So, how the hell do you afford uni for your kids?

[F0XCUB88]

Just been looking at prices for accommodation, £200 per week!

So looked at Money Saving Expert to see how much we need to contribute on top of loans. It says we need to save £358 per month.

We earn £50,000 between us, mortgage payment just went up by £££ and now can't actually get to the end of the month so how do we save £358?

Do we just say no she can't go? What do other people do?

I know it's a first world problem but she's really bright. Neither of us went to uni and finding it all a bit confusing. I just can't see that everyone else can afford it?

@boys3 it doesnt surprise me that so many London domiciled students attend London universities. It must be a lot easier to commute compared to other areas. Also a huge choice of universities.

My county has no RG universities, we have one university with a very limited course offering.

Once outside of London, student choice is very limited if they are only able to go to their local university - if they have one. Our local university is 1.5 hours away by bus, not because we live in the middle of nowhere but because of poor public transport.

I'm not sure whether this has been mentioned, OP. Please just ignore if it has.

Where I work, on-campus accommodation can be got for just the duration of the three x 10-week terms (though students can arrange to stay longer if they wish to).

Although it's true that off-campus accommodation is often cheaper on a weekly basis, students tell me that they sometimes have to take that accommodation for a whole year rather than just the 30 weeks. I know I did when I was a student about 100 years ago.

So, on-campus in halls can actually work out cheaper in the long-term. It's just something to bear in mind as you juggle the figures.

And as others have said, don't feel bad. You're clearly doing your best, and the cost of everything has just rocketed. That's not your fault.

@LanaDelRabies thank you.

My son is currently in uni. We dont contribute to him, apart from a food shop here and there when he comes home to visit. My son and his uni mates all have jobs, and that is how he manages.

does he get the full maintenance loan or the minimum maintenance loan or somewhere in-between, out of interest?

You don't afford it. Your kids do. They take out student loans, they work, they take a year out (or two), they work the holidays, or get uni fees paid via an apprenticeship while they earn.

The system is now set up for parents to be expected to make up the shortfall

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loan-parental-contribution-tool/guide/

What a ridiculous statement!

No hey have gone to uni, they still socialise, hang out at the halls and their friends flats, they still go to the union, nights out, crash at their friends, attend lectures, sit exams and ds has graduated this year.

they only things they don’t do are cook their own meals and pay astronomical prices to live in a shared flat or halls.

no matter whether a teen lives away from home to go to uni or they live at home to go to uni, the out come of graduating is still the same!

@Shinyandnew1 The system has always been with an expectation that parents contribute.

I went to university in the 80s. I came from a fsm household so my family didn't contribute at all, but my wealthier friends all received reduced grants and their parents were supposed to make up the shortfall.

This was before student loans existed, banks wouldn't lend to students because they didn't have an income.

Many parents cut back, economised, took loans or another job etc. to find the money

I’ve took 2 jobs to help - it’s been a massive struggle. No we didn’t expect my child to work part-time as the degree subject was full on and very in depth . We’ve been repaid a thousand times over as they’ve just graduated with a first and basically set for life in a very worthwhile profession - I feel as parents we’ve done the best we can to help facilitate that. They have massive student debt which will take years to repay on top of large tax bills but at least they have choices going forward. My husband had moaned and groaned (putting it nicely) for the past few years about the cost of it all but stood there as proud as punch at the graduation ceremony 2 weeks ago.

@MintJulia I went to uni in 1994. I've just checked and student loans were introduced a couple of years before but take up was initially only from around a quarter of students.

As the fees were covered by the government, there was 'only' maintenance to cover, so I guess there was more incentive for parents to help in order to prevent their children getting into debt. I didn't qualify for a grant, but I don't remember a loan ever being suggested - my parents paid for accommodation and living costs, although I also worked too.

I think once tuition fees of £9k were introduced, lots more parents knew they couldn't afford that, as well as the maintenance, so taking loans became the norm. And then people assumed that a loan system meant everyone was entitled to the same (I think the original student loans were available to all, not means tested?), which is logical.

Yes, to begin with, in the early 1990s there was a mix of maintenance grant and a maintenance loan. The maintenance grant had been more than enough to live on and as students could sign on for unemployment and housing benefit in the holidays they were financially ok. When the grant/loan mix started the grant was frozen and the benefits had been stopped.

I was in HE at this time and didn’t take a loan out as we were all petrified of it. I managed on the maintenance grant, which was means tested. It might not have been a long time prior to this, but early 1990s it was. I worked in the holidays and was proper student skint.

