Student loans not rising to manage rents increasing

[B00kmark6525]

What are families supposed to do?

£400 rent shortfall this term when we’re already having to pay £300 a month so he can eat. It’s a grotty tiny terraced shit heap with mold up the walls. The loans don’t cover living expenses, now they’re not covering rent.

We have 2 other children. What do they expect families to do?

OP is supporting her child £300 pcm

Maybe I'm someone who would think I'm having a child who is most likely to go to uni better start saving up if I can as early as I can or maybe encourage them to take a gap year to save up money.

Instead of moaning and expecting taxpayers to pick up the cost all the time.

I was a student when one year there were no fees to next year itll cost you £3k and my loans didn't cover me. Imagine that not even being able to plan for it!

Or maybe we start asking students to pay the entire loan back and they can have as much as like instead of today where they don't even pay it all back.

@B00kmark6525 I would encourage your son to look at the disability element of funding at uni as this would help and open doors. My son had money from them this academic year rather than equipment.

Also look for jobs in holidays. They do have long holidays and jobs are available. Bar work? All my kids have worked for spoons and they are autistic. They pay well and he can squirrel money away. They get three months off in summer, six weeks at Christmas? Easter? Reading week?

Supermarkets are also good. Couple of my sons friends do the odd night shift picking alongside uni.

If he really can't do any form of work I would be looking to apply for PIP.

They will be paying most if not all of it back now as the system has changed. Also while they might not be paying tax for the three or four years they are students they will be taxpayers in the near future (as in your case) as are the parents of students so will no doubt contribute a lot towards other people's student loans.

I see compassion, understanding and help is at its normal level.

@stomachameleon they dont get that amount at Easter and Christmas as I said upthread many unis have gone to the semester system so only 2 weeks at those times . Reading week is not a holiday as the name suggests.

Does he have an overdraft? All of my housemates lived off our overdraft when we were at university 13 years ago. Most had it maxed at 3k, I had slightly less but worked from first year.

If he's travelling in could he/you buy a bike? Initial cost may be saved pretty quickly.

True, but everyone makes their choices. There are pros and cons to all. I grew up in a shitty commuter town, but it means I could live at home and commute to uni (missing out on growing up rurally, missing out on 'the university experience', but coming out with low debt). Families who choose to raise their children rurally presumably know they will need to move away if they want to go to university, so should financially plan accordingly. Where this isn't possible/the prospective student doesn't have a supportive family, then they should take a year out, get a job and save. Nobody said there are no problems with any of the options, but the fact is there are options.

@Babyroobs The fact is she didn't have to. She could have re-sat the exams, gone to college, had a year out to work and save for university accommodation. Your daughter had options and made a choice. As you say, there are advantages to the choice she made. But why should the taxpayer fund it?

OP
Is your son in shared accommodation?

Yes, not sure how any student could afford not to be.

It's all very well saying that students should have made different decisions and done this or that but many 18 year olds wouldn't have known how difficult it could be. Also, I think that some posters are missing the fact that financially things have very recently got much worse for students. The costs now are much higher than even 5 years ago. Also, there aren't enough jobs for all students and many courses are too intensive to do that much.

While it is true that students can work to help fund their university living costs, in some university towns employers are not all that keen on students because they come and go. DD struggled with finding a part time job at uni because of this. Retail and hospitality want workers who will be there over Christmas etc when they are busier but students tend to want to leave and go back home. I know that some employers will facilitate transfers but from their perspective it is a PITA to manage. It suits some students and employers but not all.

@kintra do you have university aged kids?

The problem is, for may they can either choose to save money now or feed their families. Even if they can squirrel away whatever they can now, it probably still won't be enough to pay out £400+ per month.

And before you turn around and say that in which case those people should be having children, too late once they're already here

I do think this has been partly made worse because so many parents insist their precious darlings can't possibly get a part time job at 16 because they're studying so hard for their A levels, and of course this then continues at university as their courses are just so "intensive" so they can't work then either.

Whereas my parents were adamant at 16 that I needed to get a part time job to start supporting myself a little. So having worked weekends and occasional weekday evenings as a waitress (and full time during holidays) for 2 years, when I went off to uni I then had guaranteed work when I came home during the holidays as my employer was happy to have me back for those periods. I also had a term time job (2 nights a week) in a nightclub for when I was at uni.

I didn't have a choice. My parents were poor so I needed to work if I wanted to be at uni. My mother was actually very bright but unable to go to uni as her family was too poor so she knew the frustration. So growing up I knew very well that things cost money and you have to work hard but still may not be able to get what you want. I had an offer from LSE but had to turn it down as even the cheapest London halls were just too expensive. That's life. Surely you cut your cloth appropriately and do the best you can in your own situation?

Just to add that I'm ND and I managed just fine at working and studying.

No what is having a huge impact on students is the student finance system not being kept in line with inflation and the cost of living crisis.

Firstly what evidence do you have that the situation has got so much worse in the last five years because parents have suddenly decided that their "precious darlings" can't possibly get a part time job at 16? Most of DDs friends had a job but given the very low rates paid to 16 year olds it doubt it meant they could save that much. And some courses are very intensive. They don't design full time courses so that students have loads of free time to work just to eat.

As for students being worse off if from poor families in the past, I don't think so. They used to get a full grant which was enough to live on during term time.

Exactly the same for me, @HundredMilesAnHour. I took a year off too before I went and had 2 part time bar jobs, a job in a cafe and a job in a shoe shop, and on my one day off I went to college to top up the a-levels that went pear shaped because my dad died slap bang in the middle of them. On my one night off a week I was in bed at about 6pm 😂

Made me resilient and employable when I got to Manchester so I always had a job somewhere while I was at Uni. It's just how things were. I did my first degree between 1993 and 1997, so it's not a recent situation and I was diagnosed as ND last year.

I'd be interested to know where the OP thinks the money to increase student funding would come from? Given that there's no money to stop people dying from cancer or give kids a decent primary or secondary education currently. You either should have saved for your son or he needs to pull his finger out a bit now, the taxpayer has enough on!

@coffeeaddict77 Supermarkets and some other retailers are paying £10-11 per hour to 16 year olds. It is perfectly reasonable to save up on this kind of money.

TheSnootiestFox

You mean like the £12 billion the gov lost from the PPE scandal of contracts to their friends?

It seems this gov can come up with money for things when they feel like it, their priorities however seem a little skewed.

Reading some of the posts on MN and on uni parents boards there is some really batty helicopter parenting and some parents believe that their young person cannot possibly work and study. This is true for very intensive courses but not for the majority. This is such a shame, some part time work gives such an important life skills especially for this cohort that spent a long period of their teen life in lockdown. Ask any employer and one of the biggest problems they have is that they have to teach new employees (often graduates) about expectations in the workplace, they have high expectations and zero work ethic and lack resilience.

Well maybe, but given it was the last government that introduced tuition fees and put the whole system on the top of the slippery slope it's now half way down, they're not alone!

There aren't enough supermarket jobs for the entire population of 16 year olds and most go to over 18s anyway.

I’m wondering if OP’s son is in his own flat. Most student houses have contracts, so would be strange for the rent to increase by £300 / month for each person.

OP- us your son in shared accommodation?

@Dotchange OP posted this in response to the last time you asked her

I don't think OP said rent has increased by 300 a month.