Panicking about sending twins to uni next year

[Em3425]

My twins are now 17 and both are thinking about applying to university. I would like them both to have this opportunity but it really concerns me that we will not be able to afford the 'parental contribution' - i.e. the shortfall between the amount of the student loan and the actual cost. We both work full time and our income, whilst by no means high, apparently means that our expected contribution for them both will be over £5,000. We literally live from paypacket to paypacket and have had no spare cash to save - we can't afford to go out, go on holiday, buy new clothes etc and we are going to be even worse off when their Child Benefit stops. I know they will both have to work if they want to go to uni but with the shortage of working opportunities currently I am worried for them and wondering if there is anyone else in the same position, if they have found any support out there and/or how we can reduce the costs so this is doable.

If you can’t afford to help them you can’t afford to help them. No shame in that.

But please be honest with them NOW about this.

There’s two options:

1. they live at home and commute to a local uni. They may be able to move out in second or third year depending on a PT job.
2. they take a gap year and work as close to full time as they can manage to make up the shortfall in loan themselves.

It’s also worth looking at bursaries and scholarships offered by universities - these can range from a few hundred to thousands so could make a huge difference.

Do they know what they plan to study?

Make it clear to them the extent you are able to support and ask them to factor that in when they make plans.

Stillabitmemo has good options to put to them.

Alternatively, they take a greater amount out in Student Loans and repay it themselves once they are earning enough.

Also, be aware that cost vary hugely, depending on where they go to University.
The amounts that dc have to live on, vary wildly.
We've never given any of our dc anywhere near £5K and they've been fine.
One option for them is to take a year off and work first, to save up. As you say, there is no guarantee they will be able to get work, but, if they can, it would be easy to save a considerable sum to back them up.
My dc didn't o that, but they all worked during the holidays, so had 10 weeks + worth of wages under their belts before starting.

I was in a similar position. Look carefully at the costs of halls/renting at different universities as they vary hugely and this came as a big shock to us. Steer clear of London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Exeter (not exhaustive). Cardiff and Swansea are really good value as well as northern and midland cities like Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield. Then even within the same uni there's a massive variation in accommodation. Cheapest are traditional halls, self catered with shared kitchens and bathrooms.

Consider also distance away as petrol and train costs really add up with all the toing and froing.

@Stillabitemo

If you can’t afford to help them you can’t afford to help them. No shame in that.

But please be honest with them NOW about this.

There’s two options:

1. they live at home and commute to a local uni. They may be able to move out in second or third year depending on a PT job.
2. they take a gap year and work as close to full time as they can manage to make up the shortfall in loan themselves.

It’s also worth looking at bursaries and scholarships offered by universities - these can range from a few hundred to thousands so could make a huge difference.

Do they know what they plan to study?

@Stillabitemo one wants to study Economics, the other wants to study Textiles/Fashion.

Steer clear of London, Edinburgh, Bristol and Exeter (not exhaustive).

Bristol does have some very expensive halls but there is cheaper accommodation outside of halls and cheaper halls too. If they are both going to the same university then they could share accommodation, my DS at Bristol paid £300 a month for a shared room in a house and didn't stay in halls at all.

I agree about setting expectations now. Lots of students live at home to save costs, as accommodation is a huge chunk. And en-suite accommodation is a lot more expensive. I used to work applicant days showing students around university and the ones who chose shared bathroom/facilities made the tightest groups of friends.

Depending what they study will dictate how many lecture contact hours they might have, or placements to complete etc, which will affect their potential part-time jobs/earnings. I don't know about corona-future, but students can study abroad for a year without paying fees for that year (reciprocal university partnerships) so that's a massive saving- plus there are bursaries and grants available to help with living costs. I recommend speaking to the potential uni's about what they offer. The study abroad option is available for most courses, but trickier for others such as law and nursing etc, though not impossible. Also, my parents couldn't afford to contribute to my study and I've never thought twice about it. It was my choice and I've never regretted it as my degree has always helped me secure employment.

Not so much for economics but certainly for fashion I would be asking how much additional cost is to be expected - things like fabrics or trips to fashion week etc

I have one going back to uni for his third year and another heading off for her first. Books, clubs and sports fees, transportation, the odd take away, etc. do add up.

It could be worse. You could be sending them to uni in the US like I am, where the costs are much higher.

Agree, be honest with them. They could look at degree apprenticeships too. Look at notgoingtouni.com

As others have said, just be up front and honest.
It’ll be a great reason for them to learn budgeting

I see where you are coming from. If they were singleton siblings, you would stand a fighting chance of being able to contribute to both in a much more staggered way. Whereas, as is the nature of twins, everything has to be stumped up at the same time if they both choose to attend uni starting the same year - it would be unfair to ask one to wait while you pay for the other and so on.

Have you contacted twins trust? (Formerly tamba) and asked them if they know of any support or ways in which you parental contribution can be reduced as you would be funding two? They may know of ways in which this can be achieved or might be able to help you access funding to support them.

Do either of them already have a part-time job and any savings? Have they not mentioned how THEY will be contributing to costs? I agree, that you need to be honest about costs and what you can/can't help with.

Thanks everyone, this is all so helpful. I think they are somewhat aware of the financial position we are in - we will certainly be being completely up front with them - but I don't want to give them any duff info & I feel so uninformed! I've been searching around websites etc. & they get a lot of info at school but this has mostly been disseminated remotely. It is a lot to take in, finances, course choices, applications, p/t jobs etc. The last few months have been Covid-kiboshed - we had been expecting to be visiting unis and both were hoping to get summer jobs this summer - hmm no chance. Now we've reached the end of term the reality is dawning on me that this time next year this will all be happening.

