Funding your cherubs through Uni how?

[Piffle]

Ok
Do how are your Uni starters being funded?
Specifically if they can only get the £3575 amount of maintenance loan?
We are really struggling to budget everything :(

Xenia ia right for 12/13, mumeee - the max loan is £5500 for students living away from home outside London, £7675 in London (It's £4950/£6,928 this year)

When I went there wer no fees but I got the minimum grant which was not much but my parents made it up to the full grant (you got the full grant is you were not very well off). 15% of 18 year olds when to university when I went.

I went to university back in the day of no fees too and my parents topped up my grant considerably. I had 3 years in London and one in Cambridge fee free. My dd works harder than I ever did. There are so many bright kids out there I feel sorry for. Of course I also blame Blair and his stupid idea that 50% of the population should go to university and the abolition of polytechnics.

agree about both things, going mad. The abolition of polys wasn't Blair's idea though

I agree too that policy of more going to Uni was pants....
Certainly targeted help to get those who couldn't afford to but are merit worthy of support would be a better use of dosh and would have possibly enabled a better fairer fee structure.

DS1 is so relaxed about the loan though...
I guess with most every graduate in the same boat, I can foresee employers carrying he cost of it eventually....

I worry about teaching degrees though, is a job like that with a capped salary limit every going to be worth getting into £40-60k of debt?

Insomnia we found it better to support our DDs through uni. But we don't pay for everything so they still have to learn to budget. Then when they finish uni we don't support them as they then should be able to support themselves. This worked with DD1 and DD2 who finishes in June is sorting things out with her friends and intends to try and get a full time job. Obviously if they were really struggling we would help out if we could but we would lend rather than just give them the money.

I agree with mumeee that you have to get the right balance and it may depend on the individual child too. If everything is too easy they never work which is why the children of the rich try to ensure their children do not get too much.

I found paying them the £100 a week each by standing order meant they could never run out of money. On the other hand I could have given it per term as my father did and then the student has to learn to budget I suppose. I can see both points of view.

I think weekly initially and then monthly, once a routine is built :-)
We cannot afford a massive cock up financially...
The children of the rich at my sons School are going all fees paid... £10k a year costs plus parental supermarket deliveries!

So is there a benefit/downside of not taking the 3.5k loan? Apart from the obvious of not having to pay it back! Has anyone not taken it, or anyone taken it to save for a lump sum for a mortgage?

Not sure taking it for a mortgage is hugely ethical....

it's not at all ethical, but I've heard that some people do it. it's very cheap money (& they didn't get where they are today by turning down cheap money on a plate )

(that's a Reginald Perrin quote btw, it's not sincere)

Piffle we didn't give weekly or monthly cash to our DDs. In the first year halls were paid termly for DD1 and in 2 instalments for DD2 utility bills were included in halls. In 2nd and 3rd years we paid some rent ( well actually most of the rent monthly by direct debit. But yet paid some of it and all bills.

at rate of inflation plus 3% while they are studying it's not really cheap money. It may be relatively cheap when they first start earning money but will go up to inflation plus 3% later. Of course inflation might drop by that time.

the rates change quite dramatically from Sep 2012

\link{http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,6678642&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL\old rates} (Plan 1 - for those whose courses started before Sept 2012) always much lower than the return on savings, if you could afford to invest it instead of using it

\link{http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,6678755&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL\new rates} (Plan 2)

Great! I didn't realise those rate changes. I'm seriously trying to think of ways to make more money.

So do you reckon it's better to avoid taking the loan at all if you can afford it? I know it's the student's debt, not mine, but I'd much rather up my hours than have the dcs start off with so much debt. Or is that totally mad? I thought I'd got it sussed as I hadn't even looked at the rate changes. I'm going to have to get my head out of the sand and start being a bit more grown up abut it all.

supposedly the new regime will actually cost new students less over their working lifetime, despite the fact that their tuition fee loan is close to 3 times higher - because of the way the repayment scheme is structured? (or something...I tend to glaze over & go neenawneenaw when they start justifying the increased charges )

My cousin has 2 DSs. They paid for tuition when the elder boy went - at that time it was only c £1000 pa. When the younger one started it was already around £3K but they felt they couldn't not pay his as well, although it was so much more. He finished last year just in time for my cousin to cut back her hours drastically as she hit 60...

We would have done that too, but couldn't nearly afford it - plus we have 4 kids. If it's feasible for you I'd definitely give it serious consideration.

Mummee?
You paid no cash at all aside from accomodation?
How did your cherubs eat?

My 3 older children graduated debt free. They had some friends who took the loan and put it in an ISA. In my view the tiny interest pa you get on £3500 is not worth having all that student loans company hassle, the fact of the debt, the mistakes SLC make and all for paltry interest so we had an agreement I would fund them fully and they would all graduate debt free which worked fine for us but then univesrity fees and costs were the same as school fees so it was just what we were used to. It's different if you've put your children through state schooling and not paid.

I feel sad that DS (current Yr12) will have a loan 4x that of DD (final year Uni). We intend to pay his accommodation, as we have for DD, but cannot afford to reduce his loans to her level.

DD takes the basic maintenance loan (+ fees) which wouldn't cover her rent, but as we pay the rent she has managed to increase her savings over the years - which should help massively with deposit for renting her first place in London this summer.

It's different if you've put your children through state schooling and not paid

you can say that again, Xenia

You could argue that those of us who have saved the staqte £5k a year from age 4 - 18 by paying school fees should get free university places as our reward as we have so unburdened tax payers through our munificence.

you might argue that, Xenia

does the state really value each child's education at £5K? You can buy private for less than that round here

Piffle they learn't to budget. DD1 went to uni in our city she already had a Saturday job so that helped. DD2 had a job in a call centre for a short while in the first year. The IB the 2nd year she she got a job in a theme park and worked right through the holidays. We give her £200 ( well it was meant to be a loan) at one point to help her with something for her course.
I sometimes send small gifts which are useful.

mumeee did your DDs have loans?

We didn't give any of ours any money - we just couldn't afford to. Our contribution has been to provide all the bits and pieces they needed, plus to drive them back and forth at the start and end of each term (minimum 7 hours drive).

DD1 went several years ago and we were told we had to pay x amount. Well that money was just not available so she couldn't have it. She got a job during the school holidays after GCSEs and A levels, and in her first year also earned £40 a week working one day in a supermarket. She did struggle in her final year because she found it difficult to get a holiday job.

DS2 was luckier because the year they first took into account for his loan I was on maternity leave and my pay went right down. They'd also changed the rates and income limits, plus he got extra as a disabled student. He has worked every holiday.