Parental contribution for Scottish students

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I have 2 children aged 12 and 10 and think I need to give some more consideration as to how we will fund them should they go on to higher education and live away from home. I know fees will be paid and they will be eligible for the lower student loan but how much do parents contribute per year to their student children?

It will depend if you plan to cover rent or not? I was lucky enough to have mine paid for and an allowance. I didn’t qualify for much of a loan. It might be worth looking at the cost of student accommodation now and using that as a basis.

It's a very good question and there are so many answers to be honest. As a minimum parents are expected to make up the shortfall between the lower student loan and the higher maintenance one. ( not quite sure what that is) However as @Direwolfwrangler says it depends on the cost of accommodation at the uni you DC attends. For example both of mine are at or about to start St Andrew's and the cost of uni and student rentals is eye watering.
We did sit down and budget with them and in a normal year they would work all summer and put that towards it too. We want them to have enough to have fun but also to make choices as after all in the real world you have to budget. Bottom line is it depends what you can afford but it is really good you are looking at this now and planning ahead. Happy if you want to DM me for actual figures.

The difference between the lowest loan and the highest loan plus bursary is currently £3k so I'd use that as a minimum. That takes them to £7750 a year. Depending on where they go and what type of accommodation, you are probably looking at £4k plus. It also depends on availability of employment etc. also would you still be paying for mobile phone service etc. Obviously you can't give what you don't have and you can be more generous if you are able to be.

@WaxOnFeckOff I wish St A was £4 trying doubling that and then a bit more, DH and I will be on beans on toast all year to cover it I think

Jeez, is that catered?

Aberdeen minimum in older blocks, 12 to a kitchen/shower block was just under £4k. DS was just under £4.5k for a 5 in a flat 2 toilet and one shower. Think en-suite was about £6.5k.

He's in private halls at a similar cost this year, again just one from bottom of the economy scale. 3 to a flat this time. It was his choice but I think a decent one given his inability to organise things very well (dyspraxic). Hopefully another year of maturity and learning will help him make a move to a private rent next year which will maybe work out a little cheaper.

OP, we pay his accommodation and give him £250 a month as well as paying his phone/dentist/optician etc. He's supposed to be saving the loan. DS1 lives at home and gets everything provided and also gets £250 to cover travel etc.

They share a car which we maintain and tax etc but they pay petrol.

It's good to get started on some savings if you can.

At least with STAs degrees, they should be able to support you back in your dotage! :o

Oh and all prices quoted are non-catered. The catering in Aberdeen is just credit to use in the various eating places on campus - e.g. coffee shops, sandwich bars and similar type outlets.

Yep its fully catered she is going to get 3 meals per day( hope its Michelin star quality at that price). However although DH and I came from fairly humble beginnings we have been very fortunate it life so I would much rather the more reasonable ( but still expensive) accommodation was allocated to students whose financial circumstances are constrained. My dc I hasten to add realise they are in a very privileged position. They have both worked since lockdown only a few hours a week but presented themselves at the local supermarket the day it was announced and asked about a job so I cant fault their work ethic. The supermarket has already asked them to come back at Christmas time.
Have to say my fingers are firmly crossed that DS gets a job when he graduated next year.

I would not bank on full fees being paid for both children OP. The policy is unsustainable and I would anticipate by the time the 10yo is at uni age you'll be paying at least something.

Probably only a couple of £K in it then really @Alittlewornout. We are probably about £8k for accommodation and food for DS2 and then I give him the odd extra shopping and pay for him coming home from time to time.

We were both brought up in rough council areas so my DC are very fortunate too!

We were in isolation with Corona when the jobs were available so DC missed out, DS2 will be going back to Aberdeen soon so says he will wait and look there and DS1s anxiety really holding him back but it would do him the world of good for himself. He doesn't spend money so isn't that bothered at the moment.

WE still have 3 years to go. Ds1 about to start year 3 of 5 for his masters and DS2 is about to start year 2 of 4.

I agree @LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett but then that will be a loan for the DC rather than necessarily impacting on the parents, unless they want to leave them debt free.

That's also if the Unis manage to negotiate their way out of this and still be open long term.

Ok, kind of what I’d expected and yes, I knew St A’s was eye watering but ouch. I think the £3000-4000 is manageable given what we are saving and what we will save as their activities drop but I should try and up their savings just now in case we end up in a St A’s position. I do expect them both to work over the summer at minimum.

Thanks everyone, very helpful.

As PP says - it will be 8 more years until your youngest goes to uni and the rules may well change by then. If you can put anything away for them start doing it now. My DC have now thankfully finished in uni and I thank God I had been saving for a decade beforehand as the costs are so high. Even a small amount a month if you can afford it is going to be a gdosend.

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett

I would not bank on full fees being paid for both children OP. The policy is unsustainable and I would anticipate by the time the 10yo is at uni age you'll be paying at least something.

I’m hoping not but I work with some people in HEIs and I know how difficult funding has been and that’s before you add on the effects of Covid 19. The Scottish Government wouldn’t like it but it may be a reality.

