Probably a dumb question - but where do you find the money from to support your student DC?

[Wowzers71]

Hi

Eldest DD is 17 and will likely be heading to uni in Autumn 2023 (assuming she doesn't stuff up her exams). I'm only now starting to get my head round how the finances of this might work. DH and I earn over £65k a year so DD would only get the minimum loan, and having had a wee look on several threads about money on here it sounds like many of you are paying around £600 a month on accommodation for your DC. That seems like a lot of money!
So how do you afford it? Are we just rubbish with money? I just can't think that we will be able to drop £600 a month without really tightening our belts. And we've got a younger DD too, so there's no way I'd be able to support them both. Am I missing something? Or should I brace myself for "the porridge years...."?

Just saved for years in case that's what they wanted to do, paying for two at the moment so it's a lot of money.

DD is 11 and I have enough saved now for two years. It's bloody expensive so we planned.

We are also the type of family where the grandparents buy cheap presents and put money away instead. They want her to remember them at uni as they are older . and think they won't be here to see her graduate.

My dd is living at home while at uni. Last year was mainly online due to covid so she was barely on there more than 1 afternoon per week. She can travel there by train

Thanks for the replies - interesting. We have actually saved for both the kids, but I was hoping they could use that money to put towards a deposit for a flat or something. I think I was being naive!

We don't have enough saved to totally cover them for uni, but it could help of course.

I think maybe the way I'd read other posters comments on mumsnet made me think they were all just paying for their kids each month out of household income (and of course they might be) but I didn't really think that they money was coming out of savings.

I'm in the US where uni is much more expensive and we have both kids attending now. We've been saving in a tax-advantaged education accounts for them since they were toddlers.

Fortunately DS graduates next month, then we'll be down to one.

Some of us do have enough disposable income. We've been mortgage free for over 10 years, we have a good income and only had one child. They take the minimum loan each year and we pay their accommodation costs. Next year that will be around £700pm.

We saved for both children. Both Dh and I went to uni and had very different experiences finances wise, I struggled with no help from my parents who genuinely could not afford it and took out student loans, Dh had a full ride from parents who had saved up for him plus generous grandparents. I came out with debt, he came out with none.

We knew it would cost us but not quite what it has but saved for both our children. Ds1 is in his first year at uni, gets minimum loan. We top him up to the full maintenance loan amount which is more than generous. It is £5k per year over 30 weeks so no, we could not afford that out of monthly household income. His accommodation isn't covered by the loan (£6.3k). No choice on cost as he is at Durham where it is a set amount for halls of residence. But he chose that uni knowing the costs.

If we couldn't afford it he would have to look at either living at home, taking a gap year and working or working whilst at uni. MN is not the norm, most students will struggle financially and either work (I think the figure is 60% of them work) and they use their overdrafts too. Not all students are off drinking and partying and having an expensive brunch on a Sunday.

Don't forget you might have done well with a Child Tax Fund. We didn't pay any extra money into Ds's so just the initial £250 and he definitely got well over £1k.

We pay from income.

we have a joint income of £65-70k per year. We began saving in ISA’s when the kids were little, we were on a lot less back then but over 15 years we’ve managed to save £30k. We also overpaid our mortgage & have now paid that off. We last went on holiday abroad in 2014!

Next year is going to be difficult as we will have two studying. We calculated our parental contribution is meant to be about £5.5k per year per child! (More for Dd as she’s in London).

We don't earn anywhere near what you do so dd got enough to just about pay her rent each year.
She then worked lots in the summer before starting uni and this gave her enough to live off.
She's just about to finish her second year and so far we've not had to give her any money.
They can earn before they start uni and then get a job whilst there to help.

Saved for both of mine since they were small. All cash birthday gifts they had were also put into their college account. The savings just about paid for their rent when the time came. Both of mine lived in halls in the first year, then moved into much cheaper student houses for the last two years. It would have been impossible without having put money away all of those years.

I think a lot of parents have their head in the sand when it comes to uni. Most of us who went to uni ourselves were lucky enough to go when student finance was better. I was the first in my family to go to uni. My parents had no clue and did not have the resources to help me anyway. My grant and my summer jobs just about covered my costs. There is absolutely no way I would have been able to go to uni under the current system.

We've paid extra each month into DC's Child Trust Funds since they were born. We're very average earners (teacher and NHS) and sometimes really struggled to do it, but made it a priority. I really struggled when we divorced as I kept on the house, but I tutored many nights to make sure money was going in still.

DS1 is off to Uni in September and knows that his money (which he gets at 18, so v soon) will be used for his accomodation. He'll get the minimum loan which should tide him over as well as a part-time job.

If DS2 and DS3 don't go to university they can use their money as they see fit (travel/ house deposit). This keeps it all totally fair.

Ds1 has £20k in an isa which we put money in since birth
He got control of it last year
He chose a local University and to take the minimum maintenance loan rather than spend these savings
He drives in
1st term it was only 4 hours f2f
Currently it's more like 10 hours f2f
It's working out OK so far
Ds2 will have the same at 18 - not sure if He will go to University though

Thank you so much - its really helpful to hear from people with different experiences. I should say that we also saved into the Child Trust Fund so the kids will have that - think it will be around £10k or so, which is obviously a huge help. Also, although we now earn over £65k a year that is a very recent development, for much of the children's lives our joint income has been far less than that, so we've not been able to save as much as I'd have liked.

