Thread 28 - Corona Cohort Awaiting Offers, Advance Notice, Gap Years and New Jobs

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.
Previous Thread 27 Here

That's crazy, icanbe, if a sibling's income is part of the calculation, as if they're going to contribute! Just imagining my DC's faces now if they were asked to chip in towards the other's uni lifestyle

Got DSs to ask flat/ housemates last year about amount. Money given by parents per week ranged from 50-120. We get kids to pay us the minimum loan once they receive it each month - we then pay accommodation for them then give them an allowance weekly or monthly ( one better at budgeting so has monthly) They started on £75 per week and it went up to £80 & to £85 last year. DD will get £90 due to inflation. They got £20 per month off one set of grandparents and £25 from other so that helps. They don’t get it in July and August but paid all the rest if the time. It pays for food, going out, cleaning stuff, clubs and societies, printing costs & stationery. Clothes if they want more than they get fir birthdays snd Christmas.

Doesn’t cover

Phone
Travel home
Course equipment / books
Freshers week wrist band or levy

We pay for these items so they feel they can come any time

They didn’t work for most of uni - just in holidays or occasionally a festival behind the bar as a one off. DS2 worked during lockdown but obviously wasn’t going out at all as it was lockdown so didn’t get behind on his course

I'm sure a siblings income isn't taken into account. The loan is based on your joint parental income.

@singingstones @Fferny1 they ask about details of everyone living in the house, then about everyone over 18's income. So if it's a step parent or a sibling they ask how much they earn. I am not sure if it definitely gets included as household income. But from what I have read it looks like it. Does anyone with older siblings know?

Thank you *@Isthisjustnormal

Thanks Monkey - that's a good guide. We are in Wales where there isn't a cap on the maintenance loan, luckily. So DS will probably have the full amount and pay for his accommodation and living expenses out of that. He needs to decide: more disposable income or swishier accommodation and I expect will choose shared bathroom and an extra night out per week.

It seems like everyone is in the same ballpark of £90-120 pw self catering, so we will aim for that and may need to help out depending on which halls he gets. Hopefully not the ones I've seen for £7-8k

I've just been looking online and it looks like perhaps they don't count siblings income. But I've seen several people over the past few years on the WIWAU page say they do. I hope not.

Gosh that’s very harsh if they include a siblings income just because they are over 18.
What if you have a lodger?!

Those that pay the accommodation costs and the loan then goes to the student, do they get this in a lump sum paid termly/yearly or something?
I worry DS will blow the whole lot very quickly.

It's paid termly, usually just after term starts, so be prepared to pay for travel back to uni at the end of each holiday 😁

DS gets it paid into one account, but uses a different account for day to day spending by transferring small amounts which helps with budgeting.

[quote Monkey2001]@singingstones, if people can afford it, the approach of parents pay for accommodation and minimum loan covers everything else is very popular.[/quote]
This is what we are planning. DS has a decent child trust fund chunk too, but we're hoping he won't have to dip into that

@icanbewhatiwant

I've just been looking online and it looks like perhaps they don't count siblings income. But I've seen several people over the past few years on the WIWAU page say they do. I hope not.

I'm sure I've read that on the WIWIKAU page too 🤔

Having watched many many parents bailing out kids who were just paid the full amount at the beginning of term and dud a hopeless job if budgeting running out of money before mid way through the term - id get then to send you all the monies they get got maintenance loan and then pay them monthly. So they can budget with some support.

When they work out what your child receives it done on household income (from previous tax year) so if you are divorced your ex partners wage is ignored but if you’ve got your new partner or boyfriend or girlfriend living with you their salary is counted. The minimum is £4400 (more if London) so all kids get this even if parents combined earn over the threshold which I believe is £60-£65k per annum. Please don’t forget you can apply for disabled students allowance (non means tested) if you are dyslexic etc and loads of freebies and extra support) . www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html See link above

I’d say 550-750 per month is what it costs every month. This assumes the weekly allowance to then Is not paid in July and august (if you don’t expect them to work while at uni and they don’t expect to live a lavish life). This is self catered outside London.

