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.

Unreasonable and entitled OP - and "government" won't provide any more help so you best start working out with your DD what she wants to do.

What is it you think will happen? The government aren’t going to give you a chunk of cash to make life easier for your kids to study at uni. So if she can’t or won’t work how do you see it playing out?

Have you discussed her deferring? In my gap year I worked 65 hours a week across two jobs, managed a bit of back packing and still had plenty of my own money saved to prop up the first year, worked on and off in a pub and was a carer in the holidays. Hard work, night shifts, crap money, but great experience and my CV was in good shape when I graduated.

Student loans had to be introduced in relation to the huge increase in the numbers of young people.going to University. In the late 70s I believe it was about 3% with a similar figure going to polytechnics.

I'm not sure people are any better educated now.

It doesn’t have to be £500 per month if the other two are working; Youvare tripping yourself up now.

It beggars belief that you’ve been able to hold down a job on £60k per year yet never bothered to save up towards university costs.

I suppose though that taking some personal responsibility like that is unreasonable too?

If you are struggling, downsize. Your children are all leaving home soon, so if you care about them so much free up some cash by downsizing the family home.

Your Dd can work through uni, she has to in order to financially support herself, majority of students have part time jobs. My son is due to start uni in October, he will be working part time. He has a tuition loan and has been awarded a cost of living loan based in mine and my DH salaries. It is not a lot hence the need to for him to work. He has also been working through the summer. In all fairness OP, you are posting a lot of reasons why she can’t support herself, if this is the case why does she not work FT and complete a degree PT through open university. It is doable, I am doing it at the moment working full time and doing all the other mum stuff needed. Who do you expect to fund uni students for the 3 years?

Lots of jobs at the uni will be a way to make friends outside her course and get paid to do so. Some of my best times at uni were working as a student ambassador (which actually paid a better hourly rate than my first job after graduation). If a job is at the uni they are flexible around courses and academic commitments.

if the loan covers her accommodation then what is she going to spend £500 a month on?

Realistically she needs transport and food - assume she can cook?

DD has worked since she was 14 I advised her to get waitressing, bar work and retail experience so she has a good CV for Uni when she needs extra money.

She works 6 hours Saturday in a shop £10 an hour £240 a month ad hock bar work maybe twice a month £120 a month so she earns £360 quite easily.

Nights out she sticks to a few drinks and eats out/takeout with friends once a month

She has savings of around £6,000 for the purpose of university and wants to take advantage of the student trips -

If you were planning ahead you’d have this sorted before hand.

And yea we’ve also saved for Uni - 3 kids isn’t cheap.

So tired of people informing others just how “hard” the pandemic was for them and their families and using it as a get out clause for everything now. It was hard for most people to a lesser or greater degree - bereavement and not being able to say goodbye was probably the worst but that is rarely acknowledged.
I’m afraid too that telling and encouraging young people that they have poor mental health simply exacerbates it. All your excuses and whingeing does not come across well. Why have three children if you now complain it’s hard to support them - surely you should have factored that in before having the third? And your daughter needs to get a job, it aids work ethic and enables growth and resilience. The taxpayer does not need to give you anymore - that’s what employment is for. There are huge amounts of vacancies - perfect jobs for students.

My oldest DD is taking a year out. She's working full time in McDonald's. We don't qualify for the full loan and can't afford to help either. She's always known this and has worked in school holidays and evenings since year 10. She's worked weekends and evenings in McDonald's since year 12. Her strong work ethic is probably what helped her get offers from all her universities on her UCAS form. I am very proud of her!

If DD cannot work, what's the point of her going to uni? Prospective employers will expect to see some kind of work experience before hiring someone.

What is she spending £500 a month on if her rent is covered by loan?

She needs to get a job - just 8 - 16 hours a week would make a big difference.

Look on the bright side op, the loan actually covers accommodation. Many students live in overpriced blocks (1st year) and overpriced dumps (following years). The first year you're extremely lucky if the loan is enough.

I agree, for many the loan doesn’t cover the cost of accommodation. DD2 will be starting her last year this year and her minimum loan hasn’t covered the cost of her accommodation for any of the years. Although, because she has a specific need for a particular type of accommodation due to her ASD some of the cost of accommodation has not been passed on (for university accommodation) or has been reimbursed (private let). She hasn’t needed £500pm for living costs and I don’t expect her to need that in the upcoming year either.

