Want your children to be able to go to uni?

[GreatAuntLoretta]

I am really feeling the urge to join the NUS protest against tuition fees on Thursday 9th December. Although my children are both under five, I am really really upset and annoyed to think that if they want to go to university in the future we will be very unlikely to be able to afford to send them. Who knows what the fees will be by then?! Also when my children are a little older I would really like to have the opportunity to retrain and do a degree. That would be completely off the cards. (angry)

Is anyone else with young children thinking of attending? It would be good to stick together with some other parents. A large group of parents will probably be a lot safer than a random woman with a buggy and a toddler in a mass crowd.

Who is with me?

Is there already a family protest group out there?

Also to all the people explaining how they financed their studies, thanks for that. You have done it on the current system or even better before tuition fees were introduced.

We are discussing the future costs, which are significantly higher, much less help available, so it's really not relevant. We looked at funding as it is now and decided it was do-able and worth it, then this . It's a complete scandal and anyone who says otherwise, obviously, doesn't have a child who will be affected by it from a family that will find it impossible to subsidies their DC's rent and food etc.

"American's don't pay as much tax as we do and don't expect the same services."

I would assume they don't pay as much tax because they aren't using the taxes to pay for people to go to Uni? Or using the taxes for a health care system?

Another way around that of course, ChristmasEve is that your dc go to the local uni. If we are back in the UK when ds looks at Unis I will get him to seriously look at what is available locally and examine the possibility of him living at home whilst studying. That takes away the rent and food costs and bills etc for a start, just the travel costs to pay.

Many Unis on the continent teach in English, so no intense language training needed before going off either.

christmaseve - the food and rent cost will be roughly the same as it is now. It's the debt your dc's will need to pay off when they graduate that's going up.

Obviously if that puts your dc's off going to Uni then that is sad. I guess if Uni applications drop significantly - the government will have to look at this again.

If we were paying USA levels of taxes then fine, they have a good system of bursaries.

I am aware of rent and food costs, a decent bursary would have made a dent in living costs.

As for studying near to home, we only have one decent uni within commuting distance with a limited no. of places for the course DD want's to do. It's a possibility to look into. I have an idea that she would like to move away from this area to study, she would ggain from having independence and needs to mix with like minded people, socially, which wouldn't happen if she travelled in and out. It's quite a distance.

Anyone notice that this scholarship scheme, for what it's worth, isn't coming in until 2014, whereas the fee rises are 2012 .

I'm not usually into protesting but I have a two year old and would like her to be able to go to University like I did so I'm going to the march on Thursday - be great if more parents came too, there is a facebook page for people to sign up to and find out more:

www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166996716673041&num_event_invites=21#!/event.php?eid=166996716673041

It will only affect the current year 12's and below. So your DS2 will be landed with it, same as my DD. That's if they can actually implement it in time.

Same here, losing EMA.

The loss of EMA seems to have been accepted. I do think it's absolutely vital to support 6th formers with their expenses and those from lower incomes will definitely struggle to reach their potential.

I am incensed that the rug is being pulled from beneath the feet of those who qualify for this and now won't owing to the fact that targeted help seems to mean only those on free school meals.

Is there a petition / protest / anything happening to try and overturn this. Travel costs are mounting. Colleges require students to purchase things for courses. EMA is vital.

Riven, of course mortgage lenders will take student fees into account - as they do all debts.

They'd be hideously irresponsible if they failed to include that in their affordability calculations.

Yes, Riven I've noticed that. I don't understand why it hasn't caused more of an outcry. I'd like it overturned because I can't think of a nastier thing to have introduced than scrapping it for all. It could have been further means tested so that only those on lowest bands received it, if they needed to save some money. To target it to those on free schools meals but ignore those whose families earn the same but work for it defies belief. Really stinks.

I'd like to do something about this.

How long has EMA existed? Wasn't it a very recent introduction?

Just wondering.

It was introduced in 2004.

Granted, thanks for posting on the other thread. I couldn't engage in that conversation anymore .

TBH I don't expect even a glimmer of hope regarding EMA and tuition fees in view of this national scholarship announced yesterday, it's only good news, if you can call it that for a very few.