I found the living away from home experience brilliant but I can't help thinking it will be a lot easier for us if the dc decide to go to college or university in the city we live in...

@WaxOnFeckOff

I agree *@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett* but then that will be a loan for the DC rather than necessarily impacting on the parents, unless they want to leave them debt free.

That's also if the Unis manage to negotiate their way out of this and still be open long term.

We’d obviously, like most parents, like them to have as little debt as possible but in reality we will still be paying a mortgage and saving for our own retirement. They will need to take the cost of university into consideration when they make their decisions. Our eldest is very academic and not at all practical so I do see her going down the University route. The youngest is bright enough but may wish to do something more practical.

Yep save now is the short answer really we did from about the ages of your kids and it has made things more manageable. I think though this year with the lack of jobs as Wax rightly pointed out parents will be having to dig deep this year to find the shortfall.

@Iggi999

I found the living away from home experience brilliant but I can't help thinking it will be a lot easier for us if the dc decide to go to college or university in the city we live in...

There is one within spitting distance of us. I lived away from home too but in reality I wasn’t really ready. I would be happy if they stayed at home a bit longer.

DH and I take the view that there are no pockets in a shroud so would rather see our DC get the benefit of anything we can give them while we are alive. We'll use income and equity in our house to try to get them started on a good path if we can and if means there isn't a lot left when we die then so what?

We both have independent pensions and have worked full time since we were teenagers so will downsize to a small property when they finish uni and we should have enough income to live a modest life.

@WaxOnFeckOff that's kind of our philosophy too. My dad was the same he was very generous to us when he was alive and he always said he would rather see us enjoy and reap the benefits of what he and mum had worked for and we feel the same. You cant take it with you after all.

I agree, my parents have always been generous. I have no concerns about leaving an inheritance as it could all go in care before we die. I do however have a responsibility to ensure we can afford to retire as I don’t want to be a financial burden to my children.

We give as much as we can without impacting on the DC left at home. I am still paying off my own student loan as a I completely retrained after having my 4.

We are seriously skint at times . If DD4 goes next year we will have 3 studying for 3 years potentially. We still have a 10 years to go on our mortgage too,

But we had our DC young and will only be 52ish when DD4 graduates. We are both public sector workers so our pensions are ok and we will have at least 10 years probably 13 years for me to work after they're all done at uni before retirement do time to save and help them then. If we downsize out of our 5 bed house we could help them with deposits etc. We have been quite frank in terms of paying for weddings etc, whilst anyone is still an undergrad they are the priority.

That's true @Lidlfix. Expensive for us now but we have no other DC. We are older though and DH could retire next year but will work on if he can until DC finish and then maybe go part time if he can for a few years. I'm a little younger but hoping to partly retire when they finish. We are now mortgage free though (overpaid as much as we could) so our mortgage payments are pretty much going to them now.

We are just not extravagant and have been lucky to always have employment. I appreciate that lots of people are not in a good place regardless of how hard they work and how careful they are. As a child I never asked for anything and worried about money and food a lot, i'm enormously grateful that my DC haven't had to experience that .

To be frank, tuition fees will not be an issue even if we do see them reimposed (which I doubt will happen).

There are a lot of misconceptions about how the English system works. You don't need to pay a penny in fees upfront. Graduates only start paying back their fees once they earn around £27,000 a year.

Even then, they only need to pay 9% of what they earn over the threshold- so someone on £30,000 would only be paying back circa £300 a year. The vast majority will never pay back anything like the full amount

The far bigger issue is actually living costs imo. DC from a family earning over £31,000 are only eligible for a loan of £4750 a year- with parents expected to make up the rest.

Providing a maintenance grant would actually do far more to widen access than the current policy of no fees.

As a comparison, I just calculated how much support a student in England from a family earning £31,000 would be eligible for- they'd get a maintenance loan of £8,412 compared to £4750 in Scotland.

The SNP bang on about how access to higher education should be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay. But the key access issue is not tuition fees that will never be paid back in full anyway- it is living costs.

Perhaps that is why more English students from a low income background go to uni than in Scotland.

I thought it was £34k @SpanishPork but agree with the sentiment either way.

If the debt is £50k or £20k, the amount paid back per month is the same on the same salary but with £20k you may eventually pay it back and not have the debt but at £50k you might pay it for longer but still never pay it all back, and isn't it wiped after a period (30 years?) anyway.

I don't understand why they limit the loan so much as it does not encourage those DC from modest households to go and if parents can't support then they will struggle to legitimately borrow the extra needed. No notice is taken of other DC in the house or if they are living at home. Not that my DC would use it as we are supporting them anyway, but I'd like to see the option for DC to be able to borrow up to at least the £7750 whilst keeping the bursarys in place for lower income households, who btw are able to borrow a thousand more than those from higher incomes.

I know a lot of students are able to work and manage their studies or can get work in the holidays etc but not all can.

I know my DC are benefiting so I am not complaining, just agreeing that the barrier to uni is not generally the tuition fees.