Saving for Uni - twins plus one

[hippo99]

So I know it is still a long way off yet as twins are 13 and year 8, and DD is 14, year 10. All 3 of them have said they would like to go to Uni.

As I understand it we will have no additional financial help having more than 1 at Uni at a time...

Can anyone give me an idea of how much Uni fees are likely to be?

I am considering applying for a part time job but need to think of future.

Nobody gets help when their child goes to uni whether you have one or multiple children. . However the student themselves will be able to apply for student loans for tuition and maintenance.

The clearest guide for all of this including what a parent may need to contribute to top up these loans assuming the student isn't working or doesn't have a lump sum knocking about is on moneysavingexpert.com - good old Martin Lewis.

Thanks allthebest, have been reading that but seems so complicated... All I really want to know is should I work part time? people keep telling me that I should think about myself and work less hours but not that straight forward when in a few years time could have 3 at uni.

Hi hippo. It was all depend on your household income. I have 2 DDs in the first year at university who get the minimum loan so it costs me at least £5,000 a year each to 'top up' the money. Both are on quite intensive courses and I don't want them to find work during term-time at the moment.

Thanks hells - DH earns £35k, I currently earn £20k but considering part time 🤔🤔 am I CRAZY !!?

If you earn over a certain amount as a household (?£42000 rings a bell) your DCs will get the minimum maintenance loan which is about £3700 I think. that is not enough to cover accommodation let alone anything else so you will have to decide how you will cover the rest of their expenses. some require their DCs to work

If you earn over a certain amount as a household (?£42000 rings a bell) your DCs will get the minimum maintenance loan which is about £3700 I think. that is not enough to cover accommodation let alone anything else so you will have to decide how you will cover the rest of their expenses. some require their DCs to work

Bloody app lost half my reply. we pay for DDs accommodation which would be £4000-£6000 per year per child depending on where it is. DD lives off the maintenance loan and has found it to be more than enough.

There are two issues. How much you think you can save between now and then to give to your kids and then looking at how much you earn will affect the amount your kids are eligible to get/borrow. You may need to pay more if you are working but they may need to borrow more if you are not so it depends on your thoughts about that. Spreadsheet time.

Also, have a look at the different accommodation costs in different parts of the country. London is very expensive. Some more northern towns/cities are more reasonable. Might be better to steer your DV to the cheaper options (unless a course in London is the only one that meets what they want!). Equally, some places seem to require you to purchase accommodation that requires a full meals package, others happy to let first years fully self cater. Most have a variety of options, but you won't necessarily get your fist choice.

Thanks scottish, so, looking at the UCAS grid, if I earn less and therefore total joint family income is less I could borrow more maintenance loan - right? But as I've got twins plus 1 and potential of 3 at uni there is no additional help for this, the gap will be bigger for me (and others who have children close in age). Is this right?

DH says I should go part time and live for now as our kids may not go to uni but my argument is that they may well go to uni and we need to start preparing financially for this.

We could rent out kids bedrooms while they are away as we live close to English language schools (we did this when kids were younger as childcare for 3 wasn't viable).

Thanks leeds, DD said tonight she wa thinking of local uni and live at home which could work when the time comes. Obviously this would make for cheaper option but no guarantee that she will get in. - aargh they haven't even sat GCSEs yet

You need to remember that you don't borrow any thing
The students have a loan based on their parents easrnings
We have 2 at uni now , so their loan is greater than one of their friends ( parents on same income , but no sibling at uni )
Hope that makes sense
Have a look online at www.studentfinance.gov.uk
Not sure of the exact link

It depends on why you want to go part time. Do those reasons override your desire to set aside some savings for your Dc education?

You don't have to answer, just something to mull over yourself. When I'm working we put away a monthly amount for the DC, as due to our life they will be international students most likely. We are also putting away an amount for DHs DD who will be going in 18mths, eek!

www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator

You can use the student finance calculator to get a view on current maintenance loan for varying incomes - remember also that it is net rather than gross income that is used to calculate how much a DC can get - so if one or both of you are making pension contributions you need to knock this amount off your £55,000 current joint income

Keeping numbers simple so with 5% pension contrib 52,500 joint income entitles a DC for 2017/18 to around £3800 maintenance loan, lets say you go part time and halve your income taking joint to around 42,500 maintenance loan entitlement is around £5100 so £1300 more. Loan amounts will differ if DC living at home or away from home but studying in London.

Going part time from £20k say down to £10k would roughly reduce your annual take home pay by around £7k based on the current tax year.

scottish is spot on though - I fear a spreadsheet may beckon.

and if they have any particular Uni's in mind may be worth getting a feel for accommodation costs - make sure you are sitting down though :) - probably safe to say that by the time any of yours go accommodation costs are highly unlikely to have decreased

You dont borrow really. Its your kids. I think you need to understand that and I am not sure that having twins makes much difference as its about household income, not circumstance (but don't quote me on that).

