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?

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.

Do ensure you report the nasty / personal posts you’re referring to, as it’s against talk guidelines.

Be grateful she isnt studying Nursing in Wales OP.
Although the course fees are paid, ours only gets 1k bursary and £2k from SFE, we fund the rest. At £600 a month for accom alone.
It's a shock but you learn to cut your cloth.
We both drive crap cars, we dont eat out, I have switched Jobs to halve my commute.
There is no way student DC will be running a car, they have a bike.
Youngest DS starts Sept 2020 as well so we will have another student to fund.
Oh, and eldest DD has just applied for PGCE.
We laugh at how we thought nappies were expensive when they were little

Have a look at the money section earn £10 a day threads

It started in January and loads of people are earning over £1000 a month working from home, at weekends and after work. It's not easy but it's doable.

OP,I'm sure all her peers won't have cars at uni,for starters most unis don't have parking for the first year,there will be an alternative I'm sure.

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

I pay my kids' rent and that's that. They get the minimum loan and they pay for everything else out of that. Sometimes I'll pay for the train home if I'm feeling nice Wouldn't cross my mind to buy them clothes!

Our combined income is only half what your DH earns. We have mortgage, car and the usual outgoings. We have 2 kids and managed to get them both through uni. We ended up being very frugal. Both kids had part time jobs whilst at uni. But we did save up whilst they were young. So was able to dip into funds if need be. But we never had to. When older dd decided to do a masters in london that was a bit of a killer. No maintenance loan whatsoever. So we had to pay for accomodation, yearly tube pass and plus weekly food allowance which all averaged to about £240 per week. But we still managed. I did a partime job to help. Now that they have both finished studies. I feel rich again . At the time. Me and hubs literally lived on food budget of £35 per week. No takeout even maccy, no cinema no going out to the pubs but we never anyways. No holidays, no new clothes. I know it sounds like we had no life. But we did, we enjoyed making dinners from scratch and making a big batch freezing it. We both lost weight for the better with doing more walking too.

I can tell you the whole experience, we learnt so much from it. The fact we can eat healthy and on little budget. We realised just how much we actually wasted before and being unnecessarily over indulgent especially with branded items and eating out. Honestly I think you can definatlely do it. It means really sitting down and writing down all your outgoings and seeing areas you can either cut out or cut down, shopping around for better prices for insurance and stuff. Theres is so much savings to be made here and there . It al adds up.
Good luck you can do it .

Wow Breeze (and others) Im looking back st my teens and there's no way my (not badlg off) dad would have done that for me. At all. I couldnt do a postgrad degree because I couldnt afford to. I struggled financially but def didn't have my clothes or anything bought. I know Id do anything for my kids but there's no way my dad would. Gosh. Ill just trundle off to a different thread...!

I earn less than half your Dh and can help my dd at uni, you must be frittering money away. Get a full time job or learn to budget. Your daughter comes before holidays.

I have to say that I didn’t realise the loans were means tested until recently! They are loans fgs not gifts.
Why shouldn’t a student be able to borrow the maximum? The whole point of getting a loan is so that students of either rich or poor parents can attend university. It’s a crazy system at the moment.

I agree a lot of the comments on here are not at all helpful to OP. It does seem as though there is some problem with the take home, but yet again mumsnet seems to be forgetting this is a group to support not to attack!!!

Serin i thought welsh students could borrow the maximum maintenance loan whatever their parents salary?

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

I don't! Well, I have just spent about 200 on clothes for her, but that is her xmas present!

I know you need to be helping her financially but I think you need to tell her how much you can give her and let her decide how she spends that. Something will probably have to give, or she could work for a year and save.

They will be mindful that not all students have cars. It won't be essential, she'd manage without (I managed nursing, with extra weekend shifts without a car you do get by)

I do agree about the dance though, especially as she is going to have to be volunteering on top of her degree- will she have time to be driving anywhere around the country on a Sunday? I would encourage her to give the dance society a go for social and financial reasons. I know her current set up helps her mental health but that doesn't mean that all other kind of dance clubs won't.

I have always worked full time even when my student twins were 2 weeks old even !!! So that has helped. I now support them without any student loans but I certainly agree it is expensive whether you have loans or not.

