If you are fully supporting DC through uni - how much is is it really costing?

[QuandryQuaint]

As title really. DH has got a big promotion and we are looking at whether it will be possible to fully support our DC going to uni without any loans. If you are fully funding your DC would you please share what this is actually costing you per year? Assuming not in London.
Fees : £10k ish per year
Accommodation?
Basic living costs? - food, study texts/equipment, basic clothing.

Just trying to get an ideal if this is even feasible for us.
Thanks

Because starting their adult life with a massive debt will mean their lives are considerably harder, especially when the CoL is so high now. My parents had a free education - university plus a stipend. I got tuition fees paid but accumulated debt for accommodation and living expenses despite working every holiday and part time while at university. I want to minimise the debt burden for my son - why wouldn't you want to, when we've had it so much easier?

Completely agree, we intend to pay for uni and give them house deposits, my parents did the same for me and I'm eternally grateful, why would I not do the same for my children if I can? I appreciate it's a hugely privileged position to be in to be able to do this for them, but I don't think being saddled with unnecessary debt is somehow character building.

It isn't necessarily 'teaching them to be adults'. It's horrible that they have to be in this position. DC1 left university 3 years ago and still owes over £75000 because of interest, despite paying back monthly - it's actually gone up! DC2 in third year now, probably owes over £35k. It's rubbish, but as I said before, it's making university elitist again - not only can they not enjoy their experience as they are constantly fretting about rent and food, but they also have this massive debt at the end. A lot of our bright minds from poor families will just not be able to go. £25k is a huge amount for us - DH retired and me, NHS. I am, I don't mind admitting, very envious of those families who have enough to be able to do this. (I'm sure I'll be told we should have worked harder and got proper well paying jobs...doesn't work like that!)

Not quite there yet but it will be cheaper than our DC's school fees which are about £20k or so per term for the oldest child, and then £15k for the others.

So wouldn't do anything else.

DD cost us £15-28k pa in Edinburgh including a year abroad. She worked part-time in term-time and full-time in holidays. So glad she has no loans as looking at the calculators, 3 years post graduation she’d be paying over £500 pcm back. Given she’s living in London that would be a big hit after her pension contributions and we’re pleased she’s got some breathing room.

we were fortunate that we were used to paying school fees and had a separate pot for the deposit for her flat so not a tough decision.

Some very good points made on this thread though some posts I don't agree with haha.

Yes if you are currently pay for private school I imagine the costs of university don’t feel that bad. Especially if your DC were in boarding school. I am sure this was the case for some of DS2’s mates at uni (Lboro) who were happily in catered halls which we absolutely could not afford. £9k a year? No worries, less than a term at private school.

And yes it is a very sad state of affairs I agree that uni is now becoming more and more a privilege for more wealthy families. Especially going away to uni. Increasingly, families I know are supporting their DC to choose a local uni (we are lucky that we are close to many excellent ones).

That’s not to say those who can afford it should not pay their DCs’ way. By all means expect them to budget but if you have the money then go for it. As long as they know how privileged they are, as you say @QuandryQuaint and don’t expect all their peers to have as much ££.

I would say £30k is toppy; that assumes £10 accomm (fair enough for a lot of places but not all) and then £10k living which is a lot. Divided by 40 weeks that’s £250 on food, transport and fun. That’s a lot more than I spend on those things for myself :) but yes, £22k-25k is probs about right.

The max maintenance loan does cover rent btw in a lot of places. Like I say, DS’s in Lboro was about £7k for the year this year; lots of unis have halls about similar price and some a good deal lower (esp when you think they are usually a 40-week contract). Lboro has two at around £5 and Leicester has several for less, for example. Others on this thread have mentioned rents a fair way under £9.7k. Agree tho that it doesn’t cover private rent in some cities, or catered halls in many unis.

@NotSmallButFunSize don't worry – most parents do not have to pay the amounts quoted here as DC take out tuition fees loan (£10k) and maintenance loan (£5k min). Plus yy plenty of DC stay local; also if you cook economically and don’t go wild on nights out you can spend less. A great social life at most unis is to be had via clubs eg sport, drama, music, political volunteer – which will have very low costs.

We are paying for accommodation and all living costs while putting away enough to cover the fees. She will take the loan for tuition fees and decide at the end of her studies whether we pay it off or she uses the money for a deposit.

I should have said that's £6k for accommodation and £600 a month for spends. Plus any extras

Something like that I can't remember exactly! I'm on plan 2 though as are all my peers except for my husband who is on plan 1

It's not that they didn't earn the fees being paid so that has no bearing on the fact they didn't earn the house deposit either. It's about a house deposit benefitting them more financially over their lifetime as getting on the housing ladder young will set them up for a lifetime of financial security as they build equity and sell to buy a bigger house later etc. than starting adult life with no student debt but no lump sum to get started will.

