The system is ridiculous for many reasons
The loans are very often not enough to live on - extra (but still not enough) for London but not other expensive cities such as Edinburgh or Bristol.
The loans put a burden on parents for the decisions taken by adult children. Not just 18 year olds but children up to 25 can be considered “dependent”.
Parents do not have to top up the loan. There is little recourse if they don’t. Students whose parents can’t or won’t top up loans are left much worse off than students who get the full loan.
The calculations take into consideration “household income” even when that income isn’t the income of the students actual parent.
The calculations don’t take into consideration the students parent if they don’t (or say they don’t) live together. This means in reality staying at the other parents fewer than 182 nights per year. Huge variation through having a non contact missing or dead parent and staying 180 nights a year with your zillionaire dad but it’s all treated the same.
The calculations don’t take into consideration other dependants such as actual children living at home or other adult children.
The long vacation traditionally to allowed students to work but realistically they would be better off studying over a shorter period of time (2 year degree course) or having less contact time per week over more weeks of the year in order to hold down a steady part time job in their university city.
The loans are largely not repaid - hence the governments reluctance to loan larger amounts to more people. Maintenance loan is mostly handed over to landlords who charge higher prices for student accommodation than they would get for other renters. There is no other demographic that would happily rent a single room in a shared flat with absolute strangers for £200 a week. Crappy rundown private lets rented per room to students are typically going for around 50% more than renting the whole house to a family and it’s all done of unrepayable government loans. It’s a transfer of public money to private hands.
Lots of parents won’t put away money every month for this eventuality because they either can’t afford it, don’t value it, or it hasn’t occurred to them that it’s needed. Women who chose to have dc close together to cut down on non earning sahp time are getting an unexpected kicking at the other end.
If we are expected to support adult children until they can support themselves then what about the benefit system. Should a 40yo making an application for UC have to give the income of her 65yo mums live in boyfriend? That’s a ridiculous example but that’s where we end up without a line as to what is a dependent child and what is an independent adult.