Student finance and high household income

[tinyviolinforme]

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.

foursquares the system is turning into the US sadly.

We have struggled to pay for kids at university. Live in SE, still paying a mortgage.

We have saved but it is not enough. It is the equivalent of funding a whole other life when you include rent and food.

Sadly it is becoming a privilege of the elites.

Your council tax at £380 a month means that you are very likely to be living in a very expensive house op - in the most expensive council tax area in England that would put you into at least Band G. You have a huge mortgage too, to pay for your very expensive house.

Your household income is closed to or exceeds £60k.

Objectively, living in a cheaper home would free up some cash to support all your DC - or they can get a job to top up their loan.

Interesting that you've not posted your incomes...

PS my two kids work and finding a PT job is another thread in itself 😢

A household income of £60k is barely above 2x minimum wage? So 1 minimum wage earner and 1 just above, hardly millionaires.

Incidentally you get minimum loan if parents are on minimum wage + living together.

This isn’t a solution for you, but for people with younger children reading this there is a way to make this easier. From birth, we started putting money into an account every month to have available for university. It was never much, but it adds up over 18 years.

This system is very hard for middle income families. The income level at which you are expected to contribute is shockingly low. Sure these kids can work whilst they are at uni but I feel that puts them at a big disadvantage. I don’t think it’s a fair approach.

Income 80k between us. I’m not going to sell the house to fund uni 😱. House is worth about £400k and we have a high mortgage as we bought late

Ok don't sell but could you re- mortage or take a mortage holiday for the tough years ?

Could do but we are both much older, we got together late post divorces so bought and had kids late etc. I could look at a holiday.

Your title is misleading, £80k between you isn’t a high income.

But it’s high enough to pay the whole contribution - which is shocking

Well, the student loan company count it as high, meaning the young people in the household are only entitled to access the minimum loan. This barely covers accommodation in most universities, let alone anything else.

A lot of people don’t understand this is how student loans work.

In lower income households, the teens can take the full £9k+ loan each year so appear to have loads of money in comparison.

In higher income families, many parents just pay the accommodation directly and give the teen the minimum loan to spend on beer and food-they also seem to have loads of money.

Mine were in the middle-only allowed to get the £4k minimum loan, that then had to be topped up by £1.5k a year by us to pay the accommodation (nothing fancy, single bed and bathroom/kitchen shared with 8) and then we had to scrabble together to send £50 a week for food and travel. Hard when you have other children also at university.