Does it cost parents a lot if child goes to uni?

[fessmess]

Obviously I know they can get a student loan but does this cover everything? My dd is 16 so just thinking of what lies ahead. I want to do a course myself but will have to self-fund by remortgaging house. Am u setting myself up for future of debt?

There is a lot of variation - it depends if they live at home or away, how much parents earn, if they live with one or both parents (if only with one then only that parent's income forms the calculation), what kind of course it is (some will allow enough time for a part time job, others won't), the jobs available in the place they choose to study, cost of living ion place of study, how willing they are to work the summer before university, if there is the potential to earn enough in a sandwich year to cover final year costs.

I graduated last year. Got full loans & grants due to parents being on very low income. Everything (halls first year, house share second year, private rent with DP and DD third year) was covered by loans & grants thankfully, as my parents couldn't have afforded to give us anything.

The student loan more than covers my kids in halls with a bit left over.
Surrey and Canterbury.

PS student halls, self catering but all utilities included, 3.8k for each of them. No en-suite, for me it's a big no no, ridiculous luxury, choice of the children to share a toilet and keep 1k per year in their pocket.

If they are in halls then SAAS money ( Scotland) will just about cover rent, but will leave nothing for anything else.
We helped dd with regular food shops and other bits and pieces. She has had several part time jobs to help out but its touch to see her exhausted from studying then working evenings or weekends too to make ends meet. It got cheaper when she moved out and flat shared but then she also had bills to pay, which we often helped with.

It's a bit pointless others saying their halls are XXX price if you don't name the university. Costs vary enormously. Just luck my kids chose ones which are under 4k per year for self-catering.

My kids have a sports qualification which gets them an easy part time job anywhere really. The only thing I paid for was to get that qualification. Now it's up to them to use it to their benefit. 10 hours a week in their jobs gives them 70 quid a week extra income.

A good point made by other posters is that living out is on a 12 month contract,but the loan is only for term time. So you are left having to find 3 months rent over the summer for a private let.

As I say, depends on where. There are Oxford colleges where you can do dinner bed and breakfast and have change out of £5000 a year. They have a lot of money to play with, and it makes for a very cheap place to be.

Summer holidays are loooong and my DC have never had a problem getting work - I know this depends on the area though. One DC gets £8 ph and is doing 45 hour weeks doing data entry. It's not difficult or complicated work. Another DC does shop work and lots and lots of babysitting and DS2 does paid research work - this isn't particularly well paid but it's good experience and will be useful for the future.

The summer after A'levels is also a long summer. Most DC would have three months in which to earn a decent pot of money to go to Uni.

Well the loan depends on your income. If you earn below about £25k they will get the full loan of £8200 a year on current figures, plus sometimes bursaries. So the poorer students are often better off because they don't have to worry about parents who don't help out.
The more you earn the less they get in loan as it is assumed you will help fund.
The full loan of £8200 is enough for the first year in pretty much any none London uni. They do get more in London but accommodation can still be more than loan.
As others have said jobs are easy to find in some areas but not others and some courses leave more time for work and others are very intensive.
Lots of threads on this, and for those with younger DC who knows what the rules will be in a few years time.
I see that many unis are already planning to increase their fees above £9000 next year

If a DC just gets the basic loan, then it is really difficult finding a hall at many universities for just that amount of money. Parents may well have to top up. It is best to check on some university web sites to see what they charge then allow for food, travel, socialising etc on top. There is huge variation in costs. Also it is not advisable to have a house on the first year when the student needs to make friends. Halls are term time only and houses are often for a full year and not cheaper at all!

Poor students, in particular those whose family GROSS income is less than 25k per year, do indeed from 2016 as a new student get a potential 8.2k loan per year.

Poor students are however NOT better off in their lives from the point of view that

1. they have been brought up on less family income than those with family incomes above 25k who are means tested up to 62k per year where the max loan possible is 3.8k for anyone brought up in a home with 62k+ per year
2. they have parents (or a parent) who will unlikely be in the position to ever contribute anything during studies or afterwards either.
3. they are likely to have higher loans to repay at the end of their studies, as their parents have not been able to contribute financially, than those coming from wealthier backgrounds. I don't see that as an advantage!

The student loan for 2016 entry is between 3.8k and 8.2k, depending on family income.

Those students fortunate to be from a family with income above 25k have had far more advantages in their lives financially than those below 25k and any parents failing to top up the means tested loan from those with 25k+ per year should truly be ashamed of themselves.

The parental top-up of student loans, to bring up to 8.2k max that poorer students can apply for, is between 0.1% and 8% of income, to a maximum of 4.4k. That is between £1 and £84 a week. Why would any more wealthy parent deny their adult child such sums?

This is interesting and something I think about. We have 3 DC. Currently all under 3 but they will likely be all in Uni at the same time at some point so it's something we need to prepare seriously for. I've been assuming £9k for fees, £5k for accommodation and I don't know how much more they need for food and living but I guess at least £6k? More? My parents covered everything for my sister and I so I want to do it for them. My DH paid his own way but had money from a settlement. I would expect them to work out if term time and depending on their study workload, would like them to have a term time pt job too for their own development. But basically I think we need £20k per child per year (unless some don't go to university or go to the one in our home city which id prefer them not to). That's an estimate of £320k if they only do a 4 yr degree! Huge money!

