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?

The thing about the high drop out rate too, not sure they can say this with much authority as it is a brand new scheme.

Ok, just be aware that over the next two years there are massive changes in police recruitment processes. Also most forces are now on big recruitment drives. This is MEANT to be going on for 5 yrs but once they fill their quota they will close so she can't rely on her chosen one to be taking on at the exact time she needs it.

Graduates still have to go thrpugh the app process with everyone else, they may get rushed through but it really does depend on how successful previous rounds have been and retention.

My local one is DMU by the way, if you just wanted to have one last look. The current students seem to be having a blast on their new cohort, still getting the young person student experience.

Juanmorebeer
Thank you, but after looking at ten universities I'm all done, plus DMU is close to home and she has made it clear she would like to be further afield. (Doesn't want Mum visiting too often!)
She made her five applications today

I wish her all the best. Great career choice ;)

Make sure she signs up as a special constable as soon as she has moved. This experience will help her get paid slightly more when she starts as a PC

yes, she will, all universities we have visited have strong links with the local constabularies and most students sign up as Specials as soon as they can.

Regarding the history of parental contributions - my mother did 2 years at university c. 1959 and dropped out because she couldn't afford it. Not only did her father give her well under the amount expected (so she couldn't meet travel costs and books or even exam fees), he wouldn't sign to allow her to work with the post office over Christmas to make up some of the shortfall. Until she was 21 she couldn't even work without permission.

We're a bit head-in-sand about funding university at the moment - eldest in lower 6th - because our two are both on school bursaries and our projections have our savings running out just before the younger one finishes school. I too am working on improving my income!

I agree with those who say it’s ridiculous that adults at university are relying on parents income. 60k is not a massive income if you live in London/ SE at all.

"I agree with those who say it’s ridiculous that adults at university are relying on parents income."

Or even a non-parent's income if the non-parent is cohabiting with the resident parent - his/her income is taken into account for means testing, as per post below. (All for precision on mn!) Non resident parent's income on the other hand is ignored.

Yes I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that on an open day recently.

@GrasswillbeGreener " he wouldn't sign to allow her to work with the post office over Christmas to make up some of the shortfall. Until she was 21 she couldn't even work without permission."

I do think there are problems with the university funding system but there always have been ( and that is a blinding case in point.) I know a while ago but I was early eighties and the maintenance grant was still a problem then in a similar way to how OP describes it.

MY DS had a visiting student at his university from the US who thought the way the UK does it was brilliant - in that going to university is very much more expensive in the US than the UK & less help ( unless a very talented sports person etc. So not saying it is perfect. )

@JufusMum , amongst my Ds's cohort there was a mix of , parents who had enough money to top everything up , nice if you can do it / who could give something , not all , and gave up some things ( like savings / holidays / cars / takeaways - whatever ) to contribute ( & I am well aware if you can't afford those things in the first place you can't give them up - I know that ) - or just assessed their finances brutally to see what could be cut to help DC / students who took part time or holiday jobs to top up the money.

I am fairly sure it was ever thus.

I hope you do not take this as a spiky post & I hope you find a way for DD to do what she wants to do and she does well.

Parents being required to fund students isn’t new. People just seem to think it is. My DHs parents refused to pay their contribution for him in the 70s. Instead they bought a caravan and a colour tv. It destroyed their relationship. He did Engjneering which was 9-5 most days but did bar work. He worked every holiday too. It’s just what students have to do but I do feel parents must know this is coming! It’s not new. So make plans when DC are very small. It’s not nice panicking now.

Also I can assure you that very few students have cars at university. There simply isn’t parking and most families just don’t want this expense. All universities will have railway stations or coaches. This expense is utterly avoidable and the insurance for a student keeping the car at university (cannot share insurance with parents as far not kept at home) will be massive ££££. I would choose a city university too. Not some remote campus.

The expansion of the university sector has meant more student homes are needed. Would we rather go back to 10% going to stop private landlord’s making money? Probably not.

Options:

1. DD lives at home - this is what our DD is doing. She uses her maintenance loan for travel costs.
2. Part time job - most of DDs friends who have gone away to uni have one and most who haven't have one too.
3. You use the savings for accommodation not a car. None of DDs friends have taken cars with them to uni.
4. Take a year out work full time and get some savings put away to put towards costs.
5. DD Reconsiders career options.

