Plenty of mothers have been slogging it out full time for 30 years but can't choose to have picked work deliberately which was better paid and still can't afford either fee-paying schools or much in the way of help with their children's living costs at uni, let alone pay their fees - £9,250 in some cases this year.
I completely agree with the Scottish system being unfair in comparison to the rest of UK. It's a scandal that English students have to pay to go to Scottish unis, unlike everyone else in the EU. My point is that the most disadvantaged students in UK are those Scottish students who study in England as they have to pay English fees and have a more onerous loan system than English students.
What difference does it make regarding private schools? I think that's just jealousy really. Are you saying everyone whose child goes to a private school takes places from children like yours?
No, because my child is apparently "exceptionally gifted" so he can go because he got a scholarship and an award, but he is also exceptionally lucky to have had heavily subsidised instrumental lessons and specialist teaching in a free, Scottish state school. This is not an option for many English children in the same financial circumstances as him. Without that he would have been unlikely to get in. Having an expensive instrument gives those children who can afford it an advantage, as does having lessons from the best and often most expensive teachers. The conservatoires recognise that they are not as socially diverse as they ought to be to get the best talent and have recently started outreach work to try to support children from less well off backgrounds. The current loan system with its uncertain terms, scandalous interest rate and absence of grants for even the most financially disadvantaged students is not helping their cause. Some of the regional music groups my DS has been in have had no children from the most deprived council area in the region. Are there no talented children in that area? There are extremely talented students who have to drop out because they can't afford to live in London.
What about the children in state schools who have mothers who cannot choose to work for twenty years? They exist you know. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have good health and healthy, able-bodied children. Didn't you read Dunlurkin's post for example?
Working hard and making good choices is not enough on its own to ensure loan free access to HE. Like most other things in life there's an element of luck. You are presumably fortunate enough to be able -bodied and to have children fortunate enough not to require full time or extensive care.
While I'm on the subject, very few people are fortunate enough to have the brains to get a well paid job in medicine, law, engineering or the city.
My free advice for bubbles and Lucy is to count your blessings.