To think student loans based on household income are unreasonable

[Starsinyoureyes13]

My daughter will only be 17 when she starts uni next year, im hoping she gets into the halls of residence as then she will have her own room as currently she shares a room with her very messy and loud sister. Right now I'm currently the main earner in my home, I earn a little over 25k to support 4 of us, My partners business is going down the tubes and may have to call it a day as anything he earns is being put into the company. So come next year my daughter will get about £600 in bursary and 6100 in a loan, she won't be able to get a bar job as she is under 18 and any work she does will pay bare minimum due to her age, so looks like I'll have to fund her until she's 18 which won't be until next January. How do other parents cope with their kids at uni do you part fund them?
Its all confusing
Though still see it as unreasonable that household income dictates who gets what

So what? their fees are next to nothing, e.g France less that a 1k euros (for complete course) Germany is still free.
So not cherry picked or bollocks and very accurate.

Immigration has plenty to do with it, if we don't target help in sectors with skills shortages i.e health, then we have to make up the shortfall from abroad, 12000 Pilipino nurses came to the UK last year... meanwhile we have graduates in unrelated fields who can't get a job but still owe 50k.

I await your apology with baited breath!

They do. Your income must be 15% lower than those you previously used to apply.

Ours will be severely limited in choices of university and wont be able to do the courses they want because of our household income. We cannot fund the extra £500 a month. I do think it is unfair, household income doesn’t equal disposable income and certainly not to the tune of £500 per child at uni.

They are young adults and should be funded independently of parents, who they will not even be living with at that stage.

Yes they will obviously have to get part time jobs but they will be needed to top up even if they had the full funding. It will take time to set up part time work in a completely new area.

I echo others saying give her a year out to save some money, could she maybe do a college course of some kind for an extra years experience in her chosen subject? More and more students are choosing to have a year out and head to uni at 19, meaning your dd at 17 may feel a lot younger than her cohorts.

My son doesn’t get full loan, he’s on the amount which it sounds like Op could be entitled to after.
We pay his phone bill and that’s it. We can’t afford to pay more. He gets the cheapest possible accommodation, last year a tiny room with damp, in a flat shared by many. Doesn’t drink, and is careful with his money. He’s got his previously saved money and the trust fund too but is saving that for later years when he gets more expensive.
DC2 starts next year, they knows they’re more likely to be spending money on social events so will be working all the way through.
Why are you judging people who make it work? Its not like there’s many alternatives apart from not to go.

YANBU
It is unfair to base a loan to students on their parents income. Not all parents can or will support young adult offspring .
At 18 you are legally an adult and can vote, get married, die for your country etc but then the govt. look at your parents income to see how much of a student loan you can get.
The full loan amount of 9.5k is what you really need to live on when at uni so if you don't qualify for it the difference does need to be made up somehow- it is unfair.
If your income is 25k you should get the full amount though.
Does your DH accounts show he isn't taking a salary from his business? I think they look at the earnings for previous years though. If circumstances have changed phone Student finance for advice.
She may need to find work, can she find a job now and save as much as possible before she goes. Might be some Xmas jobs coming up.

Why is she going to uni a year early. Why not let her take a year out, get a job, save some money. Also gives your partner time to get sorted.

And there are loads of jobs a 17yo can do.

Why would she want bar work anyway? Sounds pretty grim. I did admin work and hotel work as a student. Much better to be in a quiet calm work environment as respite from busy student life. Yes it’s not fair but life isn’t fair, be positive for your DD and help her think of different work options. If she can get some work experience as a student she’ll be more employable than a student who’s lived off of hand outs and never worked.

Also agree with other PPs that she could take a year out to work and save before uni as well.

@Alexandra2001 Scotland has no tuition fees for Scottish students but we still have to fund our DD. Her student loan only just covers her accommodation. And if she were in a more expensive city it wouldn't even cover that on minimum loan.
Her living expenses still have to be paid by us and by her working.
So no tuition fees doesn't mean its cheap for parents to send their kids to university. Yes cheaper for the student in the long run as no repayments once working but not cheaper for the parents.

Some universities are cheaper to live at than others. She will get her own room whether she is in halls or not. Students don't share rooms. That's an American thing.

Not true. Absolutely tons of shared rooms at Durham where I went.

Why is she going so young?

Most DC I know work at least the summer beforehand to save something towards their living costs. DS did McDonalds. Work FT for 3 months from when Alevels finish, she should be able to save £3000, which is enough to cover expenses other than accomodation for the year. There's lots of work she doesn't need to be 18 for.

I think most families expect to have to contribute something and plan for that though. Maybe she needs a year out so you can all save some money?

No they're not unreasonable, what else would you base it on? I understand that £25k supporting 4 is different from £25k supporting 2, for example, but they can't look at it all on a case by case basis, there are too many.

And although she can't do bar work, there are plenty jobs she can do at her age and not all pay "bare minimum" - I worked at McDonalds at 16-17 and earnt a LOT more than friends working in shops and cinemas. Jobs involving food prep generally pay a bit more.

Shared rooms is definitely not the norm in most places. I went to uni in Manchester in the late 90's and I think only one of the halls had shared rooms and that has since gone.

My mum had shared 'digs' at Sheffield uni but that was in 1970!

Agree your DD could either defer for a year and work or look for a job in retail/coffee shop that she could maybe transfer to her uni town?

Those things called shops....

When I went to university I saved before going by working as a waitress and when I got there and had settled in - I worked in a supermarket. 😁

There are other jobs than bar work.

When I was a student absolutely loads of us used to do waitressing and hotel work - pay used to be good for silver service/functions.

Can she apply for a bursary from her uni? Lots of them offer bursaries, and many offer scholarships too

If your household income is just over £25k she'll get £9568 maintenance loan?

Is she doing nursing? Care work/agency

I topped up my student loans with part time office work (evenings/weekends). I've never worked in a bar but managed to work throughout my 3 years in various places. There's tons of options. I do hate that young people are paid less but they are still paid so it's worth having a job if her loan won't be enough

DD is 17 and in her last year at school, lots of her friends have jobs already and are putting money aside. It is harder getting jobs in hospitality under 18 as you are not allowed to serve alcohol in restaurants/bars so most of them are working in retail, local cafes, ice cream parlours etc etc etc. Bar work as a student is crap because you're working when everyone else is out having fun.

She needs to think outside the very narrow box of bar work, and so do you.

I took a year out at 17 and worked to earn money to go as my parents couldn't afford to subsidise me (and I didn't expect them to either). I just did an admin job in an accountancy firm which was fine and provided me with enough cash. Could she not do something like that? Hairdressers are also good places to work when you're young.

I don't quite understand why people think students shouldn't have a job as well as studying nowadays. Everyone had a part time job when I was a student and plenty of people got very good degrees. It's good training for the world of work as well.

If your combined income is around 25k, your daughter will get the full loan. The form to fill in for current year income rather than previous years is very straightforward.

Both my kids got their income based bursaries automatically from the uni,based on the figures provided from their loan application. They didn't even apply to the uni for them.