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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Maintenance grant if household income £76k plus

101 replies

marmiteadict · 11/12/2022 18:55

Just looking into this. Apologies if previously covered.

If a parent has a household income of 76k + would their child qualify for any maintenance loan ? Or would we have to finance the entire 9k ?

Thanks in advance if anyone has experience of this

OP posts:
OddBoots · 11/12/2022 18:59

"You could get a £4,524 Maintenance Loan"

www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator

Original poster
marmiteadict · 11/12/2022 19:00

@OddBoots thank you for the link. Really helpful

OP posts:
dazzlingdeborahrose · 11/12/2022 19:35

The fees if 9k will be paid and you'll get the lower maintenance loan. £4.5kish.

Pieceofpurplesky · 11/12/2022 19:54

It's crazy isn't it. I earn £39k and am a single parent - yet I earn too much for DS to get the full loan - yet every Penny I earn goes on mortgage, bills and travel. I don't have a penny in savings.
He gets nothing from his dad who earns a fortune.

Original poster
marmiteadict · 11/12/2022 20:11

@dazzlingdeborahrose @Pieceofpurplesky

Thank you for replying. It's opened my eyes a bit.

OP posts:
Pieceofpurplesky · 11/12/2022 20:32

Surely it should be based on the kid as they are adults - not what the parents earn!

AvocadoPlant · 11/12/2022 20:43

For uk students living in England, the course fees c 9k are paid direct to the uni so you don’t have to fund this, (but the student has to pay it back), plus there is a sliding scale maintenance loan with a min loan of c £4.5k

caveat: if you’re looking at private unis/colleges eg Buckingham or Arts Ed, then the rules are different.
And if you live outside the UK you may need to pay international fees,
and finally if you’re a uk student living in rUK then the Scottish, Welsh and northern Irish loan arrangements are also different.

TizerorFizz · 11/12/2022 23:38

@AvocadoPlant
No. The student does not have to pay tuition fees back! If they earn below the earnings threshold they pay £0. A SAH parent won’t pay. It’s not a bank loan. It’s a tax on earnings.

No. It cannot be based on an 18 year old’s income. They do not have one. Therefore it must be parents. The student, when they earn money as an adult, pays the tax. They can of course work to help out in term time or in the holidays as they are indeed adults.

AvocadoPlant · 12/12/2022 06:34

@TizerorFizz apologies if I wasn’t clear.
I am assuming that after graduation the student will be earning and therefore will be repaying their loan through the tax system which will include the cost of the course as well as the maintenance loan.

AssumingDirectControl · 12/12/2022 07:05

No. It cannot be based on an 18 year old’s income. They do not have one. Therefore it must be parents. The student, when they earn money as an adult, pays the tax. They can of course work to help out in term time or in the holidays as they are indeed adults.

Its interesting that when I went to university aged 32 I got the full loan based on my own income yet 18 year olds are assessed on their parents income. I’d not have been able to go if I’d been 18 as my parents wouldn’t have paid a penny (and my degree was the sort where you had limited time to work alongside it due to placements)

GatesToTown · 12/12/2022 08:01

@AssumingDirectControl it is based on "household" income not parental so step parents/partners who live in the house get well and truly shafted. This is why lots of us feel that this sort of information about the cost of university should be covered when children start secondary to give parents time to save up or work out another way for a student to go to uni ie live at home or take a gap year and earn the money to support themselves.

@Pieceofpurplesky sadly not. The maintenance loan can often not even cover the cost of accommodation. It depends on the university. First year halls of residence where you may not get a real choice can completely wipe out the loan. Ds's halls of res cost £6k, so that is £1.5k more than the loan and he did need to eat too Grin

Dh and I both went to uni so we knew that we would have to pay to support Ds. I have friends who didn't go to uni and I sent links to them at least 5 years before their children would be going to show them the cost if that was the route their children would take. 18 year olds are adults but the loan system simply cannot afford to fund a full maintenance loan for everyone with the prospect of it either never being paid back in full, taking decades to pay or never being paid toward at all depending on earnings.

Pieceofpurplesky · 12/12/2022 10:14

@GatesToTown DS was the same, luckily he had some savings from working to top up the first year.

It always seems to be the people in the middle that are the ones that cannot afford. Household income of £39k is just not enough, yet it's a pretty good salary.

TizerorFizz · 12/12/2022 10:23

@AssumingDirectControl
Its not surprising at all. It makes sense. No 18 year old has an income. Unless they have a trust fund! So 18 and 32 are not remotely the same! If parents won’t pay up, students work! Why do you think it was any different years ago to now? Parents have been unwilling to pay for many years. Grants and awards were means tested going back generations now. The people with a better household income were always expected to pay. It really doesn’t matter who they are.

Also, I used to work in my LA grants and awards section back in the 80s. Parents (households) paid! My DHs parents refused to cough up in the 70s. He worked all his holidays. There’s a way. Also universities have hardship funds. Everyone has a curb D at 18 but shitty parents have existed for generations. My own DF refused to complete the award forms! Just refused.