Ultimately there is only so much money that you have and DD can't have money you don't have. Xxx

More radical option might be downsizing your house and reducing your mortgage - could you get closer to DHs work?

I'm at a uni that's big for the policing course - even having placements to get to you have fuck all chance of being allowed to get to keep a car on campus. (Friend with disabilities has had a huge battle even being allowed to get hers on-site to attend placements).

My maintenance loan is hammered from DH's income - and I've got blooming childcare to pay out of it... it's crappy but it's the way it is.

Going into the police will pay well enough fairly quickly and it’s a job for life. That’s worth a lot and add in a good pension taken early when compared to other jobs, it’s very well paid. I know plenty ex police who have a second job after retirement and they are doing very well financially and supporting grandchildren at university. Long term it’s a decent career.

Just don’t consider a car. Live in a city to get a job. If you are in MK there is casual work in the holidays.

If you cannot afford to support her through a 3 year degree, you have the following options:

1. She does the degree apprenticeship, if she can't hack the time commitment this needs then she might as well forget about the police all together. Dropping out will mean she can still go to uni for a different course and get funding if she finds police isn't for her. She will have more support through a police force for managing workloads. If she is career motivated she will enjoy an apprenticeship more than uni and no debt at the end. Fyi, graduates that come out on middle income (e.g. police salaries) end up paying a lot more back in student loans over the 30 years than low or high earning graduates so it'll be in her interest to avoid the debt. I'm a high earner for 2 years out of uni, my loan is still growing each year because of 6% interest. From the moment she takes out a loan the value has 3% interest on it, when you graduate it carries on growing and you don't start paying it off until the following April. You'll probably spend at least 5 years just paying interest. I could be on the same money I'm on now through degree apprenticeship and have an extra £200-300 a month in my pocket.
2. She can take a gap year and work. This is what I did. I lived at home and worked. I saved up £10k and then did summer jobs to earn £2-3k each summer. I had basic accommodation but I could run a car. I did this because in term time I had a full on (STEM) course, worked 60-80 hour weeks towards that to get course work done and still had time for societies (uniformed + 1 sport). My sacrifice was stopping horse riding because that was tooo expensive.
3. You cut back for 3 years to fund her because you have a high enough income. Your tax situation needs to be revised and you're just burying your head in the sand. I drive for business and I worked out pretty quickly it's not worth accepting the company scheme because of BIC. 45p per mile actually gets me a profit on running my car (and it's not a banger) where as company scheme would see me paying £300 a month in BIC and not getting fuel covered in full.

The choice of degree or apprenticeship degree really depends on what job you want and whether the apprenticeship degree is truly valued by all employers. If it’s niche and not from a good university, that’s up for debate. If you never change employer it might not matter but some of the degrees are a bit second rate.

Very high earners will pay off the loan quickly but around 50% pay off next to nothing so it’s virtually free money. It then gets written off. It’s effectively a tax.

45p per mile is the car rate that attracts 0 tax. It means you have to do thousands of miles to break even and save up to replace the car, which of course, you bought in the first place. Either on a loan or from savings and this rate doesn’t cover the full cost of the car. It’s a help but you have all the costs. With a car owned by someone else, you have no costs other than tax.

You need to live nearer both your workplaces and school!

Try the GrantFairy app, and there's another one like that too which is good and I'll try to find it....

Can't go wrong with Martin Lewis...

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/grants-education/

A few things have jumped out at me here:
First of all many university halls of residence just don’t have any parking available for students.
Secondly, maybe she should only apply to universities that are close to where she can do her specials shifts.
Thirdly, I agree that a gap year is a good idea, not just to work and save money, but as the parent of a DD with a July birthday, who also sat her A levels at 17 I felt that the gap year she took was very beneficial for her. She was more confident and better able to deal with life admin and life in general.

The other thing is that accommodation costs vary significantly from university to university. DS is paying £1K less for his than he would have been if he'd got into his first choice. And others (such as Exeter) were more expensive still. So, costs can be cut that way too.

Absolutely check out the tax. My husband was paying more in tax for the ‘benefit’ than he was actually paying to fill the car, or rather that his company was paying, so he came out of that scheme. In fact, he’s now handed his company car back, as have most of his colleagues, even though he always went for the most economical option tax-wise as it’s as no longer a perk due to the amount of tax paid.

*was not as