2017 Uni entry . Can we talk about fees and maintenance loans?

[Timetogetup0630]

Need a bit of hand holding here.
I hoped DD would research this and give me a briefing but I see no sign of it

The Government website doesn't seem to have been updates for 2017/18 entry yet.

Am I right in assuming that if you are a high income bracket household,
(over £60k ) the student is still eligible for a minimum maintenance loan ?

[Timetogetup0630]

Wickerlampshade and Grausse no, it is on the gov website that students estranged from their parents can apply for full maintenance loan and need to provide a letter from doctor or social worker to prove it.

[titchy]

The only person disadvantaged by that sort of 'fiddling' of the system is the student who has a larger loan to pay back.

[SouthWestmom]

Kath I just don't see how anyone would get found out. I know two people doing this and it's frustrating.

[kath6144]

Noeuf - I became good friends with a local lady when I had my DD almost 17yrs ago. She was having a DS with DH2. He had 2 older DDs, she had 2 older DSs, all lived with them.

When one of girls was applying to uni, she apparently said she lived with her mum, as she had a lower household income. I cant remember the ins and outs of how the fraud was found out, must be 15 yrs ago, but I do remember she was questioned for potential fraud. And I have a feeling her mum worked for the police!

So, yes it is possible to lie, but they are committing fraud.

[Needmoresleep]

The one thing I have learned about university costs from MN is that a lot depends on the student themselves.

DS is naturally frugal. He cannot see the point of having more than two pairs of jeans, a jacket and half a dozen T shirts. He hates shopping, but really enjoys things, like reading around his courses or attending public lectures. He is involved with student societies etc, but expenditure seems limited to group outings to Chinatown with the nearest available Chinese speaker ordering from the cheap student menu. There are quite a lot of overseas students in his friendship group, and often they cook and eat in groups. He has also taken to making sandwiches and bulk cooking and then using the freezer, which I had not expected.

That plus landing a paid internship last summer, and hopefully another one this, means that his costs are relatively low. His rent is high because he is in London, but mitigated by the fact he does not pay fares or run a car. (Which to my surprise, students elsewhere seem to do.)

I doubt DD will be as cheap, but she has been earning through her gap year so it will be up to her to fund extras vodka.

Several posts on previous threads seem to suggest that students are hard done by if they don't have lots of cash in their pockets to spend on non-essentials. Fine if the parents can afford it, but otherwise I don't think parents are obliged to help fund their child's social life. London in particular, but probably elsewhere, it is quite easy to pick up additional, not too demanding work. Tutoring, waitering at Christmas events, a session or two each week as a life guard.

Not having children in the house has reduced our food expenditure by a surprising amount.

[wickerlampshade]

Oh maybe. She was definitely heading off to uni.

[Grausse]

wickerlampshade I think that's more likely to be a benefit claim than a student loan. I used to work in benefits and certain young people could get allowances if they were estranged from parents.

[wickerlampshade]

I'm a GP and a teenage patient dropped in a form asking me to sign to confirm that she was estranged from her family, so she could get more funding. Didn't know her at all so rang the home number to talk to her. Dad answered the phone and said "just a moment, she's here" and passed the phone over.

Not very estranged then.........

[Timetogetup0630]

Thanks Noeuf I wouldn't stoop so low....

[SouthWestmom]

Yes but if the person lives with mum and stepdad and household income = minimum grant only, using the other parents instead is 'playing the system' .

Like I said though if I could I would.

I think it's a flawed system, open to mild abuse at the top, and leaving some young people unable to go after school because families can't afford the top ups.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Well, it goes by the household income of the household the young person lives in, so yes, being separated can make a difference - not sure I'm quite cynical enough yet to call that playing the system!

[SouthWestmom]

Time, just things that aren't strictly in the spirit of. It seems to be easier if people are self employed or separated to maximise the loan the dc can qualify for.

