Student finance and high household income

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Honestly its so much pressure I can’t pull £8000 out of nowhere. We earn loads on paper but live in the southeast, disabled adult im caring for and financing, one gone through uni, one at uni, one due sept 2026 and I have had time out for caring, racked up some debt, why isn’t it just one standard maximum maintenance loan and you choose what amount to apply for? I’m sick of explaining to the kids what we earn, how much the mortgage is, how much the bills are, why we can’t buy them a car, why we can’t pay for ensuite halls etc etc.

massive mortgage for a shoebox, council tax £380 a month, I know we are lucky but this just is so stressful. No savings, they’ve gone on supporting the other kids.

please don’t all pile on about how I’m just venting , if anyone gets it please just let me know.

I have always been curious about this system, given they are legally adults at this point.

Could DC3 wait until DC2 graduates before they go to uni? Then you only have one there at a time?

Call student finance to discuss allowance for a disabled child. If your income has shrunk this year, you can apply for an adjustment.

Funny how the government sees them as adults or dependent when it suits. The whole system is shocking.

Honestly, I'd tell your dcs to get over themselves. They want en-suite halls rooms and cars - fine, they can get off their entitled little backsides, and go get themselves a job each. 🙄
My ds is going in September. He's been working & saving since last August, and will work all summer, to ensure he has enough. I'm a single mum and he knows I can't help a huge amount. Thankfully my ds is a sweetie and we'll approach all the bills as a team of two.

Sorry to be so blunt but that needed saying. If they are at uni, they are adults and it's time they stopped piling all the stress on you, and took some responsibilty for it themselves. You can't do it all, you'll wear yourself out. 😡

Thanks I don’t think that’s blunt. It’s just the expectation from the government that I can find upfront rent and living costs. The one going in September is working part time and does intend to work. That’s actually a bit of a light bulb thank you, it’s not £8000 all at once. Ok that’s calmed me down a bit.

That’s not how student finance sees it, as they let them borrow less money based on their parents income.

I can't help but I do sympathise. The system is all wrong. DS is going to uni this year. The money he gets is based on mine and DH's earnings, even though DH isn't his dad. It infuriates me that the government expect him to fund a child that isn't his through university (as does his actual dad but that's another story).

Does student finance take into account how many other children / dependants parents have?

Yeah it’s odd. My parents (very high earners) didn’t pay a penny for my rent or expenses. Fair enough I guess, it’s their money, ultimately my choice to go to uni (although not going would not have been acceptable to my parents). But it meant I could barely afford food - my loan didn’t cover my rent as it was calculated to assume a parental contribution, and my part time job wasn’t that much.

Yeah they do, but not much.
If you have two children at uni for example, they subtract a bit from your income, but they subtract much less than what you’re expected to contribute to each child’s expenses.

If your earnings are high enough that DC definitely won't get any more than the minimum maintenance loan then they can just apply for the minimum loan and you don't need to fill in the income assessment form.

Agree though that the top up payment could be unaffordable if you have more than one at uni at the same time, expensive mortgage etc..

It does if you apply for a higher than minimum loan, but only a few £100 more apparently. The minimum is open to all, and the higher is tapered according to household income which as a pp says is the ‘parent figures’ if they live together so not always biological parents. It’s a few £100 I think according to online searches, and involves submitting proof of earnings and opening student finance accounts to do this for the parents/adults.

So it's alright for an student from a low income family just to get a larger maintenance loan, but OP's DC are entitled to expect that their parents can support them to the level that student finance expects, and must get over themselves?

The system is very unfair, OP. I completely understand your frustration. It is incredibly difficult for dc who can only get the minimum loan if their parents simply don't have enough disposable income to support them - and that is genuinely the case for some families. Yes, they can work, but it's very difficult for them to make up the shortfall without help. Especially if they are on a demanding course with a lot of contact hours.

I don't know what to suggest tbh. Any chance you could extend your mortgage a bit to free up some funds?

The entire thing isn't fit for purpose. Young adults are dependent on their parents actually having the money and be willing to give it on fairly average salaries.
Those that are entitled to 100% loans, it's no longer enough to pay rent and living expenses for many universities.

This happened to a friend of mine at uni too - and this was two decades ago. She was basically estranged from her parents but as she had to apply for student finance in advance of leaving at 17 she was still a “dependent” and got a tiny loan. She was on the breadline the whole time, had to use food banks and all kinds of emergency support despite also working about 20 hours a week which stopped her attending uni. Unsurprisingly she ended up dropping out. Depressing.

My dd is at Uni and some of her friends/ flatmates have no parental support at all. they just have to find part time jobs although that is not always easy in the current climate.

I feel your pain. Our son went to uni through clearing and gave us 4 weeks notice. We weren’t prepared at all. His loan only covers his rent for 3 months out of 4. He does have a job so he covers his food but it is hard and I’m hoping his brother goes down the apprentice route tbh.

Yes our dd did this too and then had to do a foundation year making it four years total. All whilst we already had ds at Uni too. We have four kids, thank god one went down the apprentice route and has actually done very well ! We've had the last ten years of helping towards Uni costs, only one more year to go !

Could they defer their place for a year and work to save up during that year?

You have a lot on your plate and sound like an amazing parent.

We did that for dc 1, but we had dc later in life and dh is in his 60s (we did everything later including house buying so high mortgage to take us to 65) so we were hoping to pay it off in 3 years.
I just feel if kids could pick a loan size rather than it being based on how much parents are willing to/able to fund it would be so much fairer. It’s already not equitable - separated parents using the lower earner to get the max loan even if non resident, well off non resident dad topping up max loan etc so why not base it on how much someone wants/needs to borrow?

im sorry for those of you that had to manage without help at uni, its a horrible place to be. Thank you for the kindness im just doing the application with dc today and feeling like it will never end.

Indeed