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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Student finance - high earners

52 replies

JaneExotic · 26/09/2021 08:26

I’m finding student finance as clear as mud! If parents are higher earners (household income of £120K), student is entitled to the non-means tested tuition fees loan.

What about the maintenance loan? Would they be entitled to something? And how can I find out what?

OP posts:
bengalcat · 26/09/2021 10:41

Mines going into year three now and decided she’ll claim the minimum maintenance loan - it’s @4k per year I think

DottyHarmer · 26/09/2021 10:47

Every single person I know gets their dc to take the loan and they pay the accommodation bill.

StickyFloor · 26/09/2021 14:49

I feel like such a fool. We gave dd starting next year and I assumed she’d find it using the loans. Never occurred to me that the loan was capped based on our income!

Our household total is £59k and we barely get by now so have no money spare for this. I feel quite sick tbh. We will try and take out a loan or remortgage.

Original poster
JaneExotic · 26/09/2021 14:56

@TweetyPieBird
Her maintenance loan might not even cover her rent. If you earn as much as you say you do, then why can’t you contribute? It’s always the wealthy people who are super tight with money.

Grin Nowhere have I said I’m not happy to support her, after all I’ve been doing it for 17 years so far! I said it would be tight. You have no idea of my outgoings, or who I also support financially.

OP posts:
sartorius · 26/09/2021 15:01

@StickyFloor

I feel like such a fool. We gave dd starting next year and I assumed she’d find it using the loans. Never occurred to me that the loan was capped based on our income!

Our household total is £59k and we barely get by now so have no money spare for this. I feel quite sick tbh. We will try and take out a loan or remortgage.

Do you live in/near a city? Could she go local and live at home? For loads of families that's the only way it's affordable
cheesegloriouscheeseyum · 26/09/2021 17:16

@rumpoodle

Unfortunately you’re likely ‘stuck in the middle’. Neither particularly high earners or low enough earners to get any extra help.

You will be burdened with paying extra support to your child from your wages. This is in essence just another tax on your income. If you had less well paying jobs then of course your child would be given a state subsidy. But because of how the system works, you will have to foot an expense that others don’t have to.

£120k a year is an extremely healthy income and one where I'd expect someone to help fund a child through uni (as the OP has said she will). I'm usually quite Hmmabout comments on Mumsnet where wages over 25k are deemed to be"high". But to say read a household income of £120 is "somewhere in the middle" shows a huge ignorance and disconnect with what most people in the UK actually earn and live off.
MatildaJayne · 26/09/2021 17:28

My DSes both got the maximum loan of around £9k and both went to unis where they were eligible for a bursary of £2k. They chose unis with reasonably priced accommodation as a must and went for shared bathrooms in first year then fairly cheap student houses. They had plenty to live on.

If you can afford to pay their accommodation then they’ll be able to live on the minimum loan. In this way you can interfere in their choice of uni and accommodation as you’ll be paying for it! Wink

StickyFloor · 27/09/2021 09:01

DD has significant SN so we are trying to get her to a Uni which is very close to us as I think she’ll need our practical support.

But at the same time we want her to live on campus to start developing some independence and make friends.

Xenia · 27/09/2021 09:19

By the way the Government is considering reducing the salary at which you start paying the student loan back. I don't have the link but someone did post it on another thread on here earlier (Financial Times front page today in my pdf version anyway)..

TweetyPieBird · 28/09/2021 09:46

[quote JaneExotic]**@TweetyPieBird
Her maintenance loan might not even cover her rent. If you earn as much as you say you do, then why can’t you contribute? It’s always the wealthy people who are super tight with money.

Grin Nowhere have I said I’m not happy to support her, after all I’ve been doing it for 17 years so far! I said it would be tight. You have no idea of my outgoings, or who I also support financially.[/quote]
£120k a year is an eye watering sum. You are very fortunate to have this salary. Unless you have 10 other dc, I really don’t see how money will be “tight.”

Fluffypastelslippers · 28/09/2021 09:49

Unfortunately you’re likely ‘stuck in the middle’. Neither particularly high earners or low enough earners to get any extra help.

Only on mumsnet is £120k considered 'not particularly high' income

rumpoodle · 28/09/2021 12:02

Because not everyone lives in an area where a 3 bed house costs £100k? Not everyone is content with the bare minimum?

