Ok, it's time for me to get my head out of my arse re student finance. Please help.

[LetsFaceTheMusicAndDance]

Right. deep breath.
Please be kind.
I have been way too scared to think about the realities of this. I have just rung Student Finance Wales, though, so it's a start.

I know DS is very lucky because he will only be liable for about 3 1/2k a year tuition fees. TBH I'm more concerned about how much parental contribution we'll need to pay. The nice lady said he's be ok for a the minimum maintainance loan of about 3 1/2 k.

Does anyone know how much family income you have to have to make it not worth your while to go down the means testing route please?

Assuming we wouldn't get more of a loan if we did apply, please would anyone be able to give me a ball park figure for how much we may need to find? I know it's like saying how long is a piece of string. DS hoping to go to Manchester.

And do I just double it when DS2 goes in Sept 2014? And then stop paying the mortgage!

Oh good, a finance thread. We are looking to do this too for dd1 who hopes to go in September. She is having a year off so we have no school help and I'm really not sure where to start, or when.

A step by step beginners guide for 2013 would be much appreciated, or links to the right places o look.

School help! Pah! They've been utterly useless.

And I have to say, we've seen your DH a few times now. Crikey he's good value for money of a night out.

You need this

www.gov.uk/student-finance/overview

Or this

www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=616,6200692&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

it's been a couple of years since we started our finance game - so under the old scheme so not sure I'm well placed to give advice. Others on here are better placed.

This is also a good place to look for you and yours to get more info.
www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forum.php

Our DS is only eligible for the minimum loan. He uses this to live off, and we pay his accom fees for him - roughly £4k per year.

Thanks so much NewFerry. So that's a ballpark figure of £8k when they are both in uni - £666.66 a month spred over the year. That'll be the devil's own job to find (see what I did there - groan)

A quick look at last year's hall fees and double that as a rough gude is £866 pounds a month for the 2 of them.

Or less if second year accommodation is cheaper. Does it tend to be cheaper in the second year? [hopeful]

at devil. Let's face it, if we dont laugh we'll cry!

DS1 (us) is paying £80 pw for a room in a shared house in Y2, but the contract is for a whole year despite them only being at uni for 30 weeks, so unfortunately, no its not any cheaper

DS2 starts in the Autumn so we'll need to find a devilish high sum too!

Unfortunately it's not really any cheaper in second year, despite the lower pw headline price, due to having to pay over the summer (half rent in some cities) and having to pay bills on top of rent.

Schools are not authorised to be experts on dishing out finance! We can point you in the right direction of where to go but we have not passes the exams to give out financial advice. Another website to look at is money supermarket - it has a good repayment table. Some schools do get people in from student finance in to give talks but even they do not take questions on individual entitlements.

Lots of unis are now offering bursaries, but maybe limited, to low income families, strong academics and sports scholarships. Your dc will only be able to apply for these once they have accepted a uni offer.

Some of the indies now recommend that the bank of mum and dad now pay for the living costs so students only have tuition fees to pay back or vice versa. Dc need to get jobs and start saving now!

This is a useful site for straightforward information on student finance and also searching for grants and scholarships www.thescholarshiphub.org.uk

We're also going to be paying for accommodation (around £4 to £5.2k depending on where ds goes if he goes), and he'll get the minumum loan which will give him enough to live on, hopefully

When I asked the same question at DDs open day I was told the kids need about £8-9k a year to live on all in, and that even those coming with the maximum bursaries etc generally need to find a weekend job to make ends meet. Our DD is gets the maintenance loan + £100/week from us (she won't get it in the summer holidays though).

I was thinking of making mine work to cover the £10,000 living costs ... do-able or not?

It shouldn't be £10k living costs, Moomin. If your dc goes into shared accommodation the costs will be somewhere between £3.5 and £4k. Food, transport, books etc should be about £80 a week for 40 weeks (assuming they're living at home in the summer),so £3,200.

So if you/they are on a tight budget the costs will be closer to £7k, of which at least £3,400 will be loaned to them. Less well off students are able to borrow quite a bit more, and may also get a bursary.

Thanks to all those who gave useful advice. I've got my head round it especially after visiting 2 Uni days in the last week (DH did them first time around).

I'm ok with next year but the years after, when we need to find parental contribution for both kids, is bringing me out in hives.

They will have to get vacation jobs as we just don't have £8k a year.

Yikes

Moomimmammacat I don't know what your kids are reading but in both unis they recommended no more than 15 hours a week paid work, especially for subjects with high levels of contact/lab time.

Exeter seemed to be good at helping students find work and Southampton pays well for lab work when it's available.

They do take it into account if you have two in uni, or at least they did when DS was in Y3 and DD in Y1 - but that was in 2008/9 (and England, not Wales) so it may have changed since then.