This covers accommodation in halls, a weekly living costs allowance and then £1k per annum for items like phone and travel home on an odd weekend for family celebrations or for some TLC also added in monies for equipment/books and initial room stuff like towels,bedding, kitchen items.

Please remember there are things you stop paying for when they leave school and home.

For example we save money on

School bus pass
Tutor
Music lessons
Other hobbies and school costs - trips etc
Pocket money
Food for 30-35 weeks per year

For us that’s £3k per year saving to net off against that £550-750 cost per month so net we are at £300- £500 more to find.

Kids can have a student overdraft or a part time job so if your income is for example a nurses salary x 2 £80k per annum so finding this money is not possible then kids tend to work in bars or as student ambassadors for a couple of shifts per week so topping up things by £40 -£100 per week plus they can have interest free overdrafts.

There are grants snd bursaries available ( free money with no need to pay back) some relate to parents income or situation and others relate to kids a level grades (Cardiff and Lancaster I know have done something before with £1000 for kids with 3 As or higher) Oxford has a bursary for kids living in Norfolk or Suffolk which an old school friend of mine who lives there managed to get for her DC two years ago.

I hope my waffling helps - need to go earn some money now ! 😂

Ds1 has an account for student loan and an account for his wages when he's worked. I have let him get on with it. I told him the money has to last and to ask if he needs more. His loan was about £8,000 each year. He's no needed more from me. But he has spent a lot of time home due to covid. First year he didn't have to pay the final terms rent (£160 week) but the second year he had to keep paying his house rent and bills. But still didn't spend as much as he would. So I've not needed to top up. He's saved all his wages and plans to travel this summer. Ds2 won't get so much loan. So I'll top it up to the £9k and let him get on with it. I trust him not to spend it all at once. He has a summer job for extra money too. Ds2 was planning on doing a year abroad, but he says you can't put that down on ucas. He has to chose that once he's started uni. I think that might be an expensive year.

I just worked out ds1 has £76 left a week, after rent, to pay for food, bills and fuel. That's not much is it? But he's told me he doesn't need more and that he's not spent his wages. I've always said to ask if he needs more. We pay for his mobile phone and car insurance.

Thanks for all the info on finances - I have to admit having done the maths a while ago I’ve forgotten everything I learnt about student finance and need to go back to basics: anyone recommend a good student finance basics website for me?!

MoneySavingExpert is good for student finances.

We have noticed quite a reduction in our weekly food bill since DS went into boarding.

Thanks @ExtremelyDelighted. Sadly as Ds has been pretty low cost the last few years I suspect we are going to feel the jump in costs! He will be eligible for DSA so I need to check the details on that too: his dyslexia diagnosis is pretty historic now so I need to check if there’s anything in place about recency.

Sibling money is counted even if they are under 18... when DH suddenly handed in notice three years ago we had to redo all the application (never do this while they are at uni! It is so complex!!) . We were supposed to declare DS2's savings. He was 14!

Schools in my LA have a bursary for kids going to uni from a local housebuilder. You have to get certain grades in two from certain subjects. Ridiculously, this man has been allowed to decide what A Levels are worthy... so of DS's , history, yes, economics, yes, sociology , no.... but that's OK as he has two. I protested this as it is run through my school. This man's yes list includes most of the usual facilitating suspects but NOT classics . He doesn't include any technical subjects (even though he is in construction?) except engineering. He doesn't include any of the arts. No to sociology but yes to business CNAT. No to English !!!
But yes to PE and Sport. Because he liked them at school.

This from the ucas website.

I don't think the student finance asked about savings accounts or any money ds1 had from income. I'll have to ask him. He certainly didn't ask how much was in his savings account.

(Just realised I said there was no cap on maintenance loan in Wales! There is of course, you can't borrow millions, but total maintenance is about 10k and not means tested. The proportion you get as a grant rather than a loan is means tested.)

Thanks everyone for the financial insights, this is very useful for a first timer

Thank you for all the kind welcome messages.
Ds has woken up to an offer! Hurray.
Nottingham, AAA.
Now waiting for Leeds & Bristol.