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 😂

Unfortunately, the government disagrees with you. They’ve set the system up to make it so if the parents don’t contribute, their children suffer.

Well if you can afford to start putting money aside then do. If they decide not to go to uni the money can be used for a house deposit or driving lessons, first car and car insurance (which is an insane amount of money for young newly qualified drivers).

@CandidHedgehog I think we have very different definitions of the word suffering!

It’s ok if you don’t save for your children or want them to go to university! It’s not a necessity.
To parents earning more than £25k - you will be expected to contribute to your child’s loans. Up to you and yours how that is financed!

When my husband and I got married we were gifted £20k by my FIL for a house deposit. it’s made the biggest difference to our lives and would chose to have the deposit rather than use it for uni every time.
We will be gifting the same amount (time adjusted value) to each of our three. However, we will be funding this through overpayments on our mortgage rather than putting it aside. I will then just refinance when I need the cash. I will not be funding uni however- I personally think that is a financial commitment that requires significant decision making skills (and when it’s self funded makes you think about it a little harder!!!!). Too many people doing degrees that are not worth the money. (Myself included).

I guess we do. I grew up in a family with university educated parents who were the first and only people in their families to go to university. It was always made clear that education was essential.

They would no more have failed to support me through university than they would have failed to feed me as a child. To me hand waving the need to support your child through university is blatant parental neglect. It amazes me that people feel differently (and no, I am not talking about people who don’t have the money, I’m talking about the ones who decide a bigger house or a nicer car is more important).

We started saving when they were babies. At times this was difficult and money was tight but we were able to do it and prioritised it. DD1 currently at university and has a loan for her fees and a small maintenance loan. We pay her rent, the maintenance loan would not have covered that. My feeling was that if DC did not go to university then the savings would start a flat or house deposit fund for them.

I have twins have stocks and shares Isa for each I started when they were 2 am aware they get control at 18 but can use it to help with uni if they choose to go. My parents refused to help me ( days before loans) and I ended dropping out as a lived at home and it was a nightmare was paying them rent but they should have been paying me grant . They did not care and are now annoyed I have 2 degrees and an excellent job

Whereas I went to university because that's what my parents did and expected of me, and it ended up being a total waste of my time (and money).

Parental support doesn't have to mean "give your child money" - there are lots of ways to be a great, involved parent.

True. I just don’t see condemning my children to a life of limited income and financial struggle by ignoring the fact the government no longer funds university education for children with better off families to be one of those ways.

I strongly suspect if enough parents don’t fund university education as expected, the government will make it legally required. That’s going to be interesting.

Not going to university doesn't mean you're "condemned to a life of limited income and financial struggle"

DH left school at 14 and never got his GCSE's - he massively out-earns me and I got a good degree from an RG university. He also doesn't have a stupid amount of student debt to his name

As an aside, I think way too many people go to university these days, but that's a whole other topic about employer expectations etc.

We've got money set aside but will talking to an IFA about the best way to finance things in about 18 months time.

Firstly, it’s a lot harder these days to ‘work your way up’ and secondly, we are talking about children who do want to go to university but can’t because the government assumes their parents will fund it and the parents take your attitude of ‘it’s not up to me, the state should fund it and if they don’t, oh well’.

I find that neglectful and cruel, you apparently think it’s perfectly reasonable. I’m obviously not going to convince you and you certainly aren’t going to convince me so I’ll keep putting money away for my children’s education and you can do whatever it is you are doing.

I just hope you’ve warned your kids not to expect your support if they choose university - the literature strongly implies that of course the parents will top up. They could be in for a nasty shock.

I don't have kids, I've already said as much

I'm not really interested in convincing you of anything, either.

That explains everything I need to know….

We are saving but doubt cars be as they are now or university so also get a grip

I’d start saving now. Also if you get asked by relatives what they want for bdays/ Xmas etc I’d ask for cash and put in the savings accounts. It’ll all add up over time.

Your children are 6.
You don’t know yet if either of them are suitable for uni.
Even if they are - both of them might decide not to go to uni.
Or only one of them might decide to go.
Or both of them might decide to go but one or both might have a gap year.

Our 17 year old twins are both applying for uni this term - and we won’t know for 12 months if they got in / still want to go / taking gap years or not etc…..there are so many variables in the next 10 years for your kids - I still really think you are over thinking things.

It’s sensible to save but if your income is £85k now, hopefully presumably it will be a lot higher in 12 years time when your kids are thinking of going to uni.

I agree.

But I don't think it was as much employer expectations as it was Labour's aim to get 50% of the population to university that was the problem.

But, yes, another topic.