Minimum Maintenance Loan but we just cant afford the shortfall!

[JufusMum]

Hi all - looking for some advice. Because of DH salary we just about fall into the bracket where DD will get the minimum maintenance load (about £4300). The fact is that doesn't even cover her rent let alone food and travel, so we are wondering what we do? I understand parental contribution but with our bills, even though DH has a decent salary I only earn a very small amount and I am not sure where this extra £4-5k a year is going to spring from. I am considering weekend/evening jobs and looking at scholarships/bursaries but most are means tested. How do "middle earners" cope?

This isn't aimed at you op, AT All, as its obvious you will support your dd, you just wanted advice to tweek your ginanv3 but what I don't understand is these well off parents who won't help their kids at all? How do they live with themselves? Awful.

Tweek your finances

Whatever happened there 😔

Depressingly, ssd, I know at least one answer to that one.

'I never needed help at university from my parents; why should I help?' is a line I've heard from people whose parents sent them to fancy schools, from which they got scholarships to university in the days when scholarships were a thing (and, if you go far enough back, when closed scholarships were a thing).

I know it can be a struggle if you have to make up the shortfall but personally, I would rather that as then DD would be in less debt at the end of it. If you earned less she would get more money but would have a far greater debt at the end (obviously).

I used to take home £2400 on a gross salary of £42k. Something's wrong somewhere OP.

DH has company car, only drives to and from work in it, keeps a log to prove this, He doesn’t lose out on his tax this way,

Op, if you ask how people manage then it usually is disposable income, savings, the child takes a year out to work or earns money during the year.

It is just one of those options, realistically. Your husband deductions are probadly controllable through pension and company car. If he is driving a high value car then his tax will be excessive, add in fuel card you are losing almost the equalvant of a full time salary. It is about choices and you just have to figure priorities.

I started saving very early as hoped mine would go to Uni.

@SarahAndQuack, yes I can imagine that must be so frustrating for a student, who will never experience or benefit from what their high earning parents benefitted from.

I'm still horrified that you spend £800 per month on petrol. Have you never thought of moving?

You are privelidged to be able to save whilst working part time. Now you need to put some effort into cutting costs somewhere.

People managed by saving in advance, using the savings made from the child being away, cutting costs elsewhere, taking on more work, the student getting a job.

What do you save by the child being away? Yeah sure our food bill is cheaper but in reality we're paying ds's rent while at uni so not saving anything.

Yep. Plus the parents often have an entirely distorted idea of how hard they worked and/or how much hard work can do. You get people who imagine that they are 'self made' and therefore their child can and should just get on with it all ... not realising that it is so much harder now.

I do agree, of course, the OP is not at all in this category.

I had just one child so that I could help her through uni. Maybe I worded my original post wrongly. What I’m trying to say is I’m a little miffed yes that the maintenance loan is not an even playing field for all, like the tuition fees are, and yes I appreciate if she had the full maintenance loan she would have more to pay back but on a police officers salary it’s not going to be a lot per month.
On the subject of the car, I wish her to have a car when she passes her test as I currently drive her to school (there is no bus service in our village) and it’s a 1.5 hour trip for me to get her to school and then get me to work and it’s exhausting.
I appreciate she has chosen to go to a school further away for sixth form but after putting herself through five years of hell in an awful school in special measures (our local school) and still getting good gcse results I thought she deserved the chance to go to a better school for sixth form especially as she worked her butt off to get the grades to get into the best sixth form in the town.

She should take a gap year and work full time to save up enough for uni. A lot of people do it.

But it's not designed to reflect her salary?

It is designed to bring things closer to a level playing field for everyone - and that means asking people who earn high salaries to contribute to their adult children's costs.

You sound like a motivated and considerate parent, and if I had the money, I would absolutely make the decisions you're making. But the issue here is that university is meant to take into account the fact that many parents are not able to make the decisions you made. Your daughter worked hard to get into a good sixth form, and she deserves credit for that. But, for many people, it would simply not be a financial option to let her go. You have to see that.

I assess university admissions. We take into account students' hard work (such as your DD working hard to get into a good sixth form). But we also take into account parental privilege - such as the income you have, that makes it possible for you to send her there. You can surely see it is right we do that. Otherwise, parents with more money are just buying better treatment for their children, and that is not right.

What I’m trying to say is I’m a little miffed yes that the maintenance loan is not an even playing field for all,

It never has been though. Not since the expansion of HE in the 1960s. Parents have always had to contribute if their income was over a certain threshold - far lower in real terms actually 30 years ago when most MNers went.

No advice, OP, just sorry for all thre rude and bitter comments coming your way.
I really don't get why posters have to be so nasty/personal.

And yet no advice. So not in the least bit helpful actually.

Today 21:36 Knowhowufeel

No advice, OP, just sorry for all thre rude and bitter comments coming your way.
I really don't get why posters have to be so nasty/personal.

Thank you, nice to see a bit of kindness.

I honestly don’t spend £800 a year on fuel. I’m amazed at £800 a month.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor The point is that saved food bill can be put towards the rent. Things like classes, clothes, shoes can now be paid for by DCs. Electricity should be slightly lower with one less person in the house. Small savings but every little helps.

The maintenance loan has always been dependent on parental income to try and make it a level playing field. The expectation is that parents support students through university if they can afford it. On paper you should be able to afford it with your household income. Someone earning 20k as a single parent would have no flexibility in their budget so theirDCs get more loan.

I think you have made good decisions in terms of your daughters education. It sounds like she needed a fresh start. However there are plenty of people who wouldn't have even had that choice.

When I earned 42k, with pension, I took home 2400. So by having a company car your dh is taking the equivalent of a 20k hit on his salary.

£800 in fuel at £1.28 per litre is 625l or 139gallons
at 30mpg that is 4170miles or 208 per day
at 40mpg is 5560 miles or about 278 per working day ( 20 days a month)
at 50mpg is 6950 miles or 347 per working day

you can't pay for the fuel out of your own pocket and be taxed on it as well,
if he is paying £1200 tax for using £800 in fuel he should just pay for the fuel for his private mileage instead of being out of pocket by £400 per month, this £400 would amply cover DD's expenses so you need to get this double checked asap even paying for advice could save you money long term, you can't pay more tax on a benefit than the benefit is worth if you have £1000 in a benefit it is taxed at either 20 or 40% depending on salary; not 150% which is what paying £1200 for £800 is
I am not being unkind just saying that something is wrong in the maths and application
in fact it might be cheaper for DH to leave company car at work just use it for solely business purposes then it wouldn't be a benefit; and have a cheaper diesel car that does 60+mpg for the long commute my renault kangoo does 62mpg which would give me 8618 miles for £800. as he is doing a long commute diesel would be far more economical

for fuel to work out at 10p a miles your car needs to be doing over 60mpg on average this would only apply to something like a 1.5l diesel or 1.1l petrol car
I think it is more likely that OP's DH company car is a saloon type car that does closer to the 30-40mpg

being flippant when Jeremy Corbyn says billionaires should pay fair share he is still not talking 150%

this should help hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/cars

and maybe this www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-2448399/How-I-work-company-car-worth-taking.html

The point is that saved food bill can be put towards the rent. Things like classes, clothes, shoes can now be paid for by DCs

I don't know anyone with kids at uni who don't still buy their clothes and shoes ,well,the basics at least.