[BoboChic]

Our food bills drop dramatically when the DSSs are at university! And we no longer take them to restaurants at the weekend. The cost of financing students is partially offset by the reduced household bills.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Or parents pay the rent & the student lives off the loan.

That's the way round we do it. Seemed likely to be the simplest way to keep it 'fair' for four - rents vary quite a lot around the country, but supermarkets are similar everywhere! ( Drinks prices do seem to vary a lot too, but that's not my responsibility )

[Decorhate]

The first year is the most expensive. Not only are halls more expensive than a shared house, certainly at Leeds you paid over 8 rather than 9 months so the monthly cost is higher. My dd was unexpectedly allocated catered accommodation so the monthly amount was about 50% higher than I had anticipated.

Parents tend to either use the loan to pay towards the accommodation costs & then give a weekly amount for living expenses. Or parents pay the rent & the student lives off the loan.

[Teenagedream]

We have twins in their first year. Their loans pay most of the accommodation costs with a small top up. We give £35 a week although recently reduced DS to £30 as he said he didn't need it. Seems to be about right so far.

[Millipedewithherfeetup]

Would also say that your home bills will reduce, my water, gas and electricity as well as food bills have reduced dramatically since my dd went to uni. The top up for accomodation and food etc, seem high, but when you look at the bigger picture its not that painful !

[Timetogetup0630]

noeuf, you said others are playing the system.
Do tell more ?

[SouthWestmom]

Im dreading this. It seems the expectation is that the Ines on minimum loan use that for living and parents fund the accommodation.

We are high earners but late parents and mortgage/debt so no spare cash at all to the tune of £6000 a year.

I was just getting straight, overpaying a loan and hoping to have some breathing space when we discovered that we would have to pay so much.

What annoys me is that others are playing the system, and we can't! If I'm totally honest!

[Grausse]

ReapAndSow . I was slightly tongue in cheek and mine actually do that middle ground. Of course it's not what the OP asked.

My food and fuel bills plummet when the kids are at Uni
So do mine. Far more than I anticipated.

Halls seem to vary a lot between unis and within the uni. It seems you can't rely on asking for the cheapest rooms are those are the most in demand and I know several students who got their last choice of accommodation which was much dearer than their first.
In second years most, though not all, live off campus. This is usually cheaper but there may be extra travel costs. One of my DC pays £90 for an annual bus pass and the other £360.

[DereksGotATail]

Dd pays her hall fees with her maintenance loan. We give her £30 pw for living. It used to be £50 but she said that she didn't need that much so asked us to reduce it. She seems to manage on a small amount.
I sent her off with loads of toiletries and food basics. When she comes home she uses my card to do a shop of the more expensive supplies and we pay for her train ticket home.
All in all it's not as expensive as I was anticipating. We have a small amount if savings set aside for university but at the moment, it remains untouched.

[ReapAndSow]

Someone will come along in a minute and say they worked all the way through uni and so your DC should as well. They always do on these threads

😂 There is a lovely middle ground between the 'I worked 12 hours a day whilst studying and living in a cardboard box' and doing no work at all . One of mine does tutoring for 3 hours a week for £15 an hour and two just work during the summer. It's very doable and they enjoy it. My DD who does medicine doesn't work.

[DaphneDeLaFontaine]

£57 a week is amazingly cheap. DS pays over 6k self catering and next year will be £130 a week, excluding bills.

Head North is my advice.

[ReapAndSow]

Another thing to remember when you are looking at costs is to look at how much you will be saving when they are away. My food and fuel bills plummet when the kids are at Uni.

We've ended up with all four at Uni at once. The eldest is doing a 6 year course so there has been an overlap as they are close in age. Apart from the one studying medicine they all work to some extent. We've been suprised at how little they need to live on. They all live in cheaper cities (like Leeds ) and they don't have any particularly expensive hobbies. Their biggest expense is probably travel but even with that they seem to hunt down some amazing deals with Megabus or cheap train fares.

[MrsBernardBlack]

There is a lot of useful advice on the Money Saving Expert website, here.