It's interesting to hear from folk who are paying from income. We'll definitely be able to partially support our DDs from the family income, but we won't be able to afford all of the costs.

I do know we are in a better position than many people, and I do feel very fortunate. I think I've been quiet naive about the costs of being a student - at least we've got 18 months or so before we have to really deal with it!

We didn’t save specifically for uni for our kids but we didn’t do expensive things / holidays/ move to a bigger house with bigger bills as we thought it potentially might be on the horizon and were worried how to pay for it. So I guess we did save in a way.
We dont give Dd any extra on top of the max loan amount. We top her loan up to the maximum student maintenance loan amount per year. So- She gets the minimum amount (£4422) and we give her £5066 on top to make it up to £9488. We divide our amount into 3 and give it to her termly just before her loan comes in and she is due to pay for her accommodation and food for the term.That’s £1.68k every term from us . She is left with just over £2k per year when accommodation and food is paid for.
She has budgeted so knows her weekly limit and has been ok this year. She is not extravagant.
Next year, her accommodation is about the same amount ..but without food! She looked for cheaper rents but there weren’t many about . She worked last summer to have extra funds and will have to do the same this summer too. We pay her phone and she’s looking at coach rather than rail fares next year for trips home/ to see friends. We will drop her off and pick her up at beginning and end of year.
It is a little cheaper not having her at home I think ( although certainly not that much cheaper !) …as obviously everything we were paying for her before (school lunches, trips, clothes, extra curricular/club fees , pocket money etc ) have stopped and she is now buying all her own stuff or relying on birthday money/ gifts to get it!

Do research accommodation costs at unis your Dd is interested in . DD’s city is expensive enough - she did not even consider going to a London uni.

You probably won't need to give that much - £400 a month for 10 months will probably cover everything. Make sure they don't opt for the most expensive halls! We can afford that out of monthly income now, but I did do matched betting a few years back which helped enormously, so if you have a side hustle that can help.

We just pay out of our current income, but I don't think it costs us much more than when she was at home? We also only receive the minimum loan. Fortunately DD's accommodation is only slightly more than the loan (mainly because it is term time only), so that is basically covered. Other costs: food, clothes, going out, travel etc haven't really changed very much. Either we were paying for them already (most of it!) or she was paying for them with a bit of part-time work, which she still does (except now it tends to be holiday work rather than weekend work). So provided your accommodation is not too expensive, it isn't really an issue.

I think they have to get a job while at uni now, to make it doable.

We only have one child and have no mortgage, so can afford to pay ds' rent out of income. He has savings (mainly birthday money etc) which he is living on day to day and is now looking for a job as well (he's in his first year).

He has other savings in a child trust fund but I hope he can use them as the makings of a house deposit.

He took the tuition fee loan.

We have saved/put away money for ds since he was very small that was going to be for uni/house deposit.

Now we are here. Ds starts uni this year, financially this year will be OK, the uni that was his first choice is commutable and he has decided to stay at home. We will house/feed him in 1st year, and he is trying to find a PT job for his own spending without taking a maintenance loan. We will review each year what he wants to do and how to fund it, if he wants to move out it will be much harder and will need to dip into the savings.

Our twins will go in Sept, we will fund from income but have cut back in other areas to be able to do so. Their CTF is set aside in a LISA for house deposit.

as obviously everything we were paying for her before (school lunches, trips, clothes, extra curricular/club fees , pocket money etc ) have stopped

See, I think that all that (plus regular food costs) actually adds up to quite a lot! If you are now giving her 5000 per year, that's only 100 a week. The stuff you have mentioned could easily get close to that, depending on what sort of activities, social stuff you were paying for. The only new cost really is the accommodation, and in many (not all) cases the loan covers that, or close.

@mast0650 exactly this! I worked out that with phones, clothing, college transport and lunches, hobbies, driving lessons etc it will only cost us another £200 a month, and we'll get that back on the food and electricity bills!

Stufentz who get the full loan are often able to get a busary from the university as well. The poorest students on paper are not the poorest when they are actually there if they choose cheaper accommodation. So the poorest can always afford to go.

The students who find it most difficult financially are those whose parents cannot pay their contribution. This, of course, was always the case. Parents decide not to, as in DHs case, and in our family with my DF refusing to declare an income. It’s not unusual for students to work and holiday witk is often best.

No student should stay at home for an inferior university. Although posters have money for cars for their student DC! That’s not poor in my book. It’s a lifestyle choice.

I do think parents need to think about this a lot earlier. It’s hardly new that there are student loans. Plus they are not debts. Plenty of students never pay them back which is why the rules are being changed.

Will they have a part time job? Or work and save up before they go?
To chip in a bit.

At one stage I had 4 dds (triplets) at university at the same time, ( now down to two). I had to save from birth. We can do it but it has been tough and dds have always worked in their hols.