Students to lose out on £1500 as maintenance loans fail to keep up with inflation

[boys3]

Not quite another how long is a piece of string how much does it cost to support a DC at uni, but rather a reflection on the cost of living impacts on students. And a recognition that things have changed - and not for the better - since my DCs have been through uni, with the youngest mid-way through his undergrad years.

The click-bait thread title is from the Russell Group

www.russellgroup.ac.uk/news/students-to-lose-out-on-1500-as-maintenance-loans-fail-to-keep-up-with-inflation/

I'm not the RG's biggest fan, but credit where credit is due I suppose. Although it follows an IFS report from before Christmas on the same subject ifs.org.uk/news/cost-living-crisis-hit-students-harder-expected

Also in the news today www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jan/09/students-at-university-of-manchester-on-rent-strike-over-cost-of-living-crisis suffice to say journalistic standards at the Graun still have plenty of scope for improvement (although arguably no worse than the DT side of the coin).

Bottom line maintenance loans and perhaps more pertinently the thresholds have not kept pace with living costs. I did not realise that the threshold for the maximum maintenance loan entitlement has not changed since 2008. £25k would be around £37k today, and the £62k upper limit beyond which only the minimum maintenance loan is available would be more like £90k (caveat I've not checked how the upper threshold has / has not changed over the years).

The House of Commons library produced a quite detailed background report last year - and before inflation really took off - on maintenance support. Again hardly uplifting.

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00916/SN00916.pdf

I just can't bring myself to get worked up about this when compared to families, young professionals, disabled people struggling down to inflation. Students have the choice to work PT on top of their loans.

Yes this is a real issue, and of course the worst affected are students from poorer backgrounds. Students are big contributors to local economic activity and this will really impact many workers who support/supply student communities.

Altogether crap

Students have the choice to work PT on top of their loans
Many students already are working, what will happen is poorer students or students with disabilities/families/other expenses will drop out. This will impact their lives forever.

So students from wealthier families get to choose their degree according to what is best for them, and students from less well off families get to choose a degree according to the cost of local accommodation, the availability of part-time work, and whether the degree can be fitted around part-time work. That's something I can bring myself to get worked up about (even though my own DC were in the happy position of being able to choose their degrees according to what they wanted to do).

@watchfulwishes
Poor families qualify for the maximum loan for students and they are better off than students whose families who have to make up the difference between the loan and actual costs, but fail to do do. Poor students get the full loan and no top up is expected. They can often get bursaries too and lower offers for courses depending where they live or go to school. It’s the students whose parents don’t cough up that have the biggest issues. The full loan is enough to pay for halls and live a bit. Especially with a bursary on top which can be £2000.

Poor students actually have the widest choice. In fact they are very well off at Oxbridge!

I agree that students with parents who aren't on a very low income, but who don't provide any financial support, can end up with a particularly raw deal. I believe that the student finance system in Wales provides all students with the "maximum" amount, and that the only difference household income makes is that students from lower income households get a higher proportion of the total as grant rather than loan. I think that's a much better system.

You do know lots of students are single parents, disabled people, etc. why do students uniquely not deserve your sympathy despite the fact they’re generally not even entitled to benefits but loans they have to pay back. Why can students so easily work enough to support themselves if people on UC can’t?

The loan often doesn’t cover rent and students don’t get benefits in summer. Depends on the location but many students are really struggling

The full loan really does cover rent. £9706 if not living with parents. Over £12,500 in London. Unless students are living in the Ritz, this money does cover accommodation. It’s easy enough to find at circa £6-7000 pa. Rents up to £150 per week for 52 weeks are affordable too and available.

At home for the holidays it might be necessary to have a job. Why should students get benefits? They are adults who can work.

@TizerorFizz not true that poor students have the widest choice. Rich students with supportive parents have the widest choice. I also think you may a bit a bit out of touch with how much student rents cost these days. You are not going to be left with much loose change from £9,706 if you are looking at rents in Exeter, Durham, Edinburgh or St Andrews to name but a few.

Well, the maintenance loan has never really been enough on its own; students whose parents couldn't afford to top them up always had to work. So now this is creating a bigger gap.

