how much does it cost to send a child to university?

[ratclare]

starting to panic slightly as son will be 18 in 5 years time and havent saved a penny yet ,what are the costs of sending a child to uni ,my parents reckon it cost them about £30,000 to send my brother

As it's not something we'll ever be able to afford for our kids, I never think about it, so no advice to offer.

So will bump this for you instead.

I think that if you don't have a high income and have no significant savings the child will qualify for bursaries and loans and things so you won't actually have to have money up front.

nothing! I worked 2 jobs for a gap year to save and just got student loans like everyone else! My children will have to do the same if they want to go to uni I am afraid!

Am I the only one who found uni a waste of time?

I really did.

I think it's great for those professions that really require the type of training that only a university can provide.

But about 90% of the time, it's a waste.

I'm going to actively encourage my children to think long and hard about skilled trades as much as university.

At the moment DS1 gets £4,400 a year in a maintenance loan (he pays it back when he's earning over £15K a year). However, Halls of Residence fees are pretty damn close to £4,400 - that covers breakfast, supper and accommodation - but obviously nothing left for clothes, books, travel to and from Uni, social life etc. Tuition fees are a separate loan £3,300 a year - again to be paid back. When he graduates he will owe £23,100, and there's no way we can take that on as "our" debt. We give him £100 a month, so does his dad, so he has £50 a week for lunches, clothes, textbooks etc, which I think is more than plenty - we're lucky that we have a spare £100 a month and I'd rather he didn't start his working life with a giant overdraft as well as the loans. He works is a pub during holidays which obviously gives him some extra as well.

fees are currently about 3k in english universiteis

there are bursaries automatically if you qulaify by means

there is a learning disabilities grant for eligible students

there is a grant by means test

it depends on your circumstances parental income is taken into account and a common law partners income even if they are not the parent ..all correspondence for ds from lea is sent to dp although he is not ds father

and student loan

I don't know, fennel. I thought it was building frighteningly quickly towards a pay up or have your child start out their adult life with tens of thousands of pounds of debt scenario?

the debt is the student's not the parents

though to apply for all these things parental income and live in partners income is taken into account

but not non resident parent..although maybe that is because ds father lives overseas

I kind of agree expat (although I am doing a degree at the moment but it is vocational). I have so many good friends with good degrees who cant get jobs in their chosen field - they are all working in tesco or call centres which is fine but they could have done that without 4 years study and £££££ of debt! There is also the cease of my DH who left school at 15 with no qualifications at all but took on an apprenticeship and now has a great job which he loves!

As others have said, it is very much dependent on your income as to whether and what you will have to pay. I have a BA, MA and MSc and my parents did not pay a penny towards my education. I took a gap year, took out a student loan and worked (sometimes full-time) to support myself. It's hard work but I am very proud that I supported myself through to the bitter end and came out with very good degrees at the end.

I really don't want my kids to have large debts though. A few grand, fine. Ten grand- no.

I can't remember if ds has to pay back his fees..I have a feeling he does but dd who went under the previous system doesn't

I think dd is graduating shortly with a debt of about 15k

I don't think she is that bothered because it is normal

Yes, new students (starting 2006) have to pay back fees (see below).

Ex pat am I right in thinking there are no tuition fees to pay if you are resident in Scotland and your DCs go to a Scottish university? Or has this changed?

2006 was the introduction of the resident partner even if not related thing too

Scummy, I know it doesn't sound good to be in your early 20's with maybe 20K of debts but maybe it's not so very different from taking on a mortgage at that age, a big debt to be paid back very slowly. Maybe it's the thought of it which is more scary than the reality.

and ex-students on low incomes don't have to pay back on their loans until they're earning a certain amount so they're still free to go off and waste time rather than earn money if they want to.

it's something other countries have had for a long time and they don't seem to see it as that awful a deal. not that I'm wild about the way the system is changing, free higher education would be lovely, but realistically, ir'a not going to happen, people consistently don't want to pay more taxes for higher education.

Fees in Scotland are £1700 a year, or they were in 2006.
I hate to do this, but I've had the job of doing a presentation to parents of Sixth Formers about this for the past couple of years so I've got a useful powerpoint if there's any way I can get it to anyone who needs it!

they also get very long holidays in which they can earn their keep

I know it will be normal... But how will they ever pay it off and be able to get housing etc if they go on to be low-middlish earners? Fine if they turn out high flying types, of course. This assuming they even go. But I would like them to go if they want to and get the necessary qualifications. I think it is a wonderful time to play at being an adult before the real world kicks in.

Some useful stuff
here...

also if they are going to earn a lot as a consequence it will be worthwhile

going for vaque reasons is likely to be less rewarding

ds is probably not going to get a full degree but he is making a lot of contacts and should have a professional membership at the end

dd1 will definitely get a job which would be inaccessible without a degree

zippitippitoes is right. And most of them also work during term time now. I know it's not going to cover all their costs, and it's sad that they have to, but most students now do.
It's interesting the way it is changing students' points of view about university and what courses they choose. they seem a lot more aware than I ever was about what their degrees will lead to in terms of employment afterwards.

in fact ds is a total blagger and wide boy so networking is his thing..quite a good use of uni for someone who has difficulty actually reading or writing aqnything! so if you pick carefully non academic students can benefit too..