all summer). She'd have a nice little sum by now to support her starting university in the Autumn. She does the same every summer until she graduates.

I have two have kids in the same boat, one has been working as a waiter full time since May and one has been working in Tesco full time since May. They will both go part time when they start uni and work extra hours during the holidays.

Bad planning from you if you've let her sit around at home doing nothing all summer. You should have explained to her months ago that uni will be expensive and she needs to help fund it.

The hospitality industry are screaming out for people. As are many other industries. In rural and urban areas. Stop being precious about ur child and let them get a job. Teaches them way more than just getting through uni. BTW courses are not 9 to 5, 5 days a week. Plenty of time to work around

“We didn’t foresee a pandemic, a war, Brexit and an energy crisis.”

You didn’t have to foresee most of that when she made her applications. And if “from Oct” means she starts this year, then you don’t have to foresee any of it to use clearing your change to a more affordable location . Some people on one of your “other sides” has been factoring in for decades.

I can’t stand this bleating about a “squeezed middle” and the rhetoric that poorer people are better off. They’re not. Sure you’ll find one set of circumstances or another where someone might be, but as a group, they’re really not. That person getting £500 for their child that you’re not? Quite likely they’re not well into paying off the mortgage to own a property.

I agree. It's bizzare that further education is so poorly supported in the UK who prides itself on it's university provision.

I also agree student's loans shouldn't be connected to parental income. They are adults who could otherwise be entirely independent of their parents, yet still treated as children.

That said, Uni students have about 5 months holiday a year. I used to work full time during the holidays (I did an intensive degree and didn't want to work during term time, although it was possible), to fund the months I was at uni. It is possible.

I don't disagree with your point that parental income should have bugger all to do with a student.

However I don't think being rural is a good reason to not work. We were approached by a 16 year old last year dead keen to work. We've put him on a tractor course and this year he will earn thousands with us this summer. There are tons of jobs she could be doing even if rural. Rural pubs are crying out for staff. Farms are crying out for staff. Get babysitting.

Id be getting your younger two to be thinking about this now.

It’s not entitled to look ahead and be worried. We work hard and our taxes fund those who get full
loans which in the current climate the middle should get too.

Also my like many teens my daughter has been through a lot and just getting into Uni will be an achievement.

Whilst I sympathise, my 17yo is working her arse off this summer (40hr weeks) and is managing to put £500+ away a month towards uni and have lots of spending money left over. She's worked since 14 though and her hourly rate reflects that. I'll definitely have to help out but that financial cushion will be invaluable for her in the next few years.

No sympathy from me at all. Your daughter should be working now during the holidays to bank some money, and then work part time when she's at uni just as thousands and thousands of students do.

It's ridiculous to claim nobody will be eating out and there'll be no jobs. In the recession of 2008 these things still happened. Large swathes of people still have money to spend.

I know a few young people like this too. Offered my mum’s friends DD £50 a night to look after our DC while we had a really busy season of weddings, nights out, parties etc and she said no because she likes to go out herself on Saturdays. Then her mum tells me she moans she’s skint and will be skint at Uni. She had a job at Tesco and quit because a customer was rude to her. She won’t last 2 minutes and does nothing to help herself. She’s doing a law degree - she will have to grow a better work ethic and thicker skin methinks

So a long list of excuses for why she shouldn't work and 'woe is me' soundbites while you stand with your hand out waiting for taxpayer money to fall into it.

Not sure you're coming across very well here because the more you say, the more entitled you're sounding.

A lot of us funded ourselves through university, including to the point of working full time and studying part-time to make it work.

Also, we are rural, her work is 20mins drive and I work fill time. It can be done. Why doesn't your dd drive?

Don’t assume that those on the lower end of the earning bar aren’t stretched either. Except many can’t afford £500pcm to give their children.

Mental health and lack of transport isn’t making excuses both are real.