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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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Original poster

Uni costs - student/parent paying

108 replies

MarysMonologue · 29/06/2022 18:37

This isn't so much a TAAT but more sort of off the back of a few posts I have seen about sending kids off to university lately.

Is it more common now for parents to pay? I graduated 10 years ago, and whilst I was at University very few of my peers had fees/accommodation paid for. All of us worked, usually Friday/Saturday/Sunday and used that alongside our loans. I only knew one person who had their fees paid for and received a weekly allowance (and even still he took out the maintenance loan without telling his parents and squandered it all on having a very very good time).

But I see more and more threads about parents covering costs, and not many mention jobs. Are students no longer working through University? Or is it just a case now where the loans students get, just is not feasible to live on and cover the rising costs these days?

For me, I couldn't have survived without my PT job and to be honest, my £500 student overdraft. But they did keep me ticking over - I definitely had a lot of beans on toast and super noodle dinners though. I got the minimum loan, as my parents earned just over the threshold but they just couldn't have afforded to pay for me. Not with my siblings at home, mortgage etc. Although in saying that, if I was really stuck they would have made sure I wasn't in trouble of course but at the detriment to their own bills I imagine.

Just wondering out loud really. With a very young baby, I am curious at how much it has all changed. Although in saying that, by the time they go to University (if they want to), it will have changed even more! We're discussing opening a bank account for her, but to be honest it was more for general stuff in her future, maybe a car etc, I hadn't earmarked it for University fees.

OP posts:

Hoppinggreen · 17/01/2023 16:58

We are hoping to support DD as much as possible. We will definitely pay her accommodation costs and give her a monthly allowance.
Our reasoning is that when we went to Uni we had no tuition fees and grants covered our accommodation and a bit more so if we can give her the same we want to

Lordofmyflies · 24/01/2023 13:57

My DS has loans for tuition fees. We pay his halls and food (£800) a month. He pays for everything else by working. I'm hoping he will not have to get a maintenance loan but we'll see.

pinkhousesarebest · 14/02/2023 16:32

It of along shot but I am looking for reviews of NCAD in Dublin . Dad has her heart set on going but Dublin prices are double what they would be in Limerick, for example. Just wondering is the experience worth it, and in general the experience of being in Dublin also worth it.
We have an amazing Art and design school an hour away from us in France but she won’t hear tell of it.

pinkhousesarebest · 14/02/2023 16:33

Oops sorry !

healthadvice123 · 06/08/2023 22:43

Parents are expected to make up the cost which in the real world isn’t possible for most , ds gets just over the minimum due to our combined wages but with mortgage and other DC we cannot finance him £5000 a year just not possible. My ds said it seems to be you need to have parents on low income and therefore get the whole loan or very rich parents who pay all accomodation and Ds had people in flat at both ends, none like us in the middle.
I don’t think the parents earning threshold has gone up much either , yet cost of living is so high now.

Lbet · 09/08/2023 08:06

We top up our sons minium maintenence loan but it is at no extra cost to us because we were fortunate enough to be able to put his child benefit into a savings account from birth.
Doing that has definitely paid off for him.

CornishGem1975 · 09/08/2023 08:40

Parents are expected to make up the cost which in the real world isn’t possible for most

I once got my arsed handed to me on here because I suggested there was no way I could afford to top up the minimum maintenance loan for my kids. "Why didn't you plan" "You should have been saving" "it's your responsibility".

All very well, I did save but didn't foresee 2 x redundancies and a divorce in my future.

Lbet · 09/08/2023 08:52

We should all realise everyone's situation us different and some mire fortunate than others.

Cornishgem I am sure you are doing all you can for your children giving your circumstances.

Travelban · 09/08/2023 09:10

Dd is going to do a course with fairly low contact time and is desperate to get a job. We saved her tuition fees since birth so she has those paid gor and we will be paying her accommodation but she plans to try and live off her earnings plus some help from us. It's ambitious but let's see how we go. We have already discussed that she may have to get a loan as there are no guarantees we will be able to afford it until the end.

DS1 is aiming for oxbridge on a stem course so we know he won't be able to work or would be unreasonable to expect him to, so we will have to pay or do minimum loan. So I think it does depend on the YP and circumstances too.

TizerorFizz · 09/08/2023 19:25

Unless Dc are likely to be high earning, why not take the loans? The vast majority do. Clearly the well off can help more and max loan Dc get plenty and maybe a bursary too. Middle income parents have ALWAYS made a contribution! DH is 70 and his parents had to. We called it means tested grants and awards back then. It’s fiction to think a parental element is new. It isn’t. So not saving anything will cause issues for DC.

Paying up front is ridiculous if it’s your DCs savings. Or you only have that money spare. Always take the loan for fees. Think if Dc would rather have £27,000 for a house deposit. Or even more if you form out all accommodation and food costs! Can you fund their life after uni? Where will they live when they work? How much will that cost? The grad tax is a drop in the ocean when compared to rental costs! Save the large sums for needs after uni when there’s no loan available.