I'm in my mid thirties and there's a stark divide in financial security and wealth between the people who gifted house deposits and the people that weren't. I bought my first house at 23, sold it to buy a bigger one at 28 and bought my forever home - a big 4 bed country house - with my husband at 33. That simply wouldn't have been possible if I wasn't gifted money to buy my first house so young as it was the building of equity and not wasting money on rent that got me here. My friends from the same uni with the same debt as me who weren't given a deposit to get started are still renting or just buying their first starter homes because it's taken them this long to save a deposit whilst also renting.

If you can give both because you're exorbitantly wealthy great but if it's one or the other spending it all on fees is a waste of money compared to getting them on the property ladder.

My house deposit actually wasn't a gift, it was a loan through a springboard mortgage and my parents got their money back at the end of it so all the equity was money I'd paid in and built up myself, but I wouldn't be where I am now financially if I hadn't had that Springboard start from them. I will be setting my daughter up with a house deposit, not wasting it on uni fees.

Students can also take a year out before going to uni to work and save up..

Mine took the tuition loan then we paid their accomodation and living expenses but were v generous because I didn't want them to get a job. All have mild disabilities and working and studying weren't possible. It was cheaper than their school fees so probably around £22k. One was in London, one in the north.

My twins will have access to a significant amount of money each when they turn 18. They have effective control of it now but can't touch it for another 18 months. It will fund university - living costs at least but of course I'll make a contribution to that and have money put aside. I've spent a long time education them about money and how to deal with it and because of why they have it (inheritance) I'm confident they won't go mad with it. I've been clear that I still expect them to take fee loans rather than paying those upfront - they can always pay it off later if they approach the earnings threshold that makes it financially smarter to clear it.

We are just subsidising minimum loan and we pay £1000 a month per child. It would be over £2500 a month per child if we were self funding.

Term time jobs are incredibly tricky for oxbridge/vet/dentist/medicine, etc.

Have 2 at the moment, 3 next year, £25K each per year,

I totally agree. If you have a finite amount of money then it’s a no brainier to me to get them on the property ladder rather than them being debt free. That deposit will get them making money more quickly and able to move up the ladder.

My eldest has a 6 figure house deposit. It means he can afford to buy and live in London. Had we used £15k a year from that to pay the fees and give him the equivalent of the loan he would have £55k as a deposit. This would make it substantially harder for him to get on the London housing ladder. Meanwhile that £100k is still growing as he waits to buy and is working much harder than having been used 7 years earlier for uni expenses.

Is that actually true (that those who can afford to fund are disproportionately from the private school sector)? We could afford to fund uni (but chose not to in the end) mainly because we had gone with the state sector and therefore had savings put aside that we wouldn't have if we'd paid school fees. MN seems to be full of posters that are "not wealthy" and just about managing fees, so I would imagine that although those posters might use their "it's the same as school" money to fund university there would be nothing saved to help their DC with house deposits, which I personally think (and why we didn't spend our savings on uni in the end) is a better use of money than paying for uni. If you are wealthy enough for both, then clearly a different question.

Interestingly another consideration for us was that we have 2 children and one did not go to university so fully funding university (as opposed to just paying rent which is what we are doing) felt like a lot of money to give one child and not ther other. So that might be another thing for OP to think about if she has other children.

I also wish student loans were not so called. It would be better just to think of them as a 9% (over threshold) 40 year graduate tax and not fixate on the amount borrowed and how big it is as only very high earners are likely to be paying it off.

Exactly!

Yes but for some student the only loan they can get is for the fees because their parents earn too much for any maintenance. So it's not a question of taking a loan to get a higher house deposit. There's no loan to be had.

There is a minimum maintenance loan regardless of the size of your parents' income.

It’s to me very clear if it’s a choice between deposit and fully funding then deposit is the better choice. But not everyone has to make the choice between the two. In which case it’s a very sensible thing to do to help them avoid debt.

Im pretty sure the minimum maintenance loan (approx 4.9k) is available whatever your income....but that still needs a hefty input from parents to cover accommodation and living expenses

mine had the same as the maximum loan, both coped fine dd1 is reclusive, dd2 had additional income via sponsorship

Oh yes, he will most definitely be having to take out all loans available!

I am still stressed about the accommodation costs - not everyone just has a spare 500 quid every month, especially not with 2 siblings still at home who I would like to still be able to have a life!!

Will he get only the min loan? ie is your HH income above about £65k (which I know if not that much if two parents are working FT)?

You (and he) may need to factor this in to choices about unis. Some are much more ££ for accommodation and other aspects. Obvs a further-flung one will cost more in travel. As already noted, some unis offer much cheaper accommodation. Places like Leicester, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle have cheaper options (not in any way an exclusive list there, just some ideas).

Or he may be better going to a local uni. If a degree is not contact-heavy this may only require attendance 2-3 days a week. We are in the East Mids and in striking distance of Leics, Lboro, Derby, Notts, Sheffield, Brum, Stoke. You may have a similar list of possible local unis (and remember lots of big cities have two or more unis - Nottingham and NTU, Sheffield and Sheff Hallam etc).