The students are protesting about EMA as well, will see what the next couple of weeks bring.

Supporting a family and paying student debts won't be easy.

The "only £140 a month" quoted further down may not be a lot to the poster but to us that would be a massive amount.

Let's not forget houses will be even harder to come by in the years ahead so presumably our kids will have bigger mortgage/rent bills too.

Also if they have a joint mortgage so 2 lots of student debts to account for I can't see how it won't have a big impact on getting a mortgage(debt is debt) especially if they have a job with less chance of a huge salary,payrise eg teaching,social work etc. Our kids will have less choice mortgagewise so will end up paying more.

Not so the rich kids(eg Cameron and Clegg's kids) who will have it all paid off for them. It'll be win win for them. Less competition when they leave their private schools for the best uni places and less competition on the housing front too. Can see why they're so keen on this policy.

I'd be there with bells on,but we're in Devon.

I'm very pleased to hear the news about FSM pupils getting a year paid. I am a lone parent and can't work due to disability, so DS and DD will probably still receive FSM for the rest of their schooldays. I was really fretting about the increased fees, especially as they're both bright but not good at vocational studies, so HE would suit them. They are both on course for straight As too, so may well be eligible for two years' funding.

We live in an area where over 50% of pupils get FSM and very few pupils consider university. This will be an effective way to encourage them to apply - although the fact that they will still have to pay for the third (or fourth) year is problematic. There could be a lot of students dropping out after the first or second year.

heston, don't know how old your DC's are but the free tuition won't be paid until 2014. That's if it all gets passed.

I really don't understand why this government continues to hit young people and families. The brunt of the cuts have again been on young people; surely young people are our future. Investing in universities surely is investing in the future of a country.

Young people will be lumbered with massive debts, and as I said in other threads, they will have to live at home for a long time as they will not be able to repay their debts AND live on their own.

£27k of fees plus all the living expenses as a student, that surely will amount to at least 50 or 60k - and that is if you don't want to become a doctor. In that case you are looking at double that.

So a doctor would be looking more at 120k to qualify. And how long will it take them to repay it?

No I am afraid we are back to inequality; young people whose parents can't afford to pay will not choose that route. And if they do, they will end up so much worse off.

I would like someone explaining to me the figures, ie how will a graduate on a salary of 21k repay a massive loan of 50k and then on top of that buy their first car, get their rented flat say in London and save for a future mortgate. It isn't going to happen is it.

Not so the rich kids(eg Cameron and Clegg's kids) who will have it all paid off for them. It'll be win win for them. Less competition when they leave their private schools for the best uni places and less competition on the housing front too. Can see why they're so keen on this policy.

I agree wholeheartedly with the statement above. Of course they don't care as it won't affect them. Same as the child trust fund - what's £250 a month to them - pah - peanuts!

They are evil b--s who don't care about anyone but their own kind. They will be happy when it's only the rich kids that apply to uni, get the top jobs, influence and run the country. They have to be stopped. Even if the increases have to go ahead, there has to be some help for ordinary families.

Do they really think that kids who's parents don't work will think, hey great, I will go to uni because my debt will now be 27k instead of 33K.

I think I have just heard John Hemmings saying on the radio that the student protests are not going to affect the way he votes on Thursday. Or if they do, they will make him vote for the increase in fees, because he doesn't want to 'reward their bad behaviour'!

I really hope I have misheard.

But if not, John Hemmings, what message is that sending the students? That nothing they do is going to make a difference? Is that really how you think a democracy works? Do you want them to creep back into their burrows and never venture out again, except to put a X by your name in the next election? Or would you rather they didn't vote at all?

These young people are showing some interest in their own futures and the futures of younger generations. They are taking responsible action to influence politicians in the only way that is available to them. How else can they register their views? How much attention would you pay a petition, for example? How many emails and letters do you bin without even looking at them?

And what bad behaviour are you talking about? Daring to demonstrate against something they think is unfair?

I am probably OTT on this but it made me very angry. You should listen to them. You are accountable to them. Please reconsider.