can dd self fund uni? or am i living in cloud cuckoo land?

[NoahVale]

We are skint.
I understand there is a student loan for fees and now a student loan for living.
I understand we may well be expected to provide £1000 a year towards her, a link looking at martin's money

anyone experience for poverty stricken parents

Must have misunderstood re tuition fee loan.
Tbh just go for maintenence loan. Yes the person in question will owe money but last think you need when trying to concentrate on studies is worrying about money. Been there, done that and can confirm it is very distracting.

I panic about this all the time. Dd may go next year and our income is high but we have huge mortgage and debt. Really stressed about it.

DD gets £3700 for her maintenance loan. Her rent (self catering) is £6200. She is doing a degree with a lot of contact hours. She couldn't do it without our help, sadly.

I went at 19 with my son to uni and had no help.
My brother was given a fiver and a case of beans..
My parents have never had any money. My son is due to go this year and is staying at home so it's affordable..

thanks so much for your help.
really appreciated >

(a) tuition fees are in effect graduate loans
(b) if family income is low, maintenance grants are actually loans
(c) there are multiple bursaries for lots of courses - the school or college should provide the links, otherwise talk to the Sutton Trust

(d) if you apply to a long standing or RG Uni, hey will have a decent sized welfare fund to help out the truly needy but bright

(e) good unis have employment branches for their bars, shops and events to supplement income

FWIW
I went to Uni in the days of full grants - one of my friends was caught in the middle if his parents ultra rich ultra nasty divorce
the Uni covered all his bills and then recouped them from his parents through the divorce court in the third year

Some universities/cities are cheaper to live in than others. If a child moves away from home, the parent makes some savings. Surely some money can be given to the student? Research shows that students who are short of money are the most likely to not complete their studies.

We live in outer London so there would be a lot of choice for the youngest two to live at home (which is basiclaly very little extra cost in terms of rent etc) if they stayed at home. that is often the cheapest way to do it (although I have been lucky enough to earn enough that the older chldren didn't need loans and I paid their rent and an alloance - and they are very very lucky indeed I am prepared to do that rather than spending the money on me, a pension or whatever).

Lots of people don't have a lot of money at university and some of mine had holiday jobs too. I am sure she will be fine.

Look at typical halls' rent where she wants to go and then she will need some money for food. I think the big problem for many is the maximum loan whilst covering the fees is often not even as much as the rent will be never mind eating etc. so living at home of course makes it all a lot easier but then removes the main experience of university so not always ideal.

I'm dreading DD going to university as she will get the maximum support as we're a very low income household - free school meals, 16-19 bursary and very little money. Added to which the tax credits for her will stop and I won't be able to give her any extra money much as I want to.

It is possible but having to work. 20+hrs can be hard especially in tee final years. I think you need to support her in any way you can, even a tenner a week to put towards shopping or food parcels or taking on her mobile phone contract so she can ensure she gets a decent job and doesn't end up unable to support her own children when they need her. That is harsh I know but I'm sure you don't want her in the same financial position you are.

I really think the gap year option is a good one - if I was heading to uni now, it's what I'd do. As well as then having a fund to use over the course, you'd gain lots of employability skills, and maybe a bit of an idea of a direction she'd like to head in post uni.

It is tough. Dd gets her maintenance loan which didn't even cover rent in halls so we had to top that up and try and provide ehr with food. Cheaper now she is in shared flat, and she is living with my mother this semester ( having sub-let the flat) so that will save a bit. She has had several temp part-time jobs - coffee shop, jewellers, sports centre etc- but not always easy to fit shifts in around lectures. Money is tight for us and I get upset that she misses out on a lot of fun and activities at uni but she understands. I get envious of parents who can buy their dcs a flat or a car or give them an allowance, but such is life. She gets excited when we do an Aldi shop and take it over to her!

I think that working for the university itself is a good idea as a student, as there is no travel and it can be fitted in alongside other student activities.

Library shelving - flexible, builds library skills
Working behind SU bar - social
Admin for departments
Cleaning

Itsrain it does sound harsh, but I know what you mean. I'd have been able to support DD through university if things had worked out differently, I used to have a very well paid job but lost it when they went bust and didn't manage to get a job like it again as it was a very specialist area. I applied for another similar job and was turned down 'because we can't afford you' - the salary was a lot lower and they thought I'd leave!

Working is doable but needs to be as canny as possible. Competition for the best jobs can be quite tough and once people have them they hang on to them. Go for jobs that will do more for your cv like sports coaching, fundraising, health care assistant. A student I know did overnight personal care shifts, sleeping in with one elderly person. Money was good, she usually got a full nights' sleep and it was 12 hours but taking little out of the working day. Very responsible work having to give medication and make decisions but she was often able to do some reading.

