Savings at University

[Orangesandlemons77]

DC possibly staying at home for University. Live in a University city, on bus route to two Universities.

Thinking about savings they could make while at University. They already have around 15K each in Child Trust Fund savings for when they turn 18.

DH saw a financial advisor the other week and he mentioned about an ISA or LISA (lifetime ISA) being a good place to keep the CTF money for the future.

On a low income so they'd be able to borrow around 9K each each year for the 3 years of their degree. If they worked a part time job and used that money for their bus pass and possible contribute to food costs they could save (3X 9K) =27K each?

Just thinking it through does this sound plausible or is there something I'm missing? As it could add up to quite a bit, especially with the top ups on the LISA if used to fund a house deposit.

Maybe the DC has a good job

Yes I'm thinking maybe I should charge mine ! Not that they have good jobs !

Having to pay board means that Redsky's ds will be more encouraged to not sit around the house doing nothing but to get a job.

The OP's ds will be entitled to full loan and on her already stated income of £25 I would say yes, she will be short of money.

It's not too bad as I do get PIP as well, that's not taken into account for tax credits as income (and I assume student loans but would need to check that)

Might be a plan Babyroobs even if it's a small amount, get them used to the real world!

£500 ?? For a room in his own home ! Are you particularly short of money or something??

No, just trying to teach him the value of money. A room with all food and bills included anywhere else locally would be at least £800. We will probably save most of it for him anyway. He earns 10.50 an hour in his current part time job, so even if all he does is increase that to full time hours, he will have still have a lot of disposable income left. At the moment he is just blowing all his money on socialising and there is a strong possibility he would do the same with a larger sum if left to himself. By charging him board we are encouraging him to budget, which is surely a good life skill? Plus we're making it clear that sitting around not doing anything productive (from September) is not an option. If he opts to go into some sort of further training or education (which he's currently saying he doesn't want to) instead, we wouldn't charge him that much.

Yes I need to start doing this with my 2 although one is a good saver but the other blows it all on following his football team all over Europe ! To be fair one very rarely eats at home and I'd feel a bit mean charging him for a room. I guess I should start charging towards utilities at least. One is on an apprentice so does not earn a lot.

I think it might make them value money a bit more. You could save part of it for them if you wanted to.

DD1 wasn't going to Uni, but massively over-performed vs predicted, and decided at the very last minute to apply, the uni she wanted had nothing in clearing, so she opted for a similar course at our local Uni. By then she was driving, having passed her test at 17 She was working on a farm over the summer - and was able to fit this in part time around some of the Uni courses as she was starting very early and could work before lectures, and also schooling other people's horses which she had been doing during 6th form, and she found this most lucrative, far higher than anything her friends found for work earning £10-20/hour. So her earnings covered the cost of her horse's upkeep, all her fuel, and she built up a few thousand in savings while at Uni.

What a funny place MN is. Imagine thinking your kids would go to uni and just save both their CTF and their full loans?! What happened to partying and enjoying life?! They'll never be 18-21 again, let them live it and enjoy every bit of it.

Agree it's bizarre. Then again I have one ds who blew all his 6k CTF in the first term at Uni - fancy weekends away with his gf, partying etc which is not great either. Can't ever imagine taking 27k in student loans to save though, not exactly the point of a student loan.

I should also say my ds has always had part time jobs throughout the whole of Uni as well but never managed to save a penny. So he had the student loans, his part time wage from working at McDonalds 20+ hours a week around his studies, the CTF and we were helping towards his rent once he had to pay for a privately rented room rather than halls. Oh and he had use of my car ( as I didn't need it as wfh during lockdown ) so he could get to his part time job and to football fixtures where he was doing voluntary football commentary work ! God knows what he was doing with it all but he categorically states it was the best 3 years of his life so he must have been having a good time !!!

Well if you go on studentroom there's students on their doing that (saving) and using for a house deposit! Chatting about it etc. So I'm not THAT out of touch! (maybe just a little)

I was thinking they'd use their part time job money for 'fun money'

You can't borrow as much if you are a home student, dd cost £3500 ish the max

It's actually over 8K for 2023 for the higher at home living loan.

That’s the minimum if you are a higher income family. The OP already stated she’s low income so he Ds will get the maximum £8,171

DC would also qualify for a Bursary it seems, so could use that and / or part time job for living expenses...they could save the loan if they wanted to or just not take all of it. It will depend if they stay at home or not.