Lots of uni's are hosting online applicant visit days so maybe you can visit virtually and ask questions?

I feel your pain I really feel the maintenance loan shouldn't be paid according to parental income and / or if you have more than one DC at uni it should be considered when looking at parental income, its a rubbish system.
Do encourage them to look at unis where living costs are lower, or if there is a suitable uni within commuting distance get them to go there. A gap year to work and earn money is a good idea but jobs sadly are currently hard to come by , also look at bursaries.
Are there any savings you can make? I went from part time hours to full time hours to help support DD at uni, she gets lowest amount of maintenance loan which didnt even cover her rent, she applied for lowest price accommodation but was allocated second cheapest.
She has tried to find work at uni but jobs are hard to find in a uni town, most of her uni friends that have work transferred existing jobs at home to a local branch near uni.
The other option is apprenticeships, some are at degree level but degree level apprenticeships are few and far between and often concentrated around cities, there is a lot of competition for them but certainly something to look out for.

There will obviously be a limit on how much they can borrow from Student Finance based in your income, and parents are expected to top it up. All you can do is save, save, save until they go, and let them know how much you will be able to give them per month/term when they start.

They can also try to get jobs, of course, until they go.

But there's no way that hasn't already been mentioned of reducing the cost. This is the system.

Student finance calculator ive found useful. Or you could phone them up, tell them you have twins and ask them to give you a rough idea on how much it would be and have them work it out for you.

Also look at unis where they have good bursaries and low accommodation fees. My daughter was torn between Lancaster and York and Lancaster was more cheaper in accommodation. Newcastle also is quite reasonable as well as Leeds and Leicester. Even Oxford we found was cheap because of the less time spent there meant less in rent.

I have two girls, one is 15 years old. based on our outgoings combined my eldest was awarded with £6400 maintenance loan. Her accommodation she chose was £5300 (which was more of the pricier ones as we saw other standard for about £4300 and even they were pretty decent) for the year leaving about 1k to play with.
So I said to her, use that on books, going out, clothes, printing costs, freshers week etc, and we would just pay for her upkeep. We estimate from (from speaking with students in the student room forums) its going to cost about £50 per week and that would be self catering basis + phone bill + 2-3 bus fares into town per week. that works out on a 40 week term at £2000 per child.

If they want more income to blow on other things then they can get a weekend job.

I was in a similar situation to you, but with only one DD. I didn’t have any spare money each month to help her out, as much as I wanted to. I posted about it on here at the time and had some unhelpful replies saying that I should have saved up! Some people have no idea what it’s like to struggle financially. I think there are some grants available if your DCs get outstanding grades at A Level. A friend of my DDs got £2000 for getting all A grades. Otherwise grants tend to those with parents on a very low income. My DD got a job on campus as soon as she started which helped and when she was struggling in her first year she went to student services and they were helpful. She was given the meal plan for free for about a month which was much appreciated. I do understand how you feel. You don’t want your financial situation to affect your DCs choices and ultimately their future.

What's this parental bit? Genuinely interested as I was at uni 10+ years ago and I got a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan (for accomodation and living).

It's just not fair, is it. I know two families who get full contribution and both families go on holiday all the time (4 or so holidays for one family, 6 or so for the other). I hope it works out OP.

My DD has a friend whose mum and dad are separated and very well off. He lived with his mum when applying for a student loan. His mum doesn’t work because she doesn’t need to (she’s has a house that she doesn’t have a mortgage on and her ex still pays for everything) so DDs friend got the full maintenance loan and lots of other help. His dad has a very well paid job and gives him an allowance but this doesn’t count as he didn’t live with his dad. I am a single parent on an okay wage (though not by MN standards) but pay a huge private rent (on a tiny house) which is not taken into account at all. It is definitely very unfair.

I feel like I have just wrote this message only a year on. My twin daughters will not be going to university until 2023. Last night we had an open evening at the school where I discovered that the maintenance loan will not even cover the accommodate cost. Loosing my twins child benefit will also add to the pressure. How did you get round this? What help is there out there when trying to send twins to university? They both work now whilst also doing their A levels and will of course get job when they are at uni. We will try to give something each month but also don’t really have spare money each month. We are not classed as low earners and I am not a single parent so there doesn’t seem to be extra help for your average working class families. How did you get around this? Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide

Another option is to look into degree apprenticeships. You get paid apprentice wage, but your university tuition is free/all paid for. Frequently this also means FT employment post degree as well.

Here is one in Economics that is available every year and leads to good civil service job:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-government-economic-service-degree-level-apprenticeship

For textiles/fashion degree isn’t only pathway. They have own qualifications as well so an apprenticeship with industry qualifications instead of degree might be a good pathway too:

www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/BFC-Initiatives/Education/Apprenticeships

www.ukft.org/skills-and-training/apprenticeships/

It’s madness really that a parents income (with no information or care really for their outgoings) dictates how much a student is able to borrow. It’s not like this is free money! They will be paying it back forever and a day. We’re lucky that we have a decent age gap between children and have a good income and can afford to top them up, but even so, in doing that it’s unlikely we’ll get on holiday etc as the money we’d ordinarily use for that will go to DD. Which is a sacrifice we’re willing and able to make. But only because despite our income we’ve kept our mortgage low (because we’ve had the option to do so - this is luck in the first instance being able to buy a house that suited our family when we did) and our other outgoings aren’t too horrific - not that any of that is taken into account!