AIBU to ask what parents on similar incomes give their children at university?

[MagnoliaPetals80]

I am looking for some advice from those who are helping their child financially at university. My DD is about to finish her A'Levels but had planned a gap year to work and save some money for uni. This week she has announced that she wants to go this year and the uni has approved this. She is determined to go whatever we say.

DH and I believed that we would have a year to save some money for her and that she would also have saved some money of her own and we are now trying to understand how it's going to work. She has picked an expensive city in the South East and is bad with money.

Our joint income is £65k or so and it looks to me like that means that she will qualify for the minimum loan amount. But we don't have lots of spare money. I know there are many variables but I'm interested in how much support you give your child (if you are able to support them at all financially). We think we could stretch to £200 a month but it looks like the loan might not even fully cover her rent. What's the norm these days if you are in a comparable situation? As I say, I know there are variables, I'm only asking if you are on a similar income.

Thank you in advance :-)

One of mine is also there. It’s a small city with two universities. There are about 20,000 students. It isn’t as simple as saying just get a job.

working in the summer holidays is also less than straight forward now that zero hours contracts are a thing, employers don’t want students are only home for 8-10 weeks

Its really hard! Mine have managed but it took ages.

I had to pay the full rent, £200 odd a week, as they only got half the maintenance loan (our income a tiny bit less than yours) and it was really hard to find a job in the uni city. Financially it was tough for us

They get minimum.
If you know they will get minimum they can just apply for that and no parental involvement needed at all.

OK well I apologise. I guess my view is distorted by the salaries you see quoted on MN. Tho earning way less than £33k working full time (what is a professional job? and how much is way less?) is fairly unusual I would say for someone old enough to have a uni-aged DC. A band 4 NHS admin role for example starts at £28k.

ETA: I see others have said the same. But your latest post @zeebra suggest you are talking about one person (you) earning £65k? I agree that is a good salary. But many PPs (me included) are talking about that figure as HH income with two parents working FT. So £33k.

I was surprised at that too. My parents (carpenter and teacher) planned for me to go and it wasn't as I left school ..it was in the choice of A levels and before. Same with mine. Bless them they paid for a 4 year degree too at a London University poor loves. I never even considered the expense. They then paid off a professional loan to do my legal practice course as a surprise in my first week of work. They are complicated but they were incredible at prioritising educaton and support...I must tell them again and show them just what that meant / means ❤️

May e zzebra is single and does t have the " other person" to contribute to household income

Yes I infer that may be so. Obviously that makes things challenging (though they will get a higher loan for sure).

But I was responding to Zeebra's post saying
A household income of £65,000 earned by two people is still quite a high income.

I said that I don't think it is and I stand by that. If they earn £33k working full time (which is the equivalent of this) then that's not a high salary. And they are saying it is. That's a different discussion from how to fund your DC at uni from a single parent's salary.

I earn way less ( than their household income of 65k). I was not saying I earn less than half of that. I am running a house on way less than 65k. I am divorced and then widowed (which doesnt affect me but obviously children rely on only me financially) so yes I have to do it on my own earning just under 50k in a professional job. It also affects take home pay as you only get one lot of tax allowance when single and have to pay all bills alone but I manage and have done for 25 Years. Not everyone on here is on huge salaries!

This makes a lot of sense. I don’t think students really grasp the level of debt they’re getting themselves into.

You earn more than I do. I'm not complaining, I love my job and I chose to do it, without any huge salary in sight. I am sorry that you have had a challenging time of things.

Do you think though that £33k is a high income - ie if £65k is earned by two people? Because that's what you said and what I took issue with.

My point is that as the threshold for minimum loan it is way too low. It threatens to disenfranchise YP from households with that income from going to uni – when their means-tested loan amount is the same as someone from a HH where the income is £200k.

So that's a completely different scenario.

The OP is talking about her and her dh earning about £65K between them.

I could say I'm older than you and a senior manager in a professional role but only earn £30K. It would be completely disingenuous of me to claim I don't earn anywhere near that though, as that salary is for a 0.6 contract.

You claimed you don't earn anywhere near the OP - which is clearly not true.

I would point out that term time jobs are not so easy to come by in uni cities. Mine have worked mainly in the 3-4 months they have off in the summer plus Christmas & Easter. Student accounts generally have an overdraft which can increase in increments over the 3 year period. It’s not ideal but if she worked solidly in the summer (nurseries/ carer roles generally have lots of hours available, one of mine did 40-50 hours a week in a pre school nursery) and got paid into a 2nd (say a monzo) account, leaving their main student current account with an increasing overdraft, plus whatever support you can offer, will get her there.

I would point out that term time jobs are not so easy to come by in uni cities.

There is the option of staying in the University City through most of the holidays. Lots of students do - just come home for a few days when on days off.

They just get assessed as being eligible for the minimum loan only

All along - I have been saying that I dont earn anywhere near their household income (I know it is 2 people). If you read my posts I have just said I thought it was quite a lot still - although not typical for mumsnet I am aware. I just said I would love that as a household income and I have to manage on much less. I am on my own but I am still allowed to compare my household income to someone else's regardless of how many people there are in the household which I think was clear in my original post.

She can be as adamant as she likes but if you can’t give her more money then she will have to work and/ or defer. As a first year course lead I see at least one student who drops out early in the autumn term every year because they simply can’t afford to live at university.

We will pay DS’s hall fees that are likely to be £8k. DS will borrow the minimum loan. We are on a combined gross salary of £150k.

Same. DC 16 applied for 10s before finally getting one. In out city it is possible but requires endless applications

Income is kind of irrelevant - what do you have left after all expenses? £65k no mortgage/small bills/one child is v different from £65k big mortgage,bills, 5 kids. It also depends where you live - £65k in London is going to feel different to £65k in Barnsley. Once you have a disposable income figure / What portion of that do you think is fair to allocate to DD? Half? Quarter? If she has changed the goalposts and wants to go you need to be straight with her: ‘we can afford to help you out to the amount of £200 a month, so you will need to make it work on that, let’s look at a budget and options for you getting some income’ - but if she wants to go it alone that means taking the financial hit.

its really not easy and on £65,000 a year, I'm not sure you will manage it.

We are on £120,000 a year and even with that income couldn't afford to pay the £1,250 pcm DS1 needs for uni out of net income

this is true. We have a very big mortgage and so the 120k doesn't go very far

I think university funding is very difficult but it is not your daughter's fault. The system is based on parents topping up maintenance loans to the maximum level (about 5K a year). When I worked at a uni, it was always the students whose parents couldn't or wouldn't make this contribution who struggled and often dropped out. Often the parents had a reasonable income on paper but lots of debt or younger children/second families. If you don't have the money though, I am not sure what you can do.

I am annoyed that we were lucky enough to be able to make the parental contribution for our children and a bit more when needed (about 55K for two four year courses) but they will still come out with eye-watering debts because of the crazy interest rates on student loans. I am not sure it is worth it.

I was a single parent when my children were at universities. I didn’t earn a lot so I gave them a little money each month to cover food and they both got jobs very quickly. That’s what they had to do.

Has she applied for loans, is there a cut off date?

Yes, cousin's two DDs are at different unis. They both worked for a chain store locally and were assured they could work at the store local to their respective uni. That never materialised, and they can't find any other work. NDN's son is at another uni and he can't find work either. My DS worked locally when he came home from uni during the holidays, but there doesn't seem to be many vacancies round here now, and hundreds of applicants for the few there are. Times have really changed.