How am I going to be able to fund 2 DDs through university?

[NigellaTheUndomesticGoddess]

Just realised this is going to be expected in 6 years from now!
How do i do it? do i start saving into some sort of account? if so which one?
and DD1 has decided she wants to be a doctor which means 7 years studying!!!!!
what on earth do i do?

The more i ponder the more irritated i get. Warning - sweeping judgey moment approaching.

If i was richer i could save to help them and help with fees/rent/beer money. if i was poorer I would get some sort of benefit and they'd get fees paid.
I fall between these groups. I work very hard in a job that is not paid overly well as does DH. I want my children to have a thorough education with oportunities to improve themselves and their career prospects but right now I can see no way of doing this.

katie dd that is what i intend to do!If ds needs to go to uni to enter the career he chooses but shows no signs of a definite path atm

The upper limit for help with fees and for securing the 'income assessed' loan is surprisingly high. c. £60,000 household income I think. My parents earn about £25,000 together and I got 100% of my fees paid by a grant from the government. The 'maintainence loan' is a joke, though. If you live at home, it's about 3.5k and if you live away from home it's about 4.5k. I don't know where the idea came from that £1000 was enough to rent a room for a year.

You really don't get a lot of help over £50,000 household income - all you get is £50 of the non-repayable grant and that's taken off the amount you can borrow.
If you earn over £40,00, your child can only apply for 75% of the maintenance loan.
And afaik you don't get any help with fees unless you get a bursary fronm the university - I don't know what the income lmit is for that but it's pretty low I think.

Xenia you bloody would care if you were making the sacrifes to make sure they had the best education.

gosh am I the odd one out here? I invested a lump sum when dd1 was a year old and now have enough to put all 3 LOs through Uni (if they wish). In fact, dd1 told dd2 the other day that she was definitely going to University so she could get away from her . Plus they have a lot of savings (their pocket money from relatives that I have put away from them) which should more than cover living expenses.

wow a 100 grand saved that's great.

gosh I wish it was 100k - it is an amount invested (rather than saved) and will cover 3k fees a year x 3yrs x 3 LOs plus contingency for inflation. In terms of accommodationg/living expenses this will be the pocket money I have saved for them and they will have to get PT jobs (well they already have these at home).

Christ I thought you'd stashed well, I thought my family allowance was a meagre attempt in comparison.

Ok, Nigella, if you are decided you want to contribute to their expenses (20k each would be beyond most people's budgets I reckon!), can you afford to put away £100 per month, between them, now? If so, in 6 years time, with interest, you will have approaching 10k. You can keep a bit yourself if you want, or give them a grand and a half each per year. Some debt for them is inevitable. I think it is sadly inevitable for most graduates. A bit from parents, a bit from working, and a large chunk of debt - that's the usual. Try not to fret. Doctors and Dentists and the like get offered huge overdrafts, by the way, as they are likely to be able to pay them off pretty quickly.

yes guaranteed 100k a year ..

student loans, that's how.

I'm at the sort of firm Xenia mentions - but a part-time backroom girl these days - if anyone was disbelieving, all the facts and figures are right, but fewer than 10% on average of the "top people" are women as you have to work around 100 hrs a week throughout your late 20s and early 30s. Not ideal for conceiving and raising a family.
Thought that might make you feel better!!

Horses for courses. I couldn't stand being home with a baby 24/7. No hours are longer than a non sleeping baby day and night. Nothing is so hard and also for many men and women working hours in well paid work you enjoy is the better option. At least if you give your sons and daughters the chances to pick those higher paid jobs if they wish they can also decide not to but if they haven't had the start in life which enables them more easily to pick better paid careers then it is harder for them.

In a sense earning enough so that you won't resent it if they take their expensive education, universisty years and then enter the carmelite convent or go abroad to find themselves is perhaps what women should seek so they aren't putting pressure on the child - not saying I spent X on you therefore I expect Y. On the other hand I have made very clear to the older 3 that I don't support them thereafter. And tehre is an element of direction in the support too. I just agreed to support daughter 2 because she's picked something sensible. If she'd wanted to go on to do a MSc in basket weaving I woul dnot have funded that,

I don't care if mine are basket weavers too be honest as long as they are the best god damn basket weavers and happy in their work.
I've invested more in their well being than their "education" and the only return I expect is them not able to smile wide enough, most of the time

I am firm in my mind that my chldren will not go to uni unless they fund it themselves.
I will however happily pay for them to do an OU course whilst working part time, I will house them and feed them give them beer money and be taxi. No child of mine will get into debt in the name of education and god damn it nor will i.

It's funny - this "degree in basket weaving" type comment. What I mean is that the subject or field your DC might choose can be of secondary importance compared to what they do once they're at uni. Oh I should also say that this is Liz's DH posting here. But anyway, increasingly, and as more and more people gain degrees, employers are apparently looking for other kinds of markers - beyond the field of study and the final classification. Such stuff includes extra-curricula bumf - grads with loads of activity here (sitting on SU committees, running societies, doing voluntary crap etc. etc.) look like decent prospects. Workaholics, I guess.

If my kid said they wanted to go to uni I wouldn't be so bothered about what they were studying, rather it'd be a case of sussing out how serious they were about the whole HE deal. If I thought they wanted to go just because friends X, Y and Z were going and, or, because they assumed it was some sort of rite of passage I tell them to sod off.

RE the extra curricula stuff - this is of course less open to students who have to work. So the better off students win twice - not only do they not have to work, but also they can get all those ace CV moments. That's why I think I'd insist mine study locally. I never really got the whole going away thing - only the small minority seem to choose courses on the strength of the department's publishing records. The rest plump for a city hundreds of miles away from home so they can smoke crack in peace, and the rest just seem to chuck a dart at the map.

Nigella - I've just seen DS1 through university and to a well paid job. Strangely his degree was not in basket weaving. If you are able to put a little aside that is good and it could be used towards tuition fees/living expenses. I was happy to fund his course as I benefited from the old days of means tested grants and my parents happily made up my grant. I want my DSs to be in a similar position where they can enjoy all the benefits of going to a good university without worrying too much about debt. BTW as Rustybear and others have pointed out you don't need to be individually very high earning for your family income to be too high for any grant/full loan.

It matters a lot where they study however. A degree from somewhere like middlesex ex polytechnic is hardly worth having compared to Bristol or Oxford and some children just don't know that. SO parental guidance is wise. Then they make their choice but they need to know that some employers for some jobs will not consider you unless you're at a certain type of university. I certainly haven't chosen or influenced their subjects and their schools really determined the universities because I paid to send them to schools where children only go to good universities I suppose.

My girls have very good CVs in terms of extra curricula things because they have no debt and have not had to work a huge amount in holidays. In a sense my wealth and earnings has bought them a better CV.

DS is only 9 months so god knows what the situation will be with grants/loans in 17 years time...but assuming nothing changes, we'll encourage DS to find a part-time job at 16, save some money, and then take another part-time job once at university.

We probably will start saving money for his future in the next couple of years, but it's still good for people to acquire a working ethic while still young.

I managed to find a company to sponsor me through university - an number of technology companies will do this (were he interested in that field).

Many other companies will provide internships during the summer - there's plenty of opportunity out there if you are willing to look for it and work hard.

LOL basket weaving that's occupational therapy isnt it?OT's are great