Students pay back their loans. It's not free money, though it costs the government something.

@IngridIceberg
I was deliberately keeping the rich student as a separate being. I compared the poor student with the student of the majority of parents who don’t find it easy to pay their share. Plenty of these parents don’t pay what they should. For all sorts of reasons. There are student rents in all cities, for less then £9700 pa. Even London! The student on a full loan and possibly a bursary is better off than a student whose parents are not paying their share. It’s well known this is the case. The poorer student often doesn’t go to expensive cities. They go where their money goes further and have holidays and don’t work. My own family members do this.

@TizerorFizz I agree it is a problem if there is a funding gap for over the loan threshold but parents who can't or won't fund the gap. It must be a very difficult situation for these DC and often for their families too. However, I don't believe that you can see the whole picture by setting aside the financially secure as a separate group, unless we believe that some universities should be accessible to them but not to other just as clever DC. I don't subscribe to this. That would be saying that it is okay that very academic but poorer children should be excluded from universities like Durham, Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and St Andrews just because they can't afford to live there. It shouldn't be a case of just go where your money goes further. It should be that these DC go to the best course at the best university they can and that funding should be available. There is so much money wasted by students doing pretty useless courses that are taking them nowhere and taking loans that they will never pay back. If that allocation of loans issue were addressed, then there would be more money to help true social mobility. The accommodation situation in Durham (bulge years impact) has been shocking this year, with students waiting in estate agent queues to try to secure accommodation. Edinburgh, Bristol and Exeter are not much better and St Andrews has always been tricky. It is not simply a case of downgrading your accommodation expectations and finding something less salubrious now. It is paying lots of money to secure anything at all.

The full loan does cover basic accommodation, food etc for term times. My dd is currently spending around £7500 per year. But she doesn't go out socialising (autistic)

@IngridIceberg
Im separating out people who buy flats for Dc or give them £1000 a month! Not the average parent. Not the average student who takes the loan. The cities you mention are expensive to live in but those universities have money for bursaries. All students can afford to study there. The loan is for term time. If it’s not enough it’s possible to work and many students do. It’s been the case for a king time that some cities cost more than Others.

Just take a look at threads on here where parents are not paying up.
The worst off students are not those with the poorest parents. Those students get full student loan plus bursary (as long as they chose a uni that offers bursaries, and some are very generous).

The worst off are the ones where the parents think they don't have to contribute, or that chucking them £50 a month is adequate

The issue for ordinary parents is that income thresholds haven't risen in line with inflation, resulting in parents who are struggling to keep afloat being expected to pay hundreds a month from net income that doesn't go anything like as far as it used to. This means that many students from these families are losing out, at a time when rents and utilities are sky high in lots of university towns. Not all students are fit neurotypical city-dwellers with a great choice of vacation employment available to them either.

I would agree, except having read thread after thread here, parents refuse to accept that their expected contribution is built in. They just don't want to pay, don't think they have to, want to think they are being generous by giving some half-arsed contribution towards food etc.
At least say ... we just can't afford it ... you have to wait to go to uni til you are financially separate from us. But that would make them feel bad. Better to blame the child for being unable to manage on half a pittance

@ArcticSkewer
I agree. Frugal students on MN threads boggle my mind.

I live in the country and no buses here. We have to be self sufficient regarding transport. Plenty of Dc here did find work though but they are supported by their parents. I definitely think the lower income, but not low enough, families struggle most. However if you know that’s you, it’s really a case of discussing this with Dc. Also in the countryside, living at home is a bit of a non starter. We have one within possible commuting distance. It in the bottom 10% of the league tables.

Increase in the 2023/24 rates announced by DoE.

up 2.8%

whilst my DC are in a more fortunate financial position for many students dependent on maintenance loans 2.8% is not great news.

If will be ok for those who are risk averse and don’t want to borrow more. Parents will have to find the top up. It might push some students into apprenticeships or staying at home if in a city. It’s people in the countryside who have less choice.

In case anyone's still concerned about this – whether that be how it affects your child, or the increased financial burden on you – we've started a petition which we've explained here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/4741904-petition-increase-student-loans-in-england-to-match-inflation