To be worried about university fees?

[ChoresChoresChores]

I had a ‘discussion’ with my partner last night about my worries about money. One of which is the upcoming potential cost of university. My DS is nearly 17 so uni costs are very much on the horizon. For his best chance at a career he will need to be in a city in order to make connections and get potential work experience. I also have another 2 child both of whom are going to want to go to University.

Because of their ages there will be 2 years where I have 2 children at Uni.

I’m trying to cut costs, save as much as I can but I’ve been told I’m unreasonable because their loans will cover what they need. I know from calculators that this is simply not true and that they also only qualify for minimum help because of my earnings (not higher rate tax but top end).

So realistically if you have kids heading towards uni, how much are you expecting to have to subside them? Am I crazy for actually worrying? I full expect them to get jobs in fact the 2 oldest are both currently working.

Sorry but wheat is one of the cheapest grains. Not all ceoliacs can tolerate oats (I’m one of them) and other than rice naturally occurring gluten free grains can be more expensive.

Depends on the uni but most students tend to do private rented accommodation in shared houses in their second year at uni. Prices will vary wildly depending on location.

Two at University at the same time shouldn't be more expensive because of the split contribution, which takes account of having to support two students. This is not well publicised, Martin Lewis has even written articles claiming it doesn't exist (!) and it's separate from (and more valuable than) the £1130 disregard for dependent children of any age.

Yanbu

As an absolute minimum you need to give your DC the difference between the minimum loan that they will get and the maximum they would get if you were in the very poorest income bracket. Just expecting them to survive on minimum loan is ridiculous. Even that isn't actually enough to survive on - how much more does depend on where they go - between £1000 and £4000 more per year once you know what their rent costs will be.

You can search "Student accommodation in x place"

You can also ask on WIWIKAU or the "Parents of x University" FB group (if there is one).

We were told 5 k per year for each child so put away 30k. First child is more like 8k per year so not looking great!

Baking GF bread is an art, especially if oats are an issue. Baking your own biscuits still doesn't bring costs down to cheap own brand biscuits and quite frankly having coeliacs shouldn't mean being penalised on food costs. We have to give DS extra to cover GF, he struggles enough energy wise without having to bake his own goods.
I'm not sure what all these naturally gluten free flour are either. Corn and rice flour aren't great for baking producing dry dusty bakes and rice flour is pricey anyway. Buckwheat is expensive as it has to be the labelled GF buckwheat, the main brand produces their buckwheat in the factory that handles wheat.

I mentioned split contributions above. At the moment this would only kick in, for two children at uni at the same time, if both move out of the family home and if at least one of them was at a London uni.

You're probably over thinking this. They might not study in a major city, such as London or Manchester. Plus they'll be eligible for a maintenance loan that pay tuition fees and give them some money to live off. Max you'll need to provide us up to £10k per annum in any one year, and 2x that in years they overlap. How much do you have saved in junior ISAs?

This probably isn't enough. I think £10k per year per child is more realistic, but then again I'd probably expect them an occasional call asking for top ups. Can you add to it from your savings?

No, it won't be feasible for everyone but will be feasible for a lot of people. More and more kids are choosing this now.

Just to clarify my partner is F, one child who is 9, so 4 children all living together under one roof. Property is mine, I’m the higher earner, she works 3 days a week and no there is no expectation for her to contribute, it was a broader conversation about money management and my worries about managing money for the future.

It will have to be.

We've saved 8k per child per year of uni (started when they were kids). Then the get 4k pa of subsistence grant from the government. That makes up the 12k pa that most unis (outside London) seem to recommend to live on. And they have to get holiday jobs, of course. The one that wants to study in London will need a term time job too.

As a starting point OP, look at what they'll be able to borrow.

My dd has taken a year out and saved 10k which I’m hoping will help towards uni costs, I’m a single parent but earn okay ish, absolutely no way I can send her £££ a month though.

Im fortunate that dd has always had a decent work ethic and had a pt job since she was 16yo, she’s also sensible and likes to save money.

Don’t worry about tuition fees - everyone’s in the same boat for that, the student never sees the money, they will repay it when their earnings reach a certain level.

It’s the maintenance which is the issue and yet another iniquitous system which punishes parents who earn. We were in the same position as you, 3 children, and they overlapped at uni too. Our children all had weekend and holiday jobs while at uni. They got the minimum maintenance loans because dh and I both work full time (not in incredibly high paid jobs but decent) and therefore we had to pay out literally hundreds a month to enable our kids to pay rent and feed themselves. If we were unemployed, or if I divorced my dh, or if we worked part time to keep our earnings deliberately low, our kids would have got full maintenance loans.

go figure 🤷‍♀️

On the flipside, the poorest students get the joy of a bigger debt. It could mean paying 9% of thier income for an extra 10 years or so.

As a single parent it’s more likely your daughter will get higher maintenance loans.

I don’t really understand why a maintenance loan needs to be means tested.

Get them to take a gap year and save like crazy. My son put away 12k in a year and it MASSIVELY helped him get through it all.

I know students who get minimum loans and whose parents can't afford to pay towards it - those students have part time jobs in supermarkets, often dual stores so that they still have the job when it's not term time. I also know students who have gap years after A Levels to work and save as much as possible, but this isn't as common.
I would explain now that this is what they will have to do so there are no surprises when the time comes.

Although a single adult earning enough for their child to only qualify for minimum loan will have less net pay than 2 parents whose combined income is enough for their child to only qualify for minimum loan.

The system is especially unfair in that regard.

My daughter is currently on a gap year to which she is earning money to save. Between that and my bonus we think we can cover it. She currently has 4.5k in savings and we hope to keep adding to that.

It is quite tough. The loan scheme assumes that students that qualify for less than the full loan will be topped up to the equivalent amount by parents.

But it's a flawed system because some parents can't or won't pay the top up or not all of it so you get the situation where some students from poorer households are "better off" than some from middle income houses.

It's all very well saying the student should get a job but that's really difficult these days. Our son went for umpteen interviews for waiter and warehouse jobs but there was so much competition and the employers want people who can do it all year round not just term time.

Even with the equivalent top up my son still found things very tight. He ended up selling premium bonds his grandparents bought him when he was born, and his child trust fund is gone now too. We've had to give him a bit more this year ( final year) though i know we are lucky and privileged to be able to do so. We both went to uni in the days before loans and left without debt so it did feel right that we should help our own kids. I might feel less benevolent if I was still paying back a large student loan myself!

Accommodation costs vary wildly between unis. He originally wanted to go to Queen Mary in London but shelved that option after realising he wouldn't be able to afford it. He's at Birmingham which is sort of mid range. There are cheaper ones so worth researching.

Our other child is much younger so we'll have a break in between although mt husband will probably have retired by the time she goes so it will all be on me. But I imagine it's even tougher having 2 go at the same time.

It's expensive. There's no denying it.

Yes no doubt, if DH and I split DS would still only get the minimum amount with me. I think DS would have to be registered as living with DH ha.

We’re recently out the other side.

The minimum loan does not remotely cover them. Like pretty much every parent we know, we paid their rent (plus things like phone, travel expenses) and they used the maintenance loan for living expenses.