I'm surprised that parental contributions are not enforced in the UK. In Germany and the US, loans and grants are based on parents earnings, and if parents don't make up the expected shortfall, they can be taken to court, either by their dcs or by the university. Of course children don't like to take their parents to court, but it often happens, especially if a parent who has left the family, often the father, doesn't want to make the required contribution. On the flip side, in Germany children are liable for their parents care costs, too, so if parents can't afford the full care costs, children need to make up the shortfall depending on their income, and if they refuse, they will get a court order or in extremis are sent to prison. With regards to care and nursing home, or even hospital costs, it doesn't natter whether the parents sues or not, the state will start proceedings to get the money straight away.

@NellyBarney in that case one hopes tgst the court will look at the parents’ DISPOSABLE income. The big problem with our system
is that it’s a very blunt tool - no cognisance is taken of family outgoings, costs related to other children not resident at the family home etc etc

The problem, as has been said above is that parents who haven’t looked at the current system assume everyone is eligible for the maintenance loan. After all, in the rest of the world you are more likely to get approved for a loan if you have more money. It’s therefore a logical assumption.

The paperwork sent out with the loan information does specify the amount the parents are expected to contribute. But nobody forces them to do this. Personally I think that in such a case the student should either live at home or defer for a year and work to get the money they need rather than to go and to struggle to get by but that mentality hasn’t filtered through properly yet. I think it will become far more commonplace to live at home and go to a local uni.

I honestly can’t see how enforcing parental contribution would work.
If you can’t pay, you can’t pay.
Outgoings, number of children at Uni aren’t taken into account.
Twins at Uni in London on minimum loan it’s an expected parent contribution of nearly £14,000 a year from net.
It’s assessed on household income but for example mum’s boyfriend who has just moved in has no legal obligation to pay towards an adult he’s not related to.
Whole issue of child maintenance stopping at 18 and none resident parent not being required to pay. So mum teen lives with taken to court as she can’t afford it as she’s paying mortgage and childcare for younger siblings but wealthy ex gets off scot free.
Plus whole can of worms of contributions differing depending if live at home, away or London. Parents have no say in where an adult chooses to go. Lots may be able and willing to fund Iive at home but not live away contribution. Mum could easily provide evidence to court that son could live at home and study at local college but it’s his choice to go to a London uni - on paper it’s same degree. Parents have no say if they want them to defer to give them chance to save contribution. A teen can suddenly decide after A levels they are going to Uni through clearing despite being adamant they were never going. Finding thousands at 11th hour isn’t realistic for most people.
It’s a bizarre situation at minute where it’s definitely not filtered through that most can’t borrow full maintenance loan and how little minimum loan is compared to accommodation costs. Saving for ‘college’ from birth isn’t norm.

@Dixiechickonhols yes, I wouldn't advocate that UK parents become liable, to the degree of a court order, for university costs as is the case in other countries (and no, outgoings are not considered, only income - there is reasonable allowance for necessary mortgage or rent costs, but a court would decide that a 4 bed in London is not necessary and expect you to move to a 2 bed in Basingstoke, for example, to afford the costs - the same is what courts would expect children to do when it comes to pick up the care bills). But I do think the fact that parents are expected to contribute but are not liable leaves many pupils in an awful situation. If parents are not liable, then everyone should have access to maximum maintenance loans, and every university should allow part time work (Oxfprd and Cambridge categorically prohibit any work during term).

UK parents

@NellyBarney I think you mean English,Scottish and Norther Irish. The maintenance funding is very different for Wales.

Another big issue is that the income thresholds have not changed since…..2008 (?).

If she wants to do computer science, there are routes other than university that can lead to a good job. We often recruit from providers like Maker's Academy (https://makers.tech/) . They do apprenticeships which pay 25k from Day 1. The training is very practical compared to university which is a bit more theoretical. She can always get a degree later on if she feels it's holding her back not having one.

Option 2 is you should get a loan of 6k a year. Student bank accounts give interest free overdraft of 1k per year. If you can tide over an extra 1k for the 1st year, there are also lots of well paid placement jobs for comp sci grads during the holidays. They seem to pay about 4k for a summer's work which would see her through next year. Remember your expenses (energy, food, clothes, entertainment, phone, school stuff etc) will all go down as well.

@mellicauli This gives me hope because I did a bootcamp with purple beard in front end but then dh died of cancer so I had to look after him and then grieve & I need to start applying.

I know others on my course have jobs now and they didn’t have CS degrees. Some people lost interest at JavaScript & React so they don’t seem to have changed careers.