Yabu. At the end of the day uni is a choice. There are families this winter that will literally starve, children that will go to bed cold. Your dd can get a job and pay her own way like many of us have had to at Uni.

I wanted to go to Uni but my Mum was a single parent and I knew that supporting me would have put her under huge financial pressures. So I got a job and persued an alternative career path with good OTJ training and was able to study at a higher level of education and get paid for doing so.

Fl0renc3 you are coming across as quite entitled. You choose to live in a rural location then complain that petrol costs
££££ and your children can’t get jobs.

You talk about the pandemic hitting, BREXIT, Russian invading Ukraine. Everyone has been affected. It isn’t just you these things affect. Yet both you and your Dh are both still working. You didn’t lose your income.

You talk about an intensive degree and how your Dd won’t be able to work. Then say she has MH issues and wouldn’t be able to manage a f/t job.
You don’t seem to see things that could be a problem until the issue is knocking on your door

In the kindest way possible I would talk to your Dd about deferring for a year. Maybe move the family to a more suitable area where commutes and travel isn’t going to cost you ££££ in fuel just to get yourself to a train station and there is work for your children to pick up.
Or look around to get her a small place/shared housing where there are jobs and use the next 12 months trying to get her mentally prepared for an intensive degree.

Your children unless they have a definite career in mind that actually needs a degree then I wouldn’t be advising them to go to university.
I think it has got to a point that a degree doesn’t mean a thing.

Most people with a degree won’t earn enough for long enough to ever repay their loan.

Just because you haven’t got a degree doesn’t mean you will be stuck in dead end minimum wage jobs.

Maximum maintenance loan is £9706, for the year. Not enough to cover rent in most places.

There’s no good reason why students can’t /shouldn’t work at University. There’s 20 odd weeks holiday a year; even on an intensive course that precludes termtime work, they could do temp work all summer and Easter and some Christmas. £200/week for the holidays is not far off £4000 towards the year.

Looking at the rents of around £5,000/£6,000 a year depending on accommodation and area - then your top up should meet the maximum loan value of around £9,500 ish so £3,000 a year - of which it’s paid for 44 maximum weeks others are less - your contribution would be £70 a week for part of the year - excluding the holidays she’s home and when they finish in May - 9 months - less Christmas and Easter holidays if she comes home. So 8 months - on that basis £2,400 a year.

You need to look at the position properly.

Tbh your dd needs to work and you need to encourage that. We live where the buses aren't great to the local shopping centre, so I take my dd to work on the provision that's she's learning to drive so is also helping herself. She's staying home for uni too make it affordable. There are ways. I don't think the system is fair, I don't agree with many parts of it but it won't change so look at other ways, she needs to work for a start

Sounds like your DD isn’t mentally ready to go to uni right now.

Maybe she could get a job for a year or 2 and then apply for uni.

Where in the country, excluding London which attracts a higher loan, can’t you get a student let for £9706?

Whilst I agree with your position that student support should not be based on parental income, I also think you're being very defeatist about the whole thing.

Of course your daughter should work. I grew up rurally, I had part time jobs from when I was 15 and then once I finished my A levels and throughout University I worked full time every summer to build a reserve of savings. You get long holidays, so you can easily work at least 3 months FT. I used to cycle or catch the bus, then I had a moped for a while. Working FT for 3 months during the summers would give her enough to fund the £500 per month that she'll be at university without you having to top up.

What course is she doing? There are very few that won't allow for PT work alongside, even if it was just a couple of shifts a week.

You haven't specified what her MH issues are OP, but if they prevent her from holding down a job then she'll struggle with the demands of an 'intensive' university course too.

Agree with others OP. No idea how your daughter's MH is too poor for working but fine for leaving home and going to uni. Students work at university, I don't think I've ever known one not to. Your daughter's future employment prospects are very very bleak if she's planning on not working at all during university. You think she's going to walk into a well paid job with no work experience? If her CV landed on my desk I would think she was lazy tbh

Where in the country does £9,700 not rent you a room for a year?

Also, I'm not really sur what you want here. Obviously the government aren't going to jump in and start handing out thousands to every student regardless of household income. You say you can't cut back any more to fund her uni life and she won't get a job. It seems to me the only solution is not going to uni?

Your student dc is an adult. Tell them to get a bar job.

I worked throughout my degree, covered my costs and had the added benefit that I wasn't out spending. It's time for them to grow up.