I got married and it's impacted on DS loan

[mumzof4x]

So I had 4 dc all with their biological father
Divorced after 25 years
I have worked incredibly hard since . Built up my career on. my own and seen one through uni now teaching / one several years into medicine and ds on year 4 at uni
Their biological father has never contributed one single penny and it nearly broke me but it was worth it. They are great kids and I'm so proud I could do that for them.
I met a man a few years ago and with their blessing we married recently.
Admittedly he's helped dd with her medicine sometimes but that's because he wanted to not needed to
DS put that I am now married on his student finance this year because I am but dh is not his father
He's really upset because he's got £4K for the entire year
I've just finally reduced my hours a bit because dd has additional needs and I need tk be here a bit more
All the other dc always got the max amount they needed which helped tbh . I still had to top them up but not like this
DS got the max the last two years amd all that's changed is I got married
This year has been a struggle as his internship in Oxford overlapped with his final year at uni elsewhere and is costing £3k in double rent
His bills and rent at uni this year are 800 a month and he will have 400 at most
That means I will have to find £600 a month.
We are just buying our first house together and this means we now cannot
I had no idea they would expect my husband to financially support him ? Apparently he had to provide his NI number so they will his salary details and everything
I would have waited until he'd finished uni and never married but it just seemed the right time
Would there be any chance of an appeal? I feel so bad because on my own I have always provided for them and now this.
Any advice would be much appreciated and thank you .

It’s a shit system. As always middle class gets crushed.

10% extra tax for the rest of your working life for a 4K a year loan 🤣

Its comical. And sadly mine was similar. Last time I checked now about 60/70k and that was 4 years ago 😭

Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s near a 100k now. All income to a private company. Criminal.

If your son did not understand this simple question when applying in previous years I’d query whether he should be doing a degree at all.

If they have ANY sort of relationship with their dad, I would encourage them to 'flip' addresses for the purpose of the student loan. It's a benefit of having divorced parents - you can give the address of either parent on the loan form. It's not a problem at all.

Otherwise, yes, you and your husband have to contribute. It's been that way for many years now.

I agree. If DS has had more money than he's entitled to because he gave wrong information, you'll want to think very carefully about whether it's in his interests to have this looked at more closely.

Cases like this make me feel sorry for the politicians (no, really) and civil servants who have to draft policy that simultaneously:

• is seen to be fair to all
• takes into account that most better-off people will help their kids
• can help those kids from better-off homes who don't get help
• gets money to people from low-income backgrounds who need it
• can't be abused by CFs
• doesn't involve massive invasions of everyone's privacy
• keeps the party conference onside
• keeps the tabloids onside

Basically, it's impossible. There will always be circumstances where someone falls through a gap, and the ones who don't fall through any gaps don't go online to post about it. My sympathies OP, but life is sometimes unfair and government support systems are necessarily imperfect.

Ah, just seen the wording: looks like they have changed it now. It used to be the case that you would basically choose the lowest income parent.

You and your husband will need to pay then. It's very depressing, I know, having to up hours at work once they have LEFT home to support them, but that's how is it now. This is a matter for you and your husband to sort out between you.

* but he is not my son's father he barely knows him? How's that's okay.
It is my own fault i guess I am so independent now it never crossed my mind that getting married would mean dh was financially responsible for my adult children*

how does your son barely know his own step father ? How long have you been living together ?

This absolutely. It has meant that the children of anyone earning of 1 income of NMW can't afford Uni. Madness.

Yes they should have a full loan especially since it is now essentially a graduate tax. Why should someone who isn't the adults parent be expected to pay for them?

To be fair the student is an adult the loan should be a set amount for everyone or be based on actual cost I.e catered halls of residence + £400 spending money per term.

It really annoys me that child maintenance from NRP stops being compulsory at 18, but as a student over that age its expected that the RP will financially support.

Wales has a better system, everyone gets the maximum maintenance loan, but lower income families get some of ot as a grant rather than a loan.

The children of a one-income household on NMW at 40 hours/week would get full loans.

You could do what my parents did and not contribute a penny, even though because of their income I wasn’t entitled to more. I worked 24 hours a week at a restaurant and all through every holiday, on the plus side I have full NIC pension contributions for those years, so every cloud and all

The answer then is for the government to compel Miles's household who can afford it to cough up. Not for the tax payer to pay.

I think if someone remarries when their children are adult age they are not step parents …..they are your parents spouse and you can have a good relationship with them but an adult/adult relationship

Students are adult aged but still legally dependent on parents maintenance. Like all welfare benefits the household income is assessed rather than the responsible parent.

This is so simple in practice but it genuinely isn't always financially possible. My DH is retired on a state pension and I work for the NHS. Our combined annual income is around £38,000, and our child has been given a loan of £9,100. Our outgoings are not dissimilar to those on double our income - and we just about manage. Her accommodation is £8000 (average where she's are going, and so we are expected to a) top up to the highest loan - £10,200 I think and b) give her enough to live on after that.

She has worked all summer and manged to save a couple of thousand which is impressive (if you knew her!) and will obviously try, like most of the other students there, to get a job in term time. we have said we'll buy her food, but it will still be hard.

I am not saying all yp should have loads of money and an easy ride, but I do feel that outgoings for household should be considered too. It's making university totally inaccessible for poorer families or those with parents able but unwilling to help

What happens to students whose parents are separated not divorced, when the NRP doesn't even live in the same country or earn/pay tax here?
He currently pays maintenance tbf. Would he be expected to top up and how can that be enforced?

Does anyone have info on doing an apprenticeship that leads onto university?
Does anyone know about possible sponsorship? Is there a list of companies that might sponsor a future employee?
If they went to the EU (Irish passport) to study, are they automatically an Overseas student if they haven't lived there for years?

I have a lot to google it seems
I did think everyone got student loans - I am clearly thick - and that you paid them back as soon as you started earning over 25k.
Am I a dinosaur - did this change decades ago?
I started to pay off my own student loan as soon as I got a job.

And if a new DH has his own dc to finance? It's not an endless pot

The ignorance and entitlement here is astounding. It's like you actually have no idea that some people are on the breadline and using food banks.
This is why poor people don't go to uni. The opposite of what we want

It’s a loan, not a grant or a gift, I don’t see why everyone is getting so annoyed. He will have to pay it back, the taxpayer isn’t giving him anything. All students should be given the max loan if they want it. My parents didn’t contribute at all and I had a miserable 4 years financially, it’s a stupid system.

@Hucklemuckle The children of people on very low incomes will get full loans.

@LooksLikeDaughterWillBeAnApprenticeInstead A very simple overview is that all students are entitled to an annual £9k tuition fee loan. The maintenance loan is on a sliding scale from around £10.5k for household income less than £25k, to around £4.5k for household income greater than £60k. Different numbers for London, and different systems for Scotland/Wales/NI.

Does seem a crazy set up. Definitely appeal, as a step parent shouldn't be having to fund a stepchild in this setup. Imo, the loan people should be looking at the income of the parents (even if split!)
As an aside though, with a child with additional needs, have you any financial support for them? Is it worth looking into ensuring you have everything you are entitled to there?

Aguidetohigheranddegreeapprenticeships.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

I'll start a new thread.
But is it possible then to start an apprenticeship at 16, work for two years then do a higher level one at uni?

Presumably that is declared on the form because it affects disposable income?

The issue is that for current uni students, only around 20% pay back their loan + interest in full; 80% have some or all of their loan written off. Giving everyone a full loan would cost the government a lot of money in loan write-offs.

From this year on, the new scheme should mean that more like 60% of students will pay back in full. But who knows...?