Twins and University

[Decoratingdilema]

First thing to say is yes I am being totally unreasonable to be worrying about this now.

I have twin girls who are 6. I saw a Martin Lewis article the other day where he talked about maintenance loans for universities. The basic jist of it was that if you had a joint household imcome of £25k then you’d get the full loan.

our joint income is about £85k so I’m not sure how much, if any they’d be entitled to. We’d have to cover rent, food, books etc. It’s got me on a spiral of worrying about how we’d afford this if both of them decided that university was the path that they’d want to take.

Should we be saving now just in case his happens?

honestly this is not a stealth boast, I’m genuinely fearful of planning and being able to afford this should they both want to go.

Then there’s the driving lessons at the same time

I know this is on AIBU but if there is any other twin parents who could share their experience that would be great

so

YANBU - it’s never too early to plan

YABU - they’re 6 get a grip 😂

Absolutely this! I have 3, staggered, which was hard enough, but with twins or triplets it’s all the costs at the same time ! I don't think you're being unreasonable at all to save if you can , it's not just potentially university either, it’s everything !

Anything you can do to put yourself in a strong financial position in the future will help. Even setting up a mortgage overpayment would help give you more wiggle room in the long term.

Having two go at the same time is very different to having two go separately.

I agree that you may as well start saving but don't assume either or both will go to university

DD just finished her A levels and has twins in her year. One is off to study medicine and the other is going down the apprentice route because she wants to be an electrician and / or gas engineer. They're both bright but completely different people woth different friend groups, subject choices and ambitions They td dd that when they were 7 they both wanted to be astronauts and go to Jupiter together 😀

I'm surprised that 43% of people think it's unreasonable to start planning/saving now.

What possible reason could there be for not saving money if you can afford to do so!

My girls are very very different too. One of them is academically very advanced, the other not to much but is very creative.

I think we just have to plan for both of them to but I’d they both don’t go any money could be funnelled into something else that will benefit them

Its never too early to plan. So many people bury their heads in the sand. We eveb tried to space the kids out for financial reasona

Save now. But be cautious of how you save. Some of the childrens accounts legally become theirs when they reach 16/18.

At 6 it is impossible to know what they'll be like or what situation they'll be in when older. It would be gutting to save 20k for them for uni or a house deposit. For them to then go waste it on drink and drugs or something.

But yes save now if you can. Even a small amount. Always woeth having savings for your children imo.

Wow good point, they do have trust accounts at the moment that I control but maybe we should put them into our own name ISA’s for the sake of saving

Get the college savings started like others have said. I saved for Dd, not knowing if she'd go to Uni. So it was more like a normal savings account in my name she knew nothing about and there's enough for me to pay her accommodation for the whole time she's there. Same amount we had for her brother, I spent his on his books, food, transport etc All of it was used.

I would say save if you have the means to but if not don't worry. They will get tuition fee loans and maintenance loan (although this is unlikely to cover their rent) but if they work through summers and even a part time job term time it is doable! Driving lessons on the other hand are crazy - roughly £50 a week here for one lesson so might be worth saving for those first!

I’m terrified of this as we have dd1 then twins. Might have to remortgage or get a loan and they will need jobs. We earn well but I read dc will need about £800 a month top up from parents… we can do that for one dc but not 3! I don’t have a spare £2400 each month. We have about 5 years before it’s an issue and dh likely to be made redundant so long term planning isn’t possible.

I think it depends how much you live pay packet to pay packet. We take a very long term view to finances - we have spreadsheets going years into the future - and so things like paying for 2 children at nursery at once didn't affect our decision making on when to have them because you have the same money overall. I appreciate it's beyond the reach of many, but you only need a savings pot of perhaps £10k to work this way, especially as you can get interest free credit cards for a few years as well if needed. We have very middle of the road jobs (public sector, not quite higher rate tax payers).

DS has worked through his summer break and saved about £5k to help fund 2nd year. He gets minimum loan. Last year the money he had saved before starting uni meant we didn’t have to top anything up (we offered but he declined). Some students take a gap year to work to build up a savings pot.

Something worth bearing in mind, OP, even though it's a very long way off!

My daughter worked part time throughout 6th form at a restaurant. She's worked full time since her A levels finished. When she moves away to university, they are keeping her job open for her so that she will already have a job to come back to in the holidays.

So, do start to save but don't panic eiither.

Yes, start saving now.
We were fortunate enough to receive Gordon Brown's £250 for all parents to open a Child Trust Fund. So we've been saving from birth.
My Mum and Dad put £500 into it on my DCs birthdays each year and we added funds over time too. They've now got £33k each and my DS starts Uni in September.

It isn't. I have 2 dc a year apart both at expensive Uni's (Bristol & Bath) and it is not taken into account.

I have 2 dc who went to university. We earn jointly 75k. When they started around 60k

Course fee is covered by student loan.

They got a maintenance loan of about 5.5 k first year by third year it was roughly 4.5k

This roughly covered student accommodation ( think it left them with about £50 a month)

I gave them £100 per month same as their pocket money. I increased it to £150 in each in final year as we had had pay rises.

They both got jobs in hospitality earning around £600 per month.

So they had£700 disposable income which is plenty.

When the time comes guide them to degree apprenticeships. Available in everything from engineers to solicitors. However it’s never to early to prepare if you are able

I am a single income household and so the loans they get cover their accommodation. They have to work to cover their weekly spends and I help out in small ways like food shops and cover their bills. Luckily DD leaves next year but it is hideously expensive. Both of mine also had a good few thousand in savings to cover rent deposits, bus passes, books etc.

you only need a savings pot of perhaps £10k to work this way

You say "only 10k" like it's a mere drop in the ocean 😳

I was actually talking about finances with a twin mum yesterday. They have B/G twins who are nearly 7, and I was a bit shocked to hear how little savings they have. I have a much lower income than them, but considerably more in savings.
Both parents work and earn about £60K a year, but at the end of each month they have virtually nothing left. I suspect both of their kids will want to go to uni, especially their son, who is very bright, and academically very driven. I don't know how they're going to manage it.

This would also be my preference, my niece is wanting to do a law apprenticeship and get taken on my a law firm but I believe the competition is fierce.

We currently spend over £200 per month on swimming, dancing & gymnastics clubs. These are so important to me/them. I never got taken to any clubs as a child (we were very working class, not poor but no spare money)

twins are massively expensive (as are kids in general)

luckily one of my girls is smaller than the other so I do get to pass down clothes from one to the other.

when they were much smaller they went to nursery for 1.5 days a week. Some months the bill was £800 - honestly I don’t know how we managed 😂😂

We paid for ours out of income. But if I was to do it again, I'd save £100 pm from as soon as I good in a mutual fund, and forget about it until they were around 15 and then take stronger action if needed.