You can't borrow anything. The student is an adult and borrows the money.
It is expensive and likely to get more so.
Fees are currently 9, 600 pa for our daughter. On top of that accommodation is 7, 500 pa. Then we give £100 per week living expenses for activities, lunches socialising and travel. We continue to pay for phone contract and contact lenses. I usually take her clothes shopping when she is home or we are visiting. She uses my husband's card for ball gowns occasionally. As a linguist we'll have to fund a year abroad too.
Lower income students can get additional financial support at moment but that is going. Universities give bursaries and additional support too sometimes for things like high grades at non Russell group universities, IT support grants for dyslexia etc.
On many courses contact hours are low - sometimes only 8-10 hours a week so they can get a part-time job. Sadly this doesn't work if it's a vocational course like medicine or veterinary medicine.

One of my sons became an army officer straight from school so will have his degree paid for whilst earning a good salary. If kids are sporty and like excitement I cannot recommend the forces enough. He's had a brilliant time and at 21 is paid £36k or thereabouts. He gets lots of other benefits too like help to buy a house scheme and extra pay when he is away from base.

Thanks everyone- I did think it is the parents that borrowed

This is a headache - why can't it be more straightforward!!

crumbs I think one of mine may go into forces or police. Loves all that

Forces is better in terms of career opportunities- very wide range of jobs for all levels of attainment. In past two years son 1 has been given a degree, got a level 5 CIM diploma in management, learnt to fly light aircraft, been to New Zealand, USA, Brazil, Belize, Antarctica, skiing x6 weeks, Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka, India, Spain and Canada. Played an awful lot of rugby too! Seriously better for him than university.

All (!) you're likely to need to fund is the difference between their maintenance loan (likely to be just under £4000), whatever they have earned themselves and what they actually need to live off.

So if accommodation is £5,000 and food and entertainment is £250 a month for 10 months, their living costs would be £7,500. If they earn and save £1500, you'd have to find £2000 a year each.

The fees are payable by another loan, again which they take out not you.

Last point - I just remembered we learned the hard way about making them take out loans. Our eldest one we funded fully. Fine no problems. Then the second was on same support package from us but still decided to take out loan to boost income meaning substantial debt thatbwasnt necessary. With others we've made them take loans but pay off as soon as they finish with a 2:1 or above.

There are two proponents to student finance.

First the fees.
These are currently just over 9k per year.
Every student can obtain a loan for the full amount irrespective of their parents' income.

Second, living expenses.
Accommodation, food, bills, clothes, travel, books etc etc
Students can apply for a loan but it is means tested ( on their parents income).
There is a minimum amount and a maximum amount.
The majority of students receive a loan that does not meet their outgoings and so need to top up; usually by their parents, getting work or both.

Also some universities have some financial assistance schemes. These are independent and individual. Students approach particular universities individually.

Crumbs, my gift to the older children at university was in return for them agreeing to take on no debt and particularly no student loan. I even had it is a written agreement with the oldest one - in consideration fo my funding your univesrity tof £ xxx you will not take out a student loan or any other debt....

I also paid them weekly by standing order for their food etc (and paid the student fees and rent direct to the universities) so they could never run out of money.

In terms of advice to the original poster the rules may change by the time you get there but in general if you earn more now you can save more now to pay to the children and that is likely to be more useful than if you deliberately keep your earnings low so that they receive a tiny bit of extra loan direct to themselves. I cannot see a good reason for you to keep your earnings low

Also the system might change by the time they go so best not to bank on anything.

Fees are about £9250 a year which you can borrow (and I choose to fund), rents about £355 to £7500 a year and then food. and other costs on top. I am reckoning on £150k for the twins over 3 years which I will pay. (That is £9250 x 6 = £55000, £7000 x 2 x 3 rent = £42 000 and £150 a week each x 2 x 3 years £46,800 - total £183,800 but the rent is likely to be a bit more and probably a few extras so roughly £150k or £75k per twin. However as you will know most students choose to borrow these sums instead.

The costs of university education have gone up scarily fast. Parents of today's 18 year olds could not foresee just how much HE was going to cost for each child.

If it makes you feel any better I have had four in Uni for the last two years 😂 The eldest has done a six year course which has dragged things out. The other three are doing four year courses so it's ended up that we have funded 18 years worth of Uni. Luckily the eldest was on the lower fees of £3,000 odd. We've paid their fees and living expenses but they live frugally and work too. We know it's not currently advised that you pay the fees but we have chosen to anyhow. All DC should get well paid jobs so, in theory, would have to pay their loans back in full.

Thankfully two are graduating this year.

The fees and loans keep changing so it's hard to plan ahead.