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?

Vote Conservative😂😂😂. On yer bike Xenia

I've said before, it's amazing how many "university admissions tutors" there are on mumsnet.

She absolutely does have a good point and I know this, it's just the delivery of that point that I take issue with. If I had spoken to my DDs like that they would have probably dropped out of school and never worked again

It also doesn't take into account life in general. I went back to work after six weeks (and in fairness this was much more common as maternity leave was nowhere near a year) yet atm I'm unemployed and worried about how to pay towards university. No plan is life proof which makes smugness even more irritating. Maybe I'm projecting, I've just ranted on another thread too and should probably shut up

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.

A large number of the loans may well end up being gifts. Most students won't end up paying their loan back in its entirety, thus it is funded by taxpayers, hence the means testing. The current system is completely unsustainable and is costing the taxpayer more than it did when there were no or lower tuition fees.

Yes, they do come up in personal statements.

Obviously, no one writes 'I am well middle class innit'. But applicants (and schools) do often say if this is a person who's worked part-time to fund what they're doing, or has been a carer, or whatever.

We look at the whole picture. I don't follow why you think this is surprising or unlikely.

I think the admissions person is talking about contextual offers.

Surely the answer is for your DH to start paying for petrol himself? Why pay £1200 in tax if he’s only using £750 ish of petrol?

It’s a very peculiar set up.

Parents have always had to top up and/or students had to work even eg back in 1992 when I went, my full grant wasn't enough to live on.

I would advise paying her rent (& possibly heating bill) if you can and then she has to earn/budget for the rest. It's the easiest way of her tracking & controlling her income and outgoings

yes it comes from savings. We realised when DS went to uni we'd have to reduce savings to pay for him. We didn't have free disposable to pay - becuase if there was free money we'd have been saving it naturally.

living expenses is probably about £250 a month for 9 months of term. So about £3k. Your £200pm savings would almost cover that so you can probably get the full amount with a bit of cutting down on your food bill (because you have one less person in the house) and some other bits and bobs.

That leaves accommodation - Depending where you end up, maybe 5-6k? so a £1-2k shortfall? you could manage that with your DC working over summer and/or not going on hols for a couple of years

The issue for means testing is that (not talking about the OP), if parents cannot support or don’t want to support their child, it effectively stops a number of students from taking up the course.

Contextual offers aren't made on the basis of gleaning info from the personal statements.

OP, could you get a lodger? You can earn ?£7500? A year tax-free on the rent a room scheme.

The crux of the issue is that you offically earn 60k, therefore aren't eligible for help, but the reality is that you are taking home the equivalent of 40k because of the bonkers car situation.

In year 2 by the way there will be no halls costs at most universities and it will be cheaper

Ds's second year will be more expensive as we need to pay for 52 weeks rather than the 42 weeks term, I know lots of parents with kids at university and second year is always a biggie financially as most rented places want deposits and rent before the summer holidays when in fact lots of kids come home for the holidays.

Contextual offers aren't made on the basis of gleaning info from the personal statements

No they aren't.

"A large number of the loans may well end up being gifts. Most students won't end up paying their loan back in its entirety, thus it is funded by taxpayers, hence the means testing."

It's true many students won't repay the total owed, although that is partly because of the interest rate being set at the rate it is - then again the interest rate is presumably set to take into account the risk that many won't repay, so there is some circularity there!

It seems to me that the logical flaw with the means testing is that you aren't means testing the adult student (most of whom will have zero or low income, certainly well below the threshold!) but the adult student's parents. Which has as other pps have pointed out, always been the case, even when there were grants. On the other hand, if 50% of young people are going to university (which in many ways is better than the old 5% in the 1960s) it's very expensive to fund maintenance to live away from home for all of them. Its the 'away from home' - ie rent costs - which makes it so expensive.

I think dd will stay in her uni town between first and second year as she has a lovely house and there is more chance of a job there.

The reality is, if you can't afford to make up the shortfall, and your child can't fund themselves through university, then they can't go.

As for why you can't afford - well the elephant in the room is your home. It's in a bad location for your DH's work and your DD's school, and I expect you're paying a bunch on its mortgage or you wouldn't have these money problems. You're in negative equity which complicates things, but I'm sure if you want to move you can.

Another option to consider - could your DD live at home and go to university in the same town your DH works in, then they can commute together? It's limiting for your DD but that's how it is.

sarahandquack

If you are making reduced offers on the basis of financial need, with information only supplied to you on personal statements then that is an absolute scandal.

Young carers identify themselvs on the UCAS form, there is a tick box.

Just so those who earn less can realise £60k is £43,335 after tax (yes a vast sum for many but still a big chunk in tax paid) and that is nothing to do with the car loan. The tax treatment of company cars means even more comes off and indee dif the parent has a student loan then 9% of the salar over £25k is also taken off £3150 on £60k so even without the car those with a student loan too of the new kind would be down to about £40,000 net.

When I went (1979) only 15% of people could go not the 50% as now so it was much harder. Even if you were lucky enough to be in that 15% I only got a minimum grant (£50 not the full £900) and as now if my parents had not paid it up to the £900 maximum I would have been high and dry although might have been able to earn in the holidays. IN a sense we still have the same system as 1979 except that more people can now go to university.

We still have this massive difference between a full loan and a minimum loan with no legal obligation on parents to make it up/pay a penny. You still never pay anuythig back (other than now you do pay back if you earn over £25k - lots of people will never pay a penny back so it is a gift from hard working tax paying UK citizens which is now granted to 50% not the 1979 15% of tax payers).

Just so those who earn less can realise £60k is £43,335 after tax (yes a vast sum for many but still a big chunk in tax paid) and that is nothing to do with the car loan

Yes, which would be about 3600 a month. They are taking home 2300.

Probably missing the point here but what police force does she want to apply for that requires a degree? None of biggest forces in the UK - the Met, GMP and Police Scotland - ask for a degree. PS and GMP don’t ask for any formal qualifications and the Met only specifies an English GCSE.

Good point. I had just read this bit which was wrong "but the reality is that you are taking home the equivalent of 40k because of the bonkers car situation." Taking home about £40k is because the UK is a high tax country for high earners something sadly the Tories are set to continue as is Labour but even worse.

I agree that one solution is to be rid of the work car and just buy an old banger instead.

Godo points above too about year 2. I had just viven the Bristol expensive halls, cheaper year 2 rent example but that will not be the same everywhere eg Oxbridge is cheaper than other universities with shorter terms so it is quite hard to generalise. usually halls with food in year 1 are more expensive than 52 weeks of year 2 rent even if you add your food on top of that.

I had just read this bit which was wrong "but the reality is that you are taking home the equivalent of 40k because of the bonkers car situation." Taking home about £40k is because the UK is a high tax country for high earners something sadly the Tories are set to continue as is Labour but even worse

2300 a month is the equivalent of earning about 40k

They are losing 20k somewhere down the line (on taxed income), so that must be the car.