In year 2 by the way there will be no halls costs at most universities and it will be cheaper. Mine had hall fees of about £7500 each in year 1 but that went down to more like £6000 a year rent (but plus bills) in years 2 and now 3.. I also pay them £150 a week each throughout the year for food and other costs (and provide a shared car) but they are very very lucky and I picked my career aged 14 on the basis of future earnings so all this was pretty much planned in my case that I would have enough money for school and university fees.

Many of my children's friends do not have anything like as much money so don't worry about it.

Travel can be quite cheap if they only come home once a year like mine and in yours and my case the child has a car. Travel at the university - at Bristol they had a free bus back to halls so zero travel cost in term time usually unless they use an Uber. I too my bike to university as did my son . Food in year 1 was not much as they had breakfast and one sit down meal a day in halls. Year 2 they buy it in most cases.

Some students have summer jobs to help fund term time. Others are able to fit in term time jobs.

I am sorry p eople are so jealous of families on £60k gross a year. It woudl not have even paid my school fees bill for 5 after tax was taken off! However I realise I and anyone on £2300 net a month is very lucky but certainly the people Corbyn is after who may rise to what he sees as very well off £80k a year (so vote Conservative if you do nothing else after reading this thread...)
(On the work provided car your husband might need to do some sums - loads of employees have chosen not to take those provided cars from the employer because the tax hike is too high)

Tbf @Xenia, Corbyn has said no more fees!

Not sure the ridiculous loan system is a reason (if there were any at all) to vote Tory .

Op, the thing is, everything is a matter of compromise.

Such a rural lifestyle that necessitates a 3 car household and an hour ‘s journey to school. A loved but p/ t job, a £60k salty plus what you earn but no savings built up...

Yes, it is a shock, dc’s uni years (starting next year) will clean me out but that’s how it is. I have not lived like an ostrich so I have been aware of it looming,

It will be a struggle though, even though Dc will get a job.

I don’t buy my DC at university clothes and shoes. My DC would be insulted at the thought of that. I did offer to buy shoes recently as she said hers had holes in and let in water, but she completely refused.

Tewser
That is why DD turned down a welsh NHS bursary (OT not nursing) as it would not cover her rent at all. As it is we give her £200 a month for food etc. She is also on placements so cant commit to a regular job. She does Camp America in the summer , first year break even on costs/wages but 2nd year onward she gets a lot more money. Also gets the odd money from them in the UK and does the odd few days at a SEN group she used to work for at Easter/xmas. Placements do make it very difficult to work. Her first placement was 9-5 with an hours commute each way, second the same but was given a lift everyday. She can claim back fares as expenses. Her next placement is in Belgium for 3 months!

The maintenance loan is paid back the same as any other student loan, so 9% of earnings above 25k so they will be paying the same out of their wages as someone who has a full 40/50k loan.

Also if they drop out of the course or do not work for 2 years in NHS Wales they have to pay back course fees/bursary/maintenance etc immediately and not through student finance. It really wasnt worth dd taking out the bursary in short or medium term, but may have been in the long run ie paying back student loan for less time.

i thought welsh students could borrow the maximum maintenance loan whatever their parents salary?

I read it that they are English but studying in Wales. They mentioned SFE rather than SFW.

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
How on earth do you know all that from the UCAS form?

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

Huh? This is surely a load of bollocks.

Bloody hell Xenia, I actually applaud your doggedness and efforts to encourage women to have financial independence and good careers, but would you ever stop being so fucking smug when you do it?

I mean this kindly - well, sort of, as it is annoying when someone when someone says "look at me, I did everything right" (with a side order of "but you didn't, silly you") as I know you do actually mean well, but the way you phrase stuff is counter productive. For example your last post is probably making undecided voters think "well if that's what a Tory is like, I'm never voting for them"

Oh, I think Xenia has a good point. It's worth encouraging girls into well paid careers so that they don't end up like the OP, stressed about saving 200 a month.

Sadly all my dds want to do health or artsy fartsy things.

blouse, we get some data based on the school and the area (which, obviously, is a rough measure), but often these things come up in personal statements.

It's not a new thing; universities have been making contextual offers for ages.

but often these things come up in personal statements

Do they??

Contextual offers are official and have a strict set of guidelines. If you meet the criteria, you get a reduced offer.