PinkFrogss · 12/12/2022 10:33

TizerorFizz · 12/12/2022 10:23

@AssumingDirectControl
Its not surprising at all. It makes sense. No 18 year old has an income. Unless they have a trust fund! So 18 and 32 are not remotely the same! If parents won’t pay up, students work! Why do you think it was any different years ago to now? Parents have been unwilling to pay for many years. Grants and awards were means tested going back generations now. The people with a better household income were always expected to pay. It really doesn’t matter who they are.

Also, I used to work in my LA grants and awards section back in the 80s. Parents (households) paid! My DHs parents refused to cough up in the 70s. He worked all his holidays. There’s a way. Also universities have hardship funds. Everyone has a curb D at 18 but shitty parents have existed for generations. My own DF refused to complete the award forms! Just refused.

What do you mean no 18 year old has an income? Like you said they can work Confused

Plus I think it’s something like age 25 that your loan is based on parental income, 7 years is plenty of time to gain an income.

Not all parents can afford to contribute, that doesn’t make them shit parents

TizerorFizz · 12/12/2022 10:41

They are not working whilst they are doing A levels are they? Just a silly viewpoint. The vast majority of Dc go at 18 straight after A levels. Households and parents have more stable incomes. Of course Dc can delay snd work but why would you? You stand a chance of getting your career underway much faster with a degree. From degree to working fully in her career took DD 7 years. Why on earth should anyone wait?

Parents who have Dc who might want to go to university need to consider how they will help. Do what’s best for your child. Talk about how it will be financed. Single parents who work part time and have a low income find Dc get max loans and bursaries. DHs parents bought a new car and a caravan and refused to pay their share. I’m aware the contribution can seem high but everyone should talk about funding and very few parents (households) cannot afford anything when the assessment says they can.

PinkFrogss · 12/12/2022 10:45

Tbf I do think it would be silly to go off what a student could earn working as it would vary so much anyway.

I don’t however think there would be any harm in a societal shift in not expecting 18 year olds to go to uni straight out of college. For many they only go because they feel they have to/it’s expected/they don’t know what else to do. Normalising having some time to work and figure out what you really want would be no bad thing.

The whole system needs an overhaul really.

AssumingDirectControl · 12/12/2022 10:45

I agree they can and should work, as should older students, but I do think for those students whose degrees are heavily placement based, they need to be able to access loans to top up where needed, as it’s often not possible to work while on placement and still having to submit written work etc. and this is the case regardless of age.

TizerorFizz · 12/12/2022 14:32

I’m not convinced where degrees are based around placements should be degrees at all. They didn’t used to be. We didn’t suffer for that. I agree some DC shouldn’t be at university but I would make other changes.

We have a huge number of universities. They all need bums on seats. Some unis are competitive and others take nearly everyone and have high drop out rates. Therefore I think keep the former polys as universities and the newer 60s universities but take a cold hard look at many of the others. Do they need to be awarding degrees? Would they be better offering day release qualifications as they used to? What do we really need? Are media studies or history grads from the 110th in the league tables going to get grad jobs? Or jobs they could have done at 18?

We have 18,000 law grads each year. We have around 6500 law training posts for them. So why so many in the universities? Even a cull to 13,000 would help. Others could get jobs and study part time. If they do well, get the degree and qualify. No route would be cut off but we just have more and more degrees that don’t lead anywhere much. Then students are dissatisfied, the parents complain about the cost, and everyone thinks the degree isn’t worth it. They are probably right.

titchy · 12/12/2022 17:54

We have 18,000 law grads each year. We have around 6500 law training posts for them. So why so many in the universities?

Don't make the mistake that every law undergrad wants to be a solicitor or barrister.

Are media studies or history grads from the 110th in the league tables going to get grad jobs?

That's de Montfort looking at the CUG. 58% of their Media Studies graduates are in graduate level employment within 15 months of graduating. Reasonable to assume more will end up in grad level employment given a bit longer.

Sorry!

mumsneedwine · 12/12/2022 18:08

@TizerorFizz medicine is based around placements. Should this not be a degree ? 😊

mumsneedwine · 12/12/2022 18:11

And I don't know one person who didn't get a part time job at 16 and work through their A levels until leaving for Uni. Most come back during their holidays to a similar job. Totally normal isn't it ?

titchy · 12/12/2022 18:19

You can't possibly think that 18 year olds olds should have their income assessed for loan purposes though - they'd all qualify for the highest loan, parents would be entirely off the hook and the loan book would quadruple!

mumsneedwine · 12/12/2022 18:28

I have never understood why 18 year old adults are assessed on their parents income. Everyone should get the same loan if they need it. They should not be reliant on parents making up any shortfall - many can't or don't.
My 23 year old in her 5th is still assessed on our income, even though she's at Uni 46 weeks a year so hardly ever 'home'.

mumsneedwine · 12/12/2022 18:29

But, to repay the loans every graduate should pay a 1% extra tax for life.

titchy · 12/12/2022 18:30

mumsneedwine · 12/12/2022 18:08

@TizerorFizz medicine is based around placements. Should this not be a degree ? 😊

Medicine is an approved apprenticeship, though no providers yet Wink