What would you charge DC staying at home for University?

[Orangesandlemons77]

Following on from my post about staying at home for University, I wondered what (if anything) you would ask for from DC in terms of living costs?

Situation is our total income is around 25K meaning DC would get around 8K for the stay at home maintanence grant per year from 2023. They also have a child trust fund of around 15K in total.

We also get some small amount of tax credits which would half when the eldest turns 18 as would child benefit.

I just wondered what others in a similar position do.

In your situation it would be fair to take about £80 per week. They are getting the full loan as you are low income.

OK. So around £320 a month. I feel bad about this though. Will have a think.
There is some time to see how things are in the next year or so with cost of living etc. It may be taken as income for tax credits meaning that lowers, as well, so would need to check how that works.

Mine didn't take out loans and I paid for food ect so that they didn't have debt when they finished. This was not because I am rich but just thought it was better for them. I told them I would fund everything if they stayed at home but if they went away they would need to get loans out as I couldn't afford to fund accommodation. They all chose to stay at home although I was only a couple of miles outside the city with good universities.

OK so yes this was what I was thinking I'd like to do as well. I'll have a think about it. It may depend on if they have a job as well.

We discussed with ds, who is also living at home, for the first year he has only applied for a loan for what he thinks he needs for his own personal expenses while living at home (phone, socialising, lunch, gym, clothes etc). He will cost us less than he does now if he pays for his own personal stuff so we are going to try that out for a year.

As, for us, it is affordable/less than current costs it wouldnt feel right him getting into debt to pay us, but if we couldnt afford it he would need to do that or get a PT job to pay his way

.....when I was at college (hundreds of years ago), I paid my parents digs every week, but this feels different because it is repayable debt rather than the burseries we got back in ye olden days.

In my situation, no. In your situation, yes. I'd also expect them to some housework /cooking too.

I would say 200-300 per month. That would hopefully cover food, bills etc.

I wouldn't call it "rent" as such but just a contribution so you are not out of pocket or struggling.

It's a fraction of what they would pay for independent living but important as a token gesture.

I didn't charge mine anything because they were on minimal loans due to dh income. But if they were getting full finance and I was losing needed CB I'd have asked them to contribute towards the food bill. I wouldn't charge rent as such because my housing cost was the same regardless of whether they were at home or not.

Everyone not just me would be losing Child benefit for one child once they hit 18 though.

I think I will see how things are going cost of living wise in the next year or so, hopefully we could manage or as a pp mentions with them taking out what they need e.g. something for books, bus pass etc and then a part time job for going out money etc.

How much CB and Tax Credit will you be losing? Charge him that.

We have 2 living at home at uni. We don't charge either of them any money. We would prefer than neither of them have any debt by the time they finish uni.

Both have part time jobs earning approx £300/£350 a month.

I've upped my hours to cover any loss in tax credits that we had.

I think you could ask them to contribute as much as you will be short and need to make up. I wouldn't think of it as charging or ask for any more than that, as it doesn't make sense for them to get into debt if the money is not needed. I am guessing they can take less than the full amount if it's not required? They might be able to get a part time job or work in the holidays too.

I’d discourage them from taking the loan, encourage Pt work and ask for a nominal contribution from that if I needed it, otherwise not.

Yes, I think they can take as much as they wish up to the amount allowed.

I'm going to encourage them to in general start saving from e.g. jobs in the next two summers before they start

I don't really understand why you want them to stay at home to save costs, but then also charge them up to £80 a week? That seems a lot and they might as well just go away to a cheap city for uni. One of mine paid £90 including bills in rent last year in an expensive city because she lived a bit further out of the centre, but it was still a student area. Other cities have cheaper accommodation available. Obviously there was food and socialising on top of that, but the difference becomes marginal when you look at the benefits of going away (which I know isn't the point of this thread, that was your other thread).

just a weekly contribution towards food £20 and £10 towards extra showers. But as pp says they would be better just going to uni really.

*showers and other energy

if you need to charge them work out how much . We didn’t need to charge ours and he worked pt throughout uni in his retail job for spends / car etc . We also decided to pay his uni fees upfront so he came out of uni with savings and no debt - he’s always been a good saver . He paid his fees for his post grad qualification out of the bursary he got .

I thought if you took out the loans for tuition fees then you repaid the set amount. In other words you wouldn’t repay more for also taking out the living loans. Unless of course you are a high earner and actually repay the full loan but few people do that. If you don’t need him to contribute towards the household I would encourage him to take out the loan and put it into savings to use towards a house deposit later.

Nothing from a loan. I would expect them to get a job and pay own food and small contribution to utilities. You may need to look at how you increase your own income? I have several staff in work who are ticking time bombs depending on tax credits working part time hours and about to be in for a huge shock when child turns 18.

Thanks for the replies. We'll still get a bit of tax credits as have a younger DC as well. If they do go away to uni then won't have the food costs etc as they will have to take out the loan. Can't really increase income as have health problems, on ESA / PIP...