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.

^ that means is they will only qualify to receive the minimum loan (why would you or anyone else deliberately do this to their child or children)?^

DS1 had the minimum loan - for us it was doable. He now has a smaller loan than someone from a well less off family. How is that fair?

And I think DS had to pay £500 upfront to secure accommodation. We were able to hand it to him, but I did actually cry thinking that there are families out there that couldn't do that. We had no idea that was going to be necessary and I'm pretty switched on. On the plus side for DS he kept the deposit and had another one off us the following two years without DH cottoning on

@LynetteScavo - like others our DS only receives the minimum loan due to our household income. I won’t go into too much details about our circumstances. Its not easy but as I said in my post he worked most of the summer and saved hard and he budgets sensibly and lives frugally. As well as money saved from working we also support him. But no way would we contemplate ticking a box saying we were refusing to support him as all that means is the most he could ever receive would be the minimum loan even if our circumstances changed and we had a reduction in household income.

Somebody upthread said that it’s a bit cheaper once they move out of halls. Sadly, this isn't necessarily true... we are currently paying about £6.5k per year for 1st year halls in York but 2nd year off-campus house rent is going to be £9.3k per year - and that's relatively cheap for her area!

DD seems very attracted to studying in expensive areas (she's her mothers daughter!) But I'm pointing out to her it just won't be possible. She tells me if she's offered a place where she really wants "We'll deal with it then." I'm not sure how!

In terms of this show her the sums. This is the maximum maintenance loan work on the current years figures if outside London (you can google this). So due to our household income if you received x amount we would be expected to contribute y to you. So for example if you studied at say Durham, York or say St Andrews year 1 rent in halls would be from between this figure and this figure. In year 2 and 3 it could be around this figure. Train home would be this from each place. Whereas if you studied in say Newcastle or Uclan these would be the costs leaving you with Z amounts for books, food shopping, socialising and anything else you may need or want for the next three years etc.

We did a spreadsheet to help narrow things down also included Uni ratings, how they felt when we looked around etc etc.

Also had a realistic discussion about budgeting and whilst we would pay start up costs (to get SC items for halls etc) and could just about to afford to top them up from min loan to max loan over a 40 week period. They would be expected to work during the long summer term and or get a job during term time etc.

I suspect as things get more difficult with the economy people will start to adjust their applications. University is expensive. Those at the bottom in terms of household income will actually probably be ok as long as they’re strategic with their applications but those in the middle will feel the pinch again.

different universities targeted in cheaper areas, far more studying in their home cities to enable them to live at home for at least some of the time and probably fewer applications in general (which being harsh is possibly what we need to restore the balance in the workplace and ensure our kids have jobs. We need skilled labour such as electricians, plumbers, mechanics etc)

@user73
They are careers university bound Dc will not consider. Even when dc get lowish grades, they want university. That’s why so many foreign people are in the trades.