Board money for uni son who has decided to move back home

[ZebraD]

Just wondered peoples thoughts on financial contribution for son who has tried living in accommodation at his university but just a month in has decided he would rather commute and come home to live.
He will pay for some/most of his food and spend nights at his GF house. His GF will also have nights at my house.
Thoughts in this would be great. Thank you in advance.

Will he still be paying for his Uni accommodation?

Why does he want to come home?

Do you work?

My children all came home for various reasons after Uni . I genuinely didn’t notice a great difference with bills etc . Maybe if he pays whatever the difference is for food.

Dd lived at home during uni and I didn’t charge her a penny. She didn’t even buy her own food! But I appreciate I could afford to bank roll her. I think if you can then do so, but if you can’t he’ll have to contribute.

@StarlightLime no child benefit anymore?

Does your DS have a job/income? Most kids need to work during uni unless their parents are wealthy. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to charge him something tbh. My DS’ pay “keep” it hardly anything, no where near covers their food, but we would rather them save, and they do.

Will your ds have to carry on paying for the student accommodation for the rest of the year?

If you can't afford to subsidise him while he is still in education, then the bare minimum of what you need/he costs you living there.

But while living there I would expect as an adult he contributes significantly to the running of the household - cleaning, cooking etc.

If you're in a position to afford him to be there without paying board, our rule is they're not charged while in full time education and not earning from a job.

Fair enough he buys his own food and whatever else he'd have used if he'd stayed in his accommodation, but rent seems a bit tight, as the student finance he gets will be less as he's living at home - they assume they WON'T have to pay rent.

My dd does this. I dint charge her anything...in fact I give her a contribution towards her commuting...

Unless he is able to get out of his accommodation costs for this year at uni (which is by no means a given) then he will have very little money to contribute. How much student loan is he currently receiving?

I would ask for a contribution for food as I imagine that will raise costs for you especially if his girlfriend is staying/eating too. Maybe £30-40 a week?

Do you need the money from him to get by? If you do, then you already have the figures to work from.

@ZebraD no response to the thread?

I was a single parent and paid for both my children when they were at university. I budgeted for it. I was often skint, but wouldn't have charged them for living at home. They both worked part time to supplement their student loan

If I could afford it, I wouldn't charge him.

If I genuinely couldn't afford another mouth to feed, then I would have to charge him enough so that we could get by.

Unless someone takes over his student accommodation I would expect he's locked into a contract to pay it for a fixed term.
I think my DSD had to pay upfront per term.
Being a home student may also affect the amount of loan available.

If he is on a full maintenance loan (which will be based on OP's income) then a portion of that loan is meant to go towards his living expenses. He will get a reduced loan for living at home, but it's only reduced by just over £1,500 per year.

I charge dd £45 per week. That goes towards her food and the extra bills she generates.

I wouldn't charge my kids to live here, personally. My adult son who lives at home contributes when he can because he wants to, but I've never asked him to. The other day he deep-cleaned the kitchen because I have Covid and his Dad had to go to A&E with a badly cut hand. I'd rather he contributed in that way and saved his money for his future.

Will he not still have to pay for his Uni accommodation for the remainder of the academic year even if he moves back to living at home?

Also if his funding is being assessed at the living away from home rate because he was going to be living away from home he maybe in an overpayment situation with this (so will likely have to repay the overpayment next term) and receive much less going forwards (due to receiving the lower rate and the overpayment to rectify).

If I was to charge rent I would find out about the above first and then maybe just charge a nominal amount towards food and rent say something like £30 to £40 a week. If too high you may find he/they move in with GF family permanently.

My dc was a home student. I didn't charge her but not did I give her maintenance money which I do now she's living away. She funded all her expenses, phone, lunches etc but she could eat with me at home if she wanted.

@gotomomo surely the maintenance loan is paid directly to your student as they will be the ones directly responsible for repaying it so surely not up to you to give them this as it should be them who apply for it and it should be paid directly into their own bank account or have I misunderstood and are we talking at crossed purposes?

I assume that goto is referring to the parental top up part of maintenance.

Hopefully 🤞

No way would I charge my child. Many moons ago when my mum was a single parent I lived at home whilst doing my degree. She allowed me to live there without any costs and also gave me pocket money to help run my car etc (I did also work part time). She had never got any tax credits (they didn't exist then) or maintenance money. She worked hard to provide a modest home. I would do the same for my children.

No, not charge while he is in education. He can pay after he's completed his degree.