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 😂

My DD and SIL, along with my help, have been semi-supporting 3 young adults at Uni.

They all do part time work, but it’s not cheap.

Start saving….😳😳

I don't have twins, but do have two DC and a much lower household income than you. I opened savings accounts for them both, with the money we got in congratulations cards when they were born. Since then I've added £50/month into each so 50×12×18 should give them £10,800, plus intrest & gifted money, so maybe £15k each by the time they're university age.

If they choose to go to uni, that's £5k a year to top up their loans. If not it could cover car/driving lessons, top up low wage duration apprenticeship, go towards a house deposit, or whatever else will give them a leg up.

6yo is definitely not to eary to start saving, and savings will be helpful whatever they choose to do.

Our income is a few grand under 60k, and my son got 50% deducted from his maintenance loan as I earned too much apparently. So he got something like £4,600

You do have a choice though, it’s either the clubs, hobbies and school trips or the savings. I’m sure people aren’t referring to those who don’t have the money to spare. You do. You are deciding to spend it on your children now . That’s your perogative.
Personally I’d be saving a set amount per month and what’s left over is for clubs, hobbies etc. You’re doing it the wrong way around!

Start saving if at all possible. There are no guarantees the system will stay the same. You may need more money than anticipated.

the old trope that not everyone is suited for university always gets rolled out. That seems to be social circle dependent. In some the rate of university attendance is close to 100% as it is extremely rare not to attend. Regardless, if your child doesn’t go, you can use the money for something else.

I wouldn't be cutting down on childhood experiences like clubs, hobbies and school trips to save for uni! They can borrow/work if they actually even go.

Except they can’t borrow if their parents earn too much and can’t work with a number of degrees (like medicine and nursing).

It’s all very well to choose ‘jam today’ but sometimes that attitude can be very ant and the grasshopper.

https://read.gov/aesop/052.html

Everyone gets at least a minimum loan regardless of parents income.

It disgusts me the cost of UK university. It is one of the reasons we moved to Europe

Since when was the UK not in Europe?

My DS is just going in to his second year and has received the minimum maintenance payment. It doesn't even cover his rent for the year let alone food and socialising. My exH (his dad) won't contribute and i can't afford to. He's been working all summer and works while he's at uni to help cover it but he is really stressed about it all

It's not a simple choice whatsoever to cut out expenditure that you KNOW they will benefit from now in order to save for something they MIGHT use in the future.

No one has a crystal ball, so the 'choice' is a shit one when doing so leaves you feeling as though you are actively depriving them for a future non-certainty. OP is allowed to feel this and she's allowed to feel as though she wishes to do both.

I meant mainland Europe but yes UK is still on European continent 😂…Uni fees were one of the deciding factors when we moved abroad. When my daughter goes to Uni anywhere in the EU, but not UK, her fees will be covered and she gets a grant, regardless of our income. She speaks a few languages apart from English so she has a good choice of options.

Good luck to your son in his degree, I can imagine it has made it very stressful.

As I said I totally disagree with uni fees and no grants- if you have the ability to get a place, you should be able to get a degree with mountains of debt!

Except they may not be able to borrow enough and their chosen degree may prevent them working. No one is saying don’t enjoy your children’s childhood and let them have good experiences and memories but equally don’t live in the moment either.
Children grow up and become young adults. It is our job to guide them and help them get there. It is not our job to spoil them and give them everything they desire. The ski trips and expensive hobbies would have to be cut back if I wasn’t also able to save a few hundred quid a month.

The only person I know who complains about money is the one treating her children like little princesses. Ski trips, french trips, expensive dance lessons and costumes, days out all the time. It’s her business so I don’t say anything. I just really dislike the moaning.

I'm not sure that it's as straightforward as you're making it seem.

Nobody knows whether their children will end up going to university or even if university fees will even exist in their current form in 15+ years time. Most parents aren't going to limit their childrens' fun and enrichment today for the sake of something that may not even happen.

If they don’t go to university they will still need a house to live in? Unless they’re going to live at home forever. Hardly a waste? I wouldn’t expect any child to not have hobbies or trips. They just don’t need all the hobbies and all the trips.

Also just to add, when the time comes your kids can get a job and pay for their own driving lessons . That will save you a few quid 😊

Parents aren't responsible for saving for their childrens' house deposits

The minimum is roughly £4,700 outside London and £5,700 in London.

The maximum (so the very, very minimum the government thinks someone can live on) is £10,500 outside London. Most people say that amount isn’t enough and even students with the maximum loan usually work on top but assuming it is, that’s at least £6,000 a year, so £18,000 over a 3 year course that an unqualified 18 year old has to find somewhere. As said, that’s before working to pay for the things their maximum loan friends work to cover.

I don’t know about you but I’d rather my kids did one less club a month as opposed to them having to work 2 jobs plus study while at university.

No but they are responsible for contributing towards their university expenses. If they don’t use the money saved for university on university then I’m sure the parents can find something to spend it on. Retirement ?

No one said it was a waste (I didn't anyway), but parents don't feel compelled or pressured to save for their children's property deposits because 1) while 'nice', buying a property isn't necessary at a young age but going to university is 2) not buying a property won't derail their future if they choose a career where it's essential 3) it's perfectly reasonable and simple for a working adult to build up their own property deposit – it is not simple for a student to generate enough money, in enough time, to put themselves through university. Jobs well paying enough at the hours available aren't plentiful enough to go around.

It's not a waste, but the two are not on a par. Very few parents would be feeling panic at not supplying a property deposit to their kids.

Additionally, depending on how much you spend a month on clubs and hobbies, you may well be looking at giving up all of them in order to make any meaningful monthly saving contribution.

I saved from birth, you will be very grateful when the time comes!

Don't worry about driving lessons, if they want to learn they get a part time job!

YANBU to be thinking about it now. I have three DC and we're saving a bit each month from
birth for uni or whatever training they may want to do.

I went to uni in the early 00s and because I was from a single parent family I got the full maintenance loan and didn't have to pay fees. But even then I came out £20k in debt which was massive 20 yrs ago. First in my family to go to uni and didn't have any other financial suppport. I'm glad the loan was an option as I wouldn't have been able to go but it seriously impacted my choices and finances after uni (and even now-being naive about finances I paid my loan off at the expense of my pension and am regretting that mid 40s). Hoping my kids will at least have a bit towards it to give them more options.

What this discussion does show is that saving should start as young as possible. Compound interest will massively reduce the cost of saving if putting money away starts at birth.

It’s what Americans do and it’s time people in the UK got into the same habit.

They could live at home and go to a local uni

you don’t know how your children will turn out. Would you deny them the chance of going to a top university if they got a place?
I still haven’t got past parents who charge children board while they are in education.
One of my children could not work while at uni as they were doing a course that made it impossible to work at the same time.

If you can possibly afford to find £100 each month to put into some savings, then do. If they don't need it for uni it can go towards something else.

If you put it into a JISA in their name, then they get full control of it at 18. On the other hand, if you use your own ISA or other savings, then unintended things could happen to the money in the event of divorce or bereavement.

We decided to use a JISA; we went through a rocky financial patch (now resolved) and if the money had been in my name I would possibly have raided the fund. Luckily DC haven't spent the money frivolously but that's the risk...