A couple that earn £120k between them are probably educated to at least degree level, and are likely bright. They likely work fairly long hours, and that salary is a reward for the skills they have.

rumpoodle · 28/09/2021 12:05

No one is ‘fortunate’ to earn any salary. By and large people have grafted to get there. Don’t put other people’s hard work or ability or clever moves down to ‘fortune’. Likewise people don’t put down people earning £20k down to laziness do they?

People make different decisions based off what they want from life and prioritise.

Rant over.

EdmontinaDonsAutumnalHues · 28/09/2021 12:37

No one is ‘fortunate’ to earn any salary.

Well … until we achieve a situation of absolute equality of opportunity, there is generally likely to be an element of fortune - good or ill - involved in earning any particular salary.

Horribly wrong to imply that is not the case.

Fluffypastelslippers · 28/09/2021 13:06

No one is ‘fortunate’ to earn any salary. By and large people have grafted to get there. Don’t put other people’s hard work or ability or clever moves down to ‘fortune’.

I would never dismiss someone's hard work but I do think there is an element of 'fortune' involved sometimes. You mention ability and that is something we don't all have, so imo anyone who has the academic ability to achieve a high salary is fortunate. Not because of the wage, I know that's done to hard work, but we don't all start on an even keel.

Original poster
JaneExotic · 28/09/2021 19:39

I AM fortunate to have a good salary, but not lucky. I went from a single parent family in a council house to university. I worked hard. I still do. I divorced when my children were young and had to work and juggle care (as many of us do). I took on and paid off my ex’s debt and was left homeless with no maintenance.
I remarried someone with a good wage.

I have disabled children and I support 3 elderly relatives. I work 11 hour days. That’s why money might be tight @TweetyPieBird, not that it’s any of your business!

OP posts:
Xenia · 28/09/2021 20:55

i graduated a teetotal virgin with university prizes. I worked until I went into labour with each child, used annual leave for 2 weeks when I was off work and went back when they were 2 weeks (yes weeks not months) old so again for me it is certainly not all about luck but conscious choices.

RealhousewifeofBarnardCastle · 28/09/2021 20:55

They get a loan but not much do, it’s assumed parents will contribute

cheesegloriouscheeseyum · 28/09/2021 20:58

@rumpoodle

No one is ‘fortunate’ to earn any salary. By and large people have grafted to get there. Don’t put other people’s hard work or ability or clever moves down to ‘fortune’. Likewise people don’t put down people earning £20k down to laziness do they?

People make different decisions based off what they want from life and prioritise.

Rant over.

The fact that those earning this sort of money are bright degree educated and work hard makes absolutely no difference to the fact that 120k a year is a high income.
RealhousewifeofBarnardCastle · 28/09/2021 20:59

@JaneExotic don’t rise to the twats criticising you

It’s a PITA funding uni, goodluck

cheesegloriouscheeseyum · 28/09/2021 21:01

@JaneExotic my comments aren't aimed at or judging you, it's for @rumpoodle btw

PhillMcCann · 28/09/2021 21:11

I graduated a teetotal virgin with university prizes. I worked until I went into labour with each child, used annual leave for 2 weeks when I was off work and went back when they were 2 weeks (yes weeks not months) old so again for me it is certainly not all about luck but conscious choices

Was graduating a virgin supposed to be seen as an achievement? Hmm

Xenia · 29/09/2021 09:29

It certainly meant I did not get pregnant which is one of the biggest drains on young women's career chances! (Obviously there was also luck in that no one raped me and I got pregnant from that of course)

BreathingDeep · 29/09/2021 09:40

Yikes, this thread went off track quickly.

We too are topping up our son's uni course. He gets the minimum maintenance loan and so we're topping it up to the full amount, which means £5k per year. His accommodation is £6k and we're drip feeding the amount monthly for him to live on, but have made it clear that he needs to budget and expect that there will be times he can't afford to go out as well as buying the essentials, but this is part and parcel of being a student. He will work full time during the holidays to top up his bank account and of course, I, being a soft touch, will send stuff so he doesn't starve or get scurvy.

Ozzie9523 · 29/09/2021 13:53

We were not aware until a few months ago that the maintenance loan was means-tested until Martin Lewis talked about this on This Morning. He said lots of parents did not realise this was the case. We will probably get the minimum loan and will need to top up.

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