Should to pay your child's course fees?

[MollyHuaCha]

Just that really. Students now start repaying their loan once they earn more than £25k per year.

If you can afford to fund your child's course fees and living expenses in order for them to avoid taking out a student loan, should you do it?

Any thoughts...???

Ds is doing his MA this year. If he had the new PG loan,( it's £10k I think) and we weren't helping he'd be stuffed. Fees are £6300 (10% alumni discount), but his Halls are in excess of £8k, and he needs to eat as well. We can and do help, so no loans, but he'd have to work some to afford to go otherwise.

DD cannot work in the week in term time as she has too many contact hours
Weekend jobs want 52 week commitment - ie locals not students
Holiday job down here is flexible but poorly paid

Telling students to get a job to cover the shortfalls from loans is verging on an insult

Some courses have heavy timetables and it’s not possible for the students on them to work.

The only job my fresher DS has found so far is in a nightclub at £5.60 an hour on Saturday nights 9pm till 4am Sunday. I advised him not to take it!

DD usually has workshops all day. I suppose students do get jobs at the weekend but I doubt that would cover digs in London, plus travel and incidentals like food!

DS university discourages term time working. But even if a student could swing a job on the QT, who'd have you in such short bursts? Not many shops/cafes/bars will give you a month or so off at Xmas.

Some universities are very good at offering campus jobs to students though. Warwick in particular. It's university policy to offer as much as they can to the student body. Other universities feel it's more important to offer the work to the local community.

Unemployment in some areas is still high - 6.8% in the north east for example. And working away during the holidays won't pay if you're on minimum wage and have to pay rent.

I also think it's true that the old 'summer job' isn't so easy to get these days - the summer season is often longer than university holidays, so catering/retailing are often recruiting for longer. So I agree with other pp - 'get a job' is not really a realistic answer for everyone.

Of course doctors with rich parents dont earn more - however they do pay less tax. Still those with poor parents also pay less tax if they are old enough to qualify/ have qualified before grants were abolished. Doctors are one of the groups least likely to ever pay off their debts as their debt accumulates at the top interest rate for 5 or 6 years - more if they fail a year. So in future if you would normally tip a server tip your poor doctor, who as a junior may earn less per hour than the server.

The one student I know who has virtually zero parental support has got by so far - in London -but the university hardship fund may have to help them before they finish. I dont think they go home much because they need to work. Deposits and the like mean overdrafts or a credit card with no interest. It surprises me that students can get credit cards but even those without part time work do. Casual work is easier to find in some locations than others.

My own child has always been able to get some work and could have worked for longer if they had needed money. There is other work besides shops/ bars/ cafes.

Of course doctors with rich parents dont earn more - however they do pay less tax.
9% more tax ...... quite a lot

My own child has always been able to get some work and could have worked for longer if they had needed money. There is other work besides shops/ bars/ cafes.
Really?
For a student with over 27 hours a week contact time
at Uni in a small city in the North of England
what would you suggest ?