Another who thinks it makes life a lot easier if they are prepared to work for a year first - can save all living costs.
Of course, as others have said, there are SO many dependables.....

• cost of accom. (and everything else) at the chosen university (transport, etc)
• availability of jobs (much easier to say 'work through' but not so easy to find a job in some places) - thinking about where the accommodation is compared with nearest City Centre, etc.
• if you have a skill that means you can earn more than the min wage

-if you can cook / budget well / understand how to scrimp and save a bit

• how many hours your course is (eg medicine, you've got no chance of working alongside, but most humanities you'll have plenty of time)
• how determined you are not to get into debt, when your flatmates / new friends are ordering a takeaway or all setting off for that new club night

etc.etc

No parent should never, ever, go without making pension payments because they are paying student tuition fees up front. This is total madness if you are not extremely well off.

Most students take out the loans. They may pay very little back. It is a no brainier and the cheapest loan ever. More of a tax really and who pays that up front from taxed earnings? No-one!

Just make sensible choices on university. Living at home is not really participating fully in university life. One person lived at home on my DDs course but she missed out on the life in the halls of residence and making a wide circle of friends. All you meet is people on your course and it is quite an insular approach to university as you stay in your home environment, never mind never learning to fend for yourself and make adult decisions. It is far better to take out the loans and use any savings to top up thereby having a greater choice of university.

Agreed. I don't make pension payments but that's so we can eat, not making them in favour of tuition fees is a no-brainer. If you do have money to pass on to your DCs then it'd be better helping with a house deposit because mortgages are more expensive than student loans I believe.

I also think it is better to do pt work in your first year/holidays then reduce it in your second and third years, when the demands of the course are likely to be highest.

Courses can be demanding, but I do think that almost all students can fit in some on-campus work. My two closest family members did medicine and law - but both had time for various time-consuming hobbies and extra curricular activities - so a couple of hours of work could have easily been fitted in to their schedules. It would just have meant sacrificing something else. They both worked through the long vacations too.

Yes, students can fit in what they have to. At one stage my daughter took a horse to Bristol and got up at 5.30am every day to muck it out after a drive to where she found it its lodgings.......

("No parent should never, ever, go without making pension payments because they are paying student tuition fees up front. This is total madness if you are not extremely well off. "
I don't agree. It depends on your personal. position. I stopped paying into a pension in my 30s as they keep changing the rules and I just don't trust the state an inch on pensions. I'm drawing all mine out at 55, such as they are, even though there will be a big tax charge, as I want to work until I die. (I work for myself).
Also a rich child can be your pension. That is culturally the case across so very many socieities on this planet. I have 5 children. So far two of them are higher rate tax payers in their 20s. They had no student debt. If I fell on hard times any of the older 3 would support me as I'm sure the younger two would and because they went to university and got good jobs they should be able to although I doubt it will come to it. My father worked full time to 77. the children's other grandfather just died aged 90 and he still worked a day a week and his first book came out at the age of 89. Many of us are from families and cultures where we will work happily until we die or just before and a good university education and high paid profession tends to me we have the kind of work you can enjoy and do for a long time and is high paid)

To be fair eustace you are far wealthier than the vast majority of even MNers..... On the matter of working till you die though, I assume you have some provision for if you are too ill to work, or in need of round the clock nursing care? Really not fair to dump that on your offspring.

Self funding can be tough.

It can be hard to find appropriate work that fits in around studying. For one thing, most jobs are not term time only, yet halls of residence often ask you to move out during holidays.

Also, even if you have year round accommodation, most students can't afford to actually live in it year round and go home for the free food, fuel etc.

Yes, my ds1 paid for himself without any loan or grant etc, we are a low income family, so he had to.
He started working full time at 16, all through A levels and uni, he had to.
During the holidays he'd work double and triple shifts, overtime bank holidays, whenever he could.
We haven't funded our children post 16, they are on their own, apart from their cb which they have to manage themselves from being 14.
It helps them to learn about money and ime they are more likely to look after money and do well in studies if they are earning it themselves.

(titchy, none, and I want to die without any assets as I regard inheritance tax as theft. So if they've had everything before I die the least they can do is pay a fifth each of my care home fees for a couple of years.....)

My dd has started saving for her higher Ed as it is likely it will be London, she is only 12 and as soon as she is old enough for a buskers license she will be working sat and Sunday in the cities, probably accompanied by me for a while