True University Costs for Bank of Mum and Dad

[Richielogic]

Nothing anyone can really help me or advise on, its more of a gripe / moan really:-

I have two teenagers both going to UNI. Daughter this year and Son who is a year two student. My wife and I work our socks off full time, usual costs as you can expect and cost of living crisis will hit us like everyone else.

For child 1:-
The uni tuition fees are paid in full at £ 9,250 - great
The maintenance loan is £ 4,524 discounted from £ 9,706 due to means testing.

So Bank of mum and dad are on for £5,200+ to make up the short fall according to SFE.

In reality the uni accommodation alone is £8,096. Yes there were some cheaper ones but due to covid last year and deferred applications for this year, numbers are high and its difficult to secure them.

Also allowance on top to support whilst they settle in, for food and costs to support whilst they find part time jobs etc. So i estimate it is going to cost bank of mum and dad about 9k per child per Uni year

I guess my point is we talk a lot about student debt but in reality it doesn't even cover all the costs associated with them going to University. The maintenance loan doesn't even cover accommodation. Bank of mum and dad cop for a chunk of it.

So in my case i need to net £18k earnings to ensure my two children can go and despite that they will both finish a three year course with £41,322 student loan debt - ridiculous.

What about those children whose parents don't support them??

The way its going, seriously its going to end up that only the elite go. The costs are just obscene.

Some children are having to factor in accommodation costs at the specific university in deciding the University Rather than going to the one that's best for the subject matter and their development

Anyhow it is what it is

Any parents out there helping support this years costs i feel your pain..

@Londonnorth Agreed, the unis really help low income families. Mine was at a different uni, but also got full loan and a bursary of a couple of grand extra a year. All tickets and stuff paid through the uni also has an automatic discount or was free, like ball tickets, graduation robes. There was also a discretionary fund she could apply to if she needed extra help to buy a laptop, books or clothes, etc.

My parents told me that if I wanted to go to uni, I had to pay for it myself. I saved up and went at 25.

My sister went and is in thousands of pounds of debt.

My brother didn't go to uni, so if my mum and dad would have helped their daughters out, it's almost like leaving out their son because he chose not to go to uni

My dad went to university in Canada back in the day. There were no loans and he worked nights assembling car parts while attending an engineering course five days a week.

He got about four hours sleep a night for four years, apart from weekends, but as he'd fled a war-torn country, he was just incredibly grateful for the opportunity. He went on to have an incredibly successful career.

Another world...

I've done a little googling due to some of the points on this thread.

I looked up my old halls. Rent was £70pwk in the 90s. Min loan (high earning parents) was £1800pa. The same halls this year are £134 pwk with min loan of £5100. Nmw then was £3.60 now £9.50.

Unemployment was much higher then and fewer part time jobs were available.

Are you still going to tell me students now are worse off?

Yes they are worse off now because:

1. They may not get allocated that room at £5,100 this is one of the issues, lack of cheaper accommodation, albeit you could argue going to a different uni or ex poly now calling itself a uni that has more cheaper accommodation deals should now be the primary deciding factor in your uni choice rather that the best place to learn
2. cost of living is now higher and getting worse, following covid less pt job opps available and they are NOT earning £9.50 per hour

Anyhow, this is not a race to the bloody bottom. We should be doing things better now. A student should not be forced into picking a lower grade university because it might be doing some cheap accommodation deals. What next, they live in a tent because it’s cheaper? One or two of the responses here you would think were written by MPs

I stated in my OP that the maintenance loan in my DD case was £4,524 ie the loan does not cover the cost of the accommodation before we look at all other costs