TizerorFizz · 09/08/2023 19:26

Actually most parents DO make up the difference. My DDs didn’t know anyone who worked.

user1487194234 · 09/08/2023 19:32

We definitely didn’t want ours having loans,mainly because we didn’t
In Scotland so no tuition fees,we pay £1100 a month to cover rent and spending money

healthadvice123 · 10/08/2023 00:28

@CornishGem1975 thata mumsnet for you, thing is coupe on £60000 have to make up same as some on £250000 and its not comparable.
like you say life doesn’t always work out despite best plans, I know someone who couldn’t go to uni as parent refused to help full stop and they could not make Ito n min loan.
my ds has friends whose parents don’t work and they have full loan , bursaries and extra help and so much better off than him.
my da decided to leave now as not for him but we helped him as much as we could and he worked etc and he's grateful, and knows we have always done our best by him and his siblings.

elliejjtiny · 10/08/2023 00:37

When I went to uni 20 years ago there were a few parents who paid for everything. Most parents topped up their children so they ended up with the same as the students who were entitled to the maximum loan/grant.

Pythonesque · 10/08/2023 12:51

I agree that the concept of parental contributions has been around for an extremely long time. My mother started uni at the end of the 50s with a grant and a scholarship. Her father deigned to pay her first terms accommodation and refused to pay anything else - she really didn't have enough to survive on (juggled costs of books, transport, new shoes because she walked instead, and food ...). She ended up dropping out (later transferred credits elsewhere and completed a degree). It didn't help that neither of her brothers were university material.

Apparently in her grandmother's generation there were significant numbers of women where the requirement to pay off university loans was part of the reason they never married (though the world wars may have contributed to that a bit too).

Greffabtra · 11/08/2023 15:48

@Travelban it might be worth considering using that tuition fee money to pay for a house deposit instead. A caller to Martin Lewis said he had savings and was it worth using them for his tuition fees and not taking a loan. Martin advised him to take the tuition fees loan and the maintenance loan and make a decision once he had finished his degree and started a job. Depending on what job he had and the likely salary progression he could decide to pay the student debt down immediately or instead use that pot of savings as a house deposit. £28k could help out nicely toward a deposit. Just another way to think.

Use a salary calculator to see how much they pay back per month, you will have to use payment plan 2 as a rough idea but honestly it isn't a huge amount compared to pot of cash to get on the housing ladder.

I personally think schools should include a table of income and maintenance costs for university at the time their children choose their options which is year 8 here. It at least gives them a heads up so it doesn't come as a massive shock when their child in year 12.

CornishGem1975 · 11/08/2023 16:57

My DD has decided to stay at home for uni now. Student load for tuition fees and then I can financially support her a lot better as she will be rent free, bills paid, meals paid for etc and she can keep the local job that she has where she can pick her hours to suit. She said a lot of her friends are doing similar now because the cost of living is so high.

TizerorFizz · 11/08/2023 21:04

No decent unis near us though. I didn’t want a less good uni for DD. Nor does everywhere offer her subjects. Uni just becomes a continuation of school if Dc stay at home with mates and Dc (or parents) can make a lot of money out of it if they take the maintenance loan and save it.

CornishGem1975 · 11/08/2023 21:23

Luckily we have a number of decent unis in commutable distance. I'd have liked DD to go away but she's come to the decision herself.

W0tnow · 25/08/2023 07:37

We will pay four our kids, because we can. I lost my parents young-ish and I’ll use inheritance, which they would be thrilled about. I can avoid them coming out of university with a massive debt. I hope they realise how lucky they are. Most of my uni education was free. Fee paying only kicked in in my last year.

TizerorFizz · 25/08/2023 10:46

They won’t thank you if you cannot give them help to buy a property later because it’s all gone on uni fees. Parents have paid for maintenance for students for decades now. Attending uni never was totally free for the majority @W0tnow

Lbet · 25/08/2023 11:55

Wotnow I think it's wonderful how you can use your inheritance on your children's future you have obviously saved it for that purpose so good on you.

If they come out of uni with no debts and go on to get a good career then they will have the finances to buy their own homes.

Babyroobs · 25/08/2023 11:58

We have two going to Uni this year and it's going to be a big struggle. Ds has not managed to get any work over the summer despite trying, neither has dd although did have a term time job and hoping she can get a few weeks of work in before she leaves for Uni. The loans barely cover accomodation with not a lot left to live off so will be helping them both. We are not high earners either.

Cookerhood · 25/08/2023 13:10

They should easily be able to get hospitality jobs either between now & going or when they get to uni, unless you live somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Restaurants & pubs around here are crying out for staff. At least that will help a little while they are away. It's tough having 2 going at the same time (we had 6 years of it!).

Lbet · 25/08/2023 13:31

Yes I agree with op they definitely need a partime job because the maintenence loans for only just abou cover rent. Then there's all the nights out to fund.

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