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?

Important to remember that an interest rate of 5.4 per cent applies to loans in England and from as soon as the student receives the cash (interest is 1.75 per cent in Scotland and doesn't kick in until after graduation).

There are differences on when it's paid back though as the salary trigger in Scotland is much lower. From Martin Lewis:

Once you leave university, you only repay when you're earning above £2,214 a month (equivalent to £26,575 a year) and then it's fixed at 9% of everything you earn above that. The salary threshold has increased from £25,725/yr before the new tax year kicked in on 6 April 2020. (NB for Scottish students, the threshold where repayments start is £19,390 in 2020/21).

It would be interesting to see a complete comparison but there are so many differing factors. I'm not sure how it works if DC decides to go to a non Scottish Uni - presumably they have to then borrow more via SAAS? Not sure how the repayments work for that scenario either.

Although i've just read that the SG are committed to raising the threashold to £25k by April 2021 so that's a positive.

One of DS2s flatmates was really struggling as his parents weren't giving him anything so he effectively only had a few hundred pound to live on while away. He might have been having them on, his parents might not have had anything to give or maybe thought he should stand on his own two feet, I don't know for sure. The rest of the flat would put a few quid in a pot for bread and milk and cleaning stuff and let him use the bread and milk without contributing and would give him some of their food, usually pretending that they'd made too much and could he help them out. That's probably quite an unusual circumstance though.

The interest rate is not really relevant unless graduates earn very high wages @MumofHunter.

It doesn't matter whether the total student debt is £1000 or £1 million. You only pay back 9% of what your earn over the threshold- which is £25,575 in England and £19,390 in Scotland.

So someone earning £30,000 in England currently has to pay back £398 a year. In Scotland, they'd have to pay back £954 a year.

Not quite as progressive as the SNP like to make out!

We have always paid first year accommodation for our kids. Edinburgh was an eye-watering £7000, non-catered, compared with £5000 London catered.

After that, they have paid their own way through jobs.

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
That’s a lovely attitude to have @Alittlewornout

Spanish I see what you're saying but still, for me, I'd rather my children weren't paying back an eye watering amount over 30 years.

Here's an example from Which money-

Megan started her career earning £35,000 and therefore repaying £835 of her student loan per year (9% of everything over the £25,725 threshold).

Assuming Megan’s salary rises by an average amount each year, and inflation carries on at its current pace, over the 30-year repayment period she would end up paying back around £33,860.

However, because Megan was charged higher rates of interest, her debt ended up increasing. This means her repayments were not even enough to cover the interest charged on her student loan.

Total borrowed: £53,850 Student debt at graduation (after three years of study): £58,800 Cost of student loan repayments: £33,860 (remaining written off).

That's a huge amount of debt to graduate with but makes sense with 8k maintenance, 9k tuition (as has a decent salary of 35k) and interest as soon as payment is received in first year.

Would make me feel like I'd want them to stay in a lower paid job tbh which kind of defeats the purpose!

Wax your post about Ds's flat mate made me all teary. Their actions were spot on.That sort of simple compassion and consideration for their flatmate's pride is humbling.

My Dd has worked her socks off while studying at school then uni to earn money to have a savings pot to support herself.

We regularly travel and get her or visit and buy her shopping. She's a cheap shop, usually under £20. She pays her accommodation herself and works a part time job to pay for her social life. I know both sets of grandparents often pop money in her bank account too.

My niece had accommodation paid for and got a monthly allowance too.

@mumofhunter

The amount of the debt is really irrelevant. Whether it's £10,000 or £1 million, you're still only paying back 9% of what you earn over the threshold.

Yes, the notional 'debt' will be higher for English students but the vast majority will not pay it all back unless they're earning huge sums. Someone on an average of £50k a year for 30 years (very unlikely for the vast majority) will only just pay it all back before the 30 year cut off.

In fact, because the repayment threshold is much lower in Scotland, Scottish graduates currently have to pay a much higher sum on a monthly basis.

@Lidlfix

Wax your post about Ds's flat mate made me all teary. Their actions were spot on.That sort of simple compassion and consideration for their flatmate's pride is humbling.

Thanks Lidl - me too. I don't know why teenagers get such a hard time, most of the ones I come across are genuinely lovely. That was a flat of 4 lads and one lass as well so not that it was all feminine influence.

