What if we can't afford to support DC?

[pinkpip100]

Oldest DC is in year 12 and plans to go to university in Sept 2023. I've been looking into student finance and according to the calculator they will get a loan to pay fees in full, but only the minimum maintenance loan, due to our household income. We have 3 other dc, and it is likely that DC1 & DC2 will overlap at uni for at least a year (and subsequently DC2 & DC3 too). I understand that we are expected to support them financially, and assume this will mean topping up from the minimum maintenance loan to the maximum amount.
My worry is that we will massively struggle to pay this for 1 DC, let alone for 2 at a time. We have no money left at the end of each month, no savings. Youngest DC is disabled so I have always ended up in low paid part-time jobs which offer flexibility to look after them when needed. As a result we have built up a lot of debt over the years - and just making minimum payments for this wipes out a huge chunk of our combined income. I am just about to start a better paid job which will increase our income, but paying off the debt will obviously take a long time. Our household income for 21-22 will therefore appear pretty high on paper - hence DC1 only getting minimum loan amount - but definitely isn't reflective of how much expendable income we have.
I suppose my question is - does any of this (number of dependents, sibling with a disability, level of debt repayments vs household income) get taken into account when applying for a maintenance loan? Are there any other student finance options? Has anyone else been in a similar position? I realise we've been totally naive but I assumed DC would be able to get full loan amounts for fees and maintenance, so had envisaged just topping up what we could afford.

When your DC worked the summer before uni, how many hours did they work a week? How much did they make?

Some of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges offer very generous bursaries. They're income based, but it's worth talking to them if you have special circumstances.

I was in a similar position when I went to university. My loan was less than my accommodation payment and my course required me to have a car which I had to fund. I had a summer job and saved for the first payment. I got a job in the supermarket and got hardship grants. I also applied for a scholarship of £1,000. My second year I worked about 20 hours a week in a hotel, I also did temping in my holidays. My placement year I worked for £4 an hour for the placement and then in a pub at the evening and weekends. My fourth year I was really lucky that my dad had a better job and was able to give me £200 a month and we found super cheap accommodation.

I won’t pretend it wasn’t difficult and I did leave with pretty big overdraft debts which took me years to pay off. It was worth it in the long term though and I left with a 2:1.

The first year is really important for making friendship groups. Best to stay in halls for first year and once made friends could possibly commute for second year. Third year see how it goes. You do save a lot of kid lives at home and computes. PT job in summer before he goes and work every holiday. My dd worked at Sainsbury's and they let her transfer to still do weekend job at uni and when home on long holidays they took her back at our local store to cover holidays of full time staff. If can't get PT job could advertise babysitting or dog walking over summer. Don't accept any 'I'm not good at interviews'. Tell him more practice needed. Teach him to shop cheaply and cook budget meals. Teach him to budget his money. He could look look for second hand books too. Maybe you could give child £100 per month towards food. When my dd was at uni I was a teacher and and so did loads of ex asm scripts and gave me her as LL of that money. I also did a bit of tutoring as n DC gave her that too. You will work extra hours or find a way to help your child.

@pinkpip100
Reading all of these responses, I do think you need to talk this through as a family. I can see you might need to consider your other children so talk asap. Explain the situation. If DS wants to go, then it’s summer holiday work. He might struggle in term time with subjects/workload. It’s also a big jump from school, so straight into uni work and finding paid work in a new city/town can be bewildering. So talk everything through.

He’s going to have to come out of his room to participate in work so a full and frank discussion looking at finance, coats, work, courses and universities does need to happen fairly quickly now.

@TizerorFizz you're right. Especially about him coming out of his room and engaging. I do feel as though I'm making lots of excuses for him and I know I try to 'shield' him too much, which in the long term isn't benefiting him.

Thanks again for such helpful responses on here, I really appreciate all of them.

www.futurefinance.com/about-us/

This is a possibility. But I think this is an 'actual' debt that could ruin your life.

Your DS definitely won’t be the only one in that boat. One thing I’ve noticed is very few parents are aware the living cost loan is means tested. It does come as a shock and often quite late to make a decision to change anything. I’d encourage the part time job as plenty of time to earn a bit of cash for uni. Haven’t read all the comments but Oxford doesn’t allow jobs in term time as each term is only 8wks long so pretty intense. My friends son did have a job at a local theatre though when he was at Oxford as he had zero parent support

@Calculathor

Some of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges offer very generous bursaries. They're income based, but it's worth talking to them if you have special circumstances.

Imperial also has very generous bursaries for students with a household income of less than £60k. Not that that helps OP's DS if he wants study PPE but maybe it helps someone else.