I got the full maintenance loan, wasn't entitled to any grants or anything and worked part time around my degree. I lived in halls for my first year and my parents didn't give me anything at all towards it

DollyBarton why would you not use Student Loans? It makes financial sense for 99% of cases. The student loans covers 9k fees, 3.8k living and means tested further 4.4k for those with family incomes above 25k. Total living loan/parental contribution of 8.2k and that covers the vast majority of students, so long as they don't opt for en-suite / choose the most expensive places to live in the UK. Unless you are part of the 1% for whom student loans are less appropriate, if you are a wealthy family, you need contribute no more than 4.4k means tested parental contribution. 4.4k is £84 per week. For a family with 62k + gross income per year, that is pretty small change.

We have 2 at uni , one is in London , they both get the full loan , and a grant ( we live in Wales )
I give them £20 a week , and the Grandparents give them £100 a month ,
DS has a part time job term time , and DD waitresses in the holidays
DD had an extra £100 as full loan students could apply for a hardship fund ( she spent it all on clothes )

That's an estimate of £320k if they only do a 4 yr degree! Huge money!

Which is why you take the (cheap) student loans. I could, as it happens, easily afford to pay my children's fees and living expenses. They're taking the loans. If at some later point the rules change, I'll repay the loans for them. I will probably pay their loan repayments for them (ie, their education costs them nothing personally, as was the case for me, and the loans are effectively mine). But paying for it up front is absolutely insane, unless you are so rich that not only do you have all the money, but it is money that you can think of nothing else to do with.

Those students fortunate to be from a family with income above 25k have had far more advantages in their lives financially than those below 25k and any parents failing to top up the means tested loan from those with 25k+ per year should truly be ashamed of themselves.

lifeisunjust where do you get off with this attitude

The rules have changed (again) since my kids went, but as an example, my DD and her BF started at the same time. They were both 1 of 4 DC in a family. We earned "too much" for her to get a grant and our income reduced her loan. The income we earned because we both go to work, to pay the bills to keep a roof over the heads of our 4 DC. The income we earned him working nights me working days in shifts, never seeing each other and never having any "family time", just to pay the bills for a house too small to give each child their own room.

Her BF, child of a single parent, lived in a nice big house in the country, with enough bedrooms for one each, paid for by the taxpayer. His mum didn't need to go to work (no input from dad). They spent loads of quality family time together and did lots of fun things, because she didn't have to go to work...She was a very clever woman, who chose to do voluntary work, and has far more earning power than me.

He got full grants as a child of a family with no income.

My DD had to work weekends and holidays to support herself. BF didn't need to. The LA very helpfully advised us how much we could contribute, without taking any notice of our actual outgoings. They even took as income the small extra taxed amount my work gave me to cover extra travel costs when they moved me to an office 20 miles away. LA counted it as income, but conveniently didn't count the expense.

How very dare you decree that just because people go to work they can afford to pay for something that someone who has chosen not to work can be handed for free. Life certainly is unjust

Cuboid. It is not insane to pay the fees upfront. My DD was the 1st year of the 9k fees in 2012. In that year alone, the loans went up by 6 % (RPI plus 3%). Students who are graduating are suddenly seeing their loans have already increased massively and there was a thread about a student complaining to his MP that he was mis sold the student loan as he thought it was interest free. It is NOT.

My DC has started a well paid graduate job and would be paying back £270 pm in student loan if he had one. If you think your DC will never earn much or anything at all, then take the student loan. However if they are likely to earn a good salary, then think twice about it.

I've been assuming £9k for fees, £5k for accommodation and I don't know how much more they need for food and living but I guess at least £6k? More?

The fees are currently 9k, but are set to increase at RPI inflation from 2017 for many institutions, with only the weaker institutions not being allowed to increase fees as much. This means that they will be 9250 in 2017, 9560 in 2018 etc etc. In 15 years time, since your children are under 3, you are looking at fees of 15k+ per year, probably more since inflation will rise because of Brexit.

I think it is unrealistic to think that you would be able to pay the fees and living expenses for 3 children at university simultaneously unless you can save a lot of money.

Evan , you lost my sympathy at paid for by the tax payer. You sound very bitter.
Unless you had multiples you chose to have four dc of course you should top up the amounts. Really it should be illegal not to top up the the minimum loan amounts.

I can sympathise with Ewan.

DD's BFs mother also chose to have 4 DC. We should pay for ours but she shouldn't?

Her BF, child of a single parent, lived in a nice big house in the country, with enough bedrooms for one each, paid for by the taxpayer. His mum didn't need to go to work (no input from dad). They spent loads of quality family time together and did lots of fun things, because she didn't have to go to work...She was a very clever woman, who chose to do voluntary work, and has far more earning power than me.

So they live in a 5 bedroom house, which is the legal minimum size it could be due to the ages of the children? I'm assuming she has a disability which means she doesn't have to work?

You chose to have 4 children, she chose to have 4 children. She didn't choose to be a single parent, or stuck on benefits....