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...."?

My son will not go to uni but my daughter will. She's in lower 6th now. Her first year will be an art foundation and will live at home and there's no tuition. After that uni, maybe even four years if she does a year abroad.
She's in private school now and I figure the amount I'll save from not paying school fees (about £22k/year) or first year costs will help a lot - I'll be losing income from another source and I'm a widow so will also be losing my widows benefit when she turns 18 (it's a not insignificant £6000/year based on my late husband's pension) but we will manage. I expect her to get a job over the long breaks to subsidise too.
A friend's son has taken a gap year and working at Sainsburys since last summer has banked £11,000 and counting. He's hoping that means he won't have to take a job in term time, which I had to when I was at uni (as did most of my friends).

@BalladOfBarryAndFreda would you say the overall cost of university is roughly comparable to school fees? I've been looking forward to not paying them but I have a horrible feeling we'll be spending much the same amount if we cover all costs. Trying to decide on a loans/ finance strategy also!

We had sharesaves from our workplace and put money in them over the years for large purchases and topping up DS student loan, he also worked at a supermarket and stayed in his uni city in the holidays and worked practically full time at the supermarket during them, he picked up lots of extra shifts when other students left or went home for the holidays

Dd works one shift a week (8am-4pm) in a cafe where she’s paid £10 per hour. She coaches at a school where she’s paid £15 per hour. She worked for 8 weeks last summer. We give her an allowance but she makes a lot of money herself.

I guess it depends on how much you are spending on school fees and how much you’ll be contributing to university costs. Our school fees were pretty average day school fees, (we paid termly but it averaged out at around £1100 ish a month per kid). University wise, we paid/pay for accommodation, mobile phone and a small monthly stipend which means that they didn’t/don’t have to spend every spare non-study minute working and could have a better balance whilst not totally being funded by BoM&D. Overall (for us), it’s cheaper at university.

@CloudPop All of the kids had/have student loans for their tuition fees though. We covered everything else, with them working to top up for beer and clubbing money

We've saved since the DC were born but it is less than the boarding fees we've been paying - like Xenia above I chose a high paying (but boring....) career and made sure I insured my income so that when I was unable to work the insurance still paid me. I realise I'm lucky though.

There are things you/they can do - both you and DC could look at the £10 a day thread and see if there is anything on there that you could do - DD2 has just started doing Angelfish and Prolific surveys and has made about £400 so far that way. She also buys stuff in the (very cheap) charity shops in the posh town near her school and sells at a profit on ebay and Depop. I also earn about £3kpa from renting out my drive on one of the parking apps - easier for me as I'm in London in a controlled parking area. DC1 is a music student and teaches one evening a week at £35 an hour. One of her friends is an art foundation student and makes jewellery and sells via facebook and other places and does well out of it (although it is a bit seasonal). Most of her raw materials are free via freecycle and she charges £20 ish an item. If they can work out a way of earning at more than the minimum wage it really helps as it cuts down the number of hours they need to work.

Most important though is to teach them about money and budgeting before they go especially how to shop/cook well on a budget. Jack Munroe is a good place to start as she shows how to cost a recipe. Teach them how to cook meals that create leftovers that can make a couple more meals

Those are great tips, @londonmummy1966 .

Ds works while at uni and also has a holiday job when at home, we top up from our income. It does add up but we manage. It has been a huge help that he works though as he has more control of his money and we can cover essentials only. We also pay for his phone and car insurance.

My parents paid my hall costs
Student loan
Then I worked evenings in a local pub. Also weekends and holidays so paid my own food/drink/socialising and clothes/car insurance etc

All 3 of mine get/got minimum loans. They had small CTF pots, but have to work holidays or PT while at uni to top up their income.
We put £75/month into their bank and pay for train tickets when they come home. We don't have hundreds, let alone thousands of pounds of leftover salary each month to support them with more.
Both DH & I had student loans & no parental financial support, so have experience ourselves of this.
Making sure your DC can cook from scratch is essential. My eldest is a great cook, so would cook for the whole house - everyone contributed £ and he ate for free as the cook!

Just remembered, this is a stage where they need to become less dependent on you, if you pay for everything & more, they'll assume this is how it might also work post uni & beyond.

Currently saving for dds (both in primary school) in case I can’t afford it from income. Student loans costs are skyrocketing and I would prefer that dds have the option not to take them out. Government have already broken promises on student loans, I foresee the situation getting worse

Surely your child can get a job and fund herself?

Well I for one prefer mine to focus on their studies rather than working,particularly in term time

Mine manage to study and get the grades. And do paid work. And do sports and Societies. And have a banging social life. It's amazing what you can fit in when you have to.

For the poster who said why would you be aware of student finance unless you have friends with older DC..... if you or your partner went to university or you have watched the news or taken an interest in your kids education- you would have known that it costs something to send kids to university.

It's a little different if you don't think it's your job to support your kids in education at university. But then this is something that the kids should be made aware of.

Also why do some posters (not necessarily those on this page) think that the government should fund their kids further education? It bothers me that the majority of students loans will no be repaid.

Choose a uni close to home and they can continue living with you.

If they want to live away they'll probably need to get a part time job to help with the costs.

Also when talking about hefty mortgages and other kids- aren't these your choice? Why didn't you take contributions to your DC further education when making life choices?

As for OP original question I knew before DC1 was born that we will need to pay for Uni education so we purposely planned out DC to only have max two at Uni at one time (yes I know this can't really be planned but we tried). Our kids education is no 1 in our list of priorities so in all our life decisions , the cost of this was factored in first.

However I should say we got lucky as we worked abroad for several years in a country where you don't pay income tax and saved saved and saved .

@Senua, I get your point and that it was a comeback to the other poster’s rather smug remark but some kids don’t manage to do all of those things that yours do. Some really crack under this sudden pressure to be financially responsible, academically on top of things AND still have a great student experience. As a parent, if you can ease their transition into adulthood a little by way of financial help, then it’s only natural to want to, no?

Some of these answers demonstrate with crystal clarity as to why there is a lack of social mobility in the UK. Those with parents who are able and willing to support them through university choose their institution based on the best course/prospects their their grades allow. Others have to simply settle for whatever is the cheapest/most local regardless of quality.

It's very sad, the system needs an overhaul.

We saved from birth to afford it, they have tuition loans and minimum maintenance loans

We paid out of household income but that was £300 rent not £600. We live in Leeds and she stayed in Leeds.

All the DC I know at Uni also work, at least in the holidays and are expected to save some of that to contribute to their living costs while away.

Alevels are finished by end of June and Uni term doesn't start until mid Sep? That's c. 3 months' wages to put by.

As a parent, if you can ease their transition into adulthood a little by way of financial help, then it’s only natural to want to, no?
I eased their transition into adulthood by making it not-a-shock when they got to University. I set them up so they didn't need so much financial help: they knew about the world of work (and had a nest egg saved, courtesy of it), they could self-cater, they could budget...
I gave them bits of money here and there as a treat but I didn't give them regular pocket money.