to not fund ds further education

[frazzled74]

we have a moderate income which allows us to pay mortgage etc and have 1 holiday per year plus a few day trips etc, but no savings. ds 17 will be going to uni next year. we also have a 7 and 4 year old.
am i being unreasonable to expect ds to take student loan to cover tuition and accomodation costs etc.Some of my friends are talking about taking on second jobs and remortgaging to help finance uni. I think this would be detrimental to rest of family (not enough equity anywayto remortgage)
I was hoping that ds would find part time /holiday work to minimise his borrowing and that i woud be on hand with food parcels, train fares etc. I know that its hard that students end up with masses of debt but is it that awful?

YANBU

Nothing to stop your DS earning for a few years and then heading off to uni. My DD has just spent a year stashing away her earnings to help towards her costs beginning in October.
Consider how much he costs you to feed, clothe and service generally, work out a monthly total. Could you give that to him as a running monthly contribution when he starts?

I think YANBU - my parents gave me an allowance while I was studying, I think it was about £200 per month, but everything else I made up from loan and part time work. I think it is part of the learning experience of leaving home that you start to take more responsibility for your own finances. I didn't have loads to live on but it has taught me how to budget and prioritise and I think I had a more mature relationship with my parents at that stage than a lot of my friends did - I didn't just see them as the bank of mum and dad! Just so long as he knows you will always be there to help him out if everything goes tits up (financially, academically, emotionally) I think he'll be alright.

YANBU thats perfectly reasonable . with student loans etc you'ld pay back less than intrest on remortgaging!if your son is that committed to going then he'll work out the finince.