Spanish I don't think you've read my post 😂

Yes, someone earning 50k will pay around 80k back in student loans in England, over the course of 30 years and have 108k outstanding (written off).

I'm not disagreeing that monthly payments after graduating might be lower but the money one must pay back over the course of a lifetime is astronomically higher in England.

But who cares if you have 1m outstanding if it is written off. What one should compare is the monthly payment.

My DS studies down South. He gets the minimum from the Scottish Government which he uses to live on. We have Paid his accommodation (about to head into 3rd year) which has been around £6000 both years (halls then private shared rental). We pay his phone, his contact lenses and I buy him about £150 worth of Store cupboard food/cleaning products each term and we give him a Tesco/Sainsbury voucher at the start of each term to stock up on his perishable food. We pay his rail fares if we aren’t picking him up to return home and we have dropped him some Extra funds for history trips etc. It really mounts up. DD still got 2 years of school left so hopefully DS will have done his Masters by then before we start supporting DD. I hope she doesn’t take a gap year (but knowing her, she probably will) as her dad and I would really like to get this chapter of our lives closed, lol. Oh to have some money for ourselves😁

Oh well, I was brought up in a Scotland where higher education was highly valued, as was making a contribution to society if you were fortunate enough to have the brains, opportunity, support, work ethic and luck to make a difference to the rest of society.

Some of us even had the guts, guile and self respect to understand that there’s no such thing as a ‘free’ education.

Arkadia this is soo boring. 😂

Just comparing the monthly payment is the attitude of people who uses places like Brighthouse and think they're getting a great deal as only pay £15 a month but overall cost is £1000 for a £100 washing machine.

*Although in England it's nigh on impossible to have a definite on how much you'll owe as it's linked to RPI so really a tax anyway.

Anyway, apologies op..probably bored you out your mind on this one!!

No, it’s not boring because somehow the SNP has convinced an entire generation that the Scots shouldn’t financially contribute to world renowned Scottish academic institutions.

These institutions have produced some of the world’s greatest thinkers and achievers over hundreds of years.

International, EU and English students are prepared to pay for excellent academics and courses.

EU students don't pay for tuition in Scotland.
Ffs, can't any thread on Mumsnet exist without SNP bad posts, especially when you're talking tripe.

thepienews.com/news/scotland-eu-tuition-2021/#:~:text=Scotland%20to%20end%20free%20education%20for%20EU%20students,-Posted%20on%20Jul&text=Tagged%20with%20EU%2C%20Scotland%2C%20Tuition,2021%2F22%20academic%20year%20onwards.

It’s not tripe to point out that as a supposed ‘proud’ Scot you might think that in order for ancient Scottish universities and their legacy to survive you and your children might put your hands in your pockets and contribute.

I didn't say I was a 'proud' Scot?! What a weird comment to make!

Yes, I'll send a cheque away and make sure my children do too, as it appears it's on my family's shoulders whether 'ancient Scottish universities' survive (!)

Surely what matters in terms of widening access is removing the barriers that are currently preventing students from poorer backgrounds from applying. The financial constraints put on universities through being unable to charge Scottish students tuition fees naturally means that there will be fewer opportunities for Scots than would otherwise be the case, as institutions take on students from elsewhere to make up the shortfall. Similarly, if the cost of living loan is too low in Scotland, poorer students are less able to go away to university even if they have managed to secure a place.

While 'free tuition fees' makes for a good soundbite, it doesn't seem to be a very effective policy in terms of enabling social mobility, and personally I'd rather have a fully functioning University sector even if that does mean students taking on larger amounts of 'debt' (which as we've seen above isn't 'real' debt and is written off if you don't reach the salary threshold. Not at all comparable with most other loans which you need to pay off or face consequences).

That's the thing. Tuition fees are such a red herring... Call it "graduate tax" which seems much closer to the truth.

@mumofhunter

You are wilfully misrepresenting the English system to by comparing it to BrightHouse.

As far as I'm aware, BrightHouse has never allowed customers to not pay a penny if they earn less than £27,000 and then only 9% of anything over that. And they don't write everything off after a set period.

Both Scotland and England currently have effectively a graduate tax. The difference is that you currently have to pay back significantly more on a monthly basis due to the lower repayment threshold. And that there are now very few places at Scottish unos for Scottish students because the funding provided for them is inadequate.