Household income: £0-16k Bursary: £5k
Household income: £16k -50k Bursary: £4k
Household income: £50k-55k Bursary: £3k
Household income: £55-60k Bursary: £2k

Cambridge has the option of several mature colleges for students over the age of 21 only, if anyone's DC is considering delaying application for financial reasons.

@yogabbagabba134

www.futurefinance.com/about-us/

This is a possibility. But I think this is an 'actual' debt that could ruin your life.

Thanks - worth exploring I think, but given our situation in terms of debt it makes me very wary of dc heading down this route.

I don't know why child's Sixth Form did not do the presentation for patents at beginning of Year 12 about student finance at uni. It gives you 2 years to sort yourself out, Kids too. I found it very helpful to have a 2 years heads up. All schools and colleges should be warning parents early.

Unfortunately, because of the way the student loan system (from what I can make out) works, a lot of kids are excluded from uni due to affordability.
My dn is at uni, his parents had to pay £3.5k upfront for his first year for hall accommodation as his loan hadn't come through yet. Thank you credit cards! The parents aren't hard up, but have other children, both work full time and don't have a huge amount of spare cash. Their dc works weekends and a couple of nights for spending money.
Would an apprenticeship suit your dc @pinkpip100?
My dc will look first at a local uni, which fortunately they are able to travel to, although because we are rural it'll be a lift in the car and bus relay.

@caringcarer we haven't had any info from 6th form - I agree this would be helpful, or even earlier (Y10/11). Though I totally accept we should have been proactive and looked into it sooner ourselves.

can they stay at home and commute?

Not sure an apprenticeship would be a good fit for DC1 @PutinIsAWarCriminal, but it definitely could be for DC2 (currently Y10) so will definitely be encouraging them to look into this as an option.

Not rtft but I'd strongly suggest doing your research both on costs and on what kind of financial help individual universities and courses can give. Also echo PPs who say about getting a job - maybe some of the gig economy type jobs would work? Deliveroo/Uber etc or learn a skill that pays a bit more, even better if she/he is into politics start trying to get work relevant to that.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

can they stay at home and commute?

Possibly - though ideally not as we're pretty overcrowded so would struggle with giving ds his own space. I also worry that it will just feed into his introverted tendencies even more and he'll use it as a reason never to talk to anyone outside of our house...

It ws a worry for me too.
But turned out to be manable.
Ds decided not to go to university, ( still considering it) and DD took a degree course with a non means tested bursary - 10K a year, plus a part time job of an hourly rate of £25 - she worked 6 hours a week, so an extra £600 pounds a month, she graduated with savings in her bank and no loan.
I ive in an area with no univeristy tuition fees.
I am aware I have been very fortunate- especially as I have been saving for years for University costs.
Never had to use my funds.

There are very few apprenticeships for 18 year olds. Only 3500 last year and most are very competitive. By contrast 400,000 plus go to university. Most degree apprenticeships go to adults already in work. So if any Dc wants one, do the research thoroughly. Generally university is easier to obtain.

I'd sit down and have a really good chat with him about the whole situation.

I've just been through this myself and my son also has ASD. He took a gap year to work and save up, turns out he didn't save a penny. Due my partners income (not his father) he also didn't qualify for full loans. He ended up going to Uni, with me topping him up financially. He got a good result but ultimately in a field where it's more 'who you know, not what you know' and a year down the line from completion he's in a zero hours NMW job and I'm still trying to get back on top of my own finances. My sons ASD traits are quite likely to be an issue for him too in his chosen field.

I'd honestly get him to have a long hard think about whether Uni is the only route into his desired career and encourage him to stay local. There is a government white paper I've read somewhere about how degrees on offer from Unis should be more aligned to available careers - I guess this is because the government isn't recovering the loans.

What school year should the convo begin? I believe legally you can start PT work at 14?

Most schools make information available on their web sites. You can log into talks and advice on choosing subjects, university fees and costs, applying etc. I don’t believe any school does nothing.

It’s a conversation for the whole family regarding space in the house and money and who works and when. If all Dc are at school, the op could do some work in term time. I would look into holiday jobs asap but he has to plan what he wants to do and how he can do it.

It would concern me a DC with ASD going away to be honest, think it might be better for them to stay close or at home.
It is easy to be isolated in halls at university, I remember students who seemed to never some out of their rooms.

They could make a massive saving as well..and with other DC to fund it's important to think of that.

This has been a good productive thread. I believe we have helped all we can.

Yes @yogabbagabba134 I agree, really helpful thread. Thanks to everyone who contributed.