Uni payments

[Mulcahy75]

Hi my hb stopped paying for his daughter at 18 after she completed a levels at college, now he's been told she's doing more a levels at uni does he have to start up payments again?

surely, the starting point is to have some accurate information. What is she studying, where will she be living, what support is she applying for, how much is her mother contributing. It would be good if you can support to but that should involve being part of these conversations which doesn’t seem to be happening here.

It is step parent’s income that is taken into account for household income at uni. So my DH will have to contribute towards his step child at university but her dad won’t. I would be inclined to give money directly to the child at uni if DH is able to do so, not through her mum.

They look at mum and dads full household income which is likely to be above any threshold unless all parents aren’t working

The child applies for maintenance loans based on the full joint income.

If over the threshold parents have to make up the difference.

If they can’t afford university it’s because the parents are expected to contribute.

Only the very lowest get full grants.

Absolutely!
The loans should be available for all, too. Parents who fall over the £25k household income where the child's loans get reduced on a sliding scale are very unlikely to be able to pay for accommodation and living costs amounting to £10k plus per annum. These rules are decided by people who went to Uni on grants!! Never forget this.
Any money he provides needs to go to Daughter, not her mother. Even £10 a week on an Asda gift card will help her, and she will never forget whether he did, or didn't, try to help.

My parents pretty much said once you turn 18 your on your own. So I couldn’t go to university as financially would have been hard, I tried to look at the options of the local uni but my Mym expected rent and the course has placements so would have been hard :( My sister eventually went when she was older and her husband supported her.

When I had my children I looked at it as we would need to support them financially until they finished education, including university so we as a family have made choices to ensure we can support.

I always say you think nursery fees are expensive it doesn’t get any easier or cheaper!

Sad that he doesn’t want his daughter to progress her education and possible working opportunities. He chose to have a baby and he should have realised the commitment is ongoing. - it doesn’t just stop when they turn 18.

The student gets a maintenance loan based on the income in the house they live. My DD gets the minimum of about £4,500. The maximum is about £9,000 (as her uni is not in London) and we pay her £100 pw so that she would be in the same position she would have been if we didn't have high earnings. We do this because we can. The system is flawed and not all high earners can because the bar isn't very high, it doesn't take into account outgoings and sometimes people have multiple children in uni. Anyway, putting that aside, we can afford it - not easily but we can.

However, the assessment is based on who she lives with so in this case it will be presumably have been done on her living with the mum. She may well get the full loan and may not need a top up. If she doesn't then the calculation is done on the household she is living in topping up.

Its obviously ideal if the dad could/would contribute but you cannot give what you haven't got. If she lived with the dad it sounds like she would have got the maximum loan and not needed additional.

I've never heard of anyone doing A levels at uni either.

In the England no one gets grants - it's all loans. I believe Wales is different. Also the calculation would have been done on the mum's house income if that is where she lived. The dad's income would not have come in to it. It is assumed that if a step dad has a high income he would be supporting the child. It's a very flawed system but ultimately the dad cannot give money he hasn't got. If the assessment has been done on the basis the child lived with him it sounds like the child would get the full loan and no contribution would have been needed so why would he have to contribute if the assessment was done on the mum's house?

The man washed his hands of his child as soon as she turned 18 and no longer sees her and you find this attractive and support it? Brutal. There’s no excuse for him.

My ex still contributes towards dd1 who is at uni, it’s not much but it’s something. Technically he doesn’t have too.

Do you have children together @Mulcahy75?

Mine gets the maximum and its enough for him to live on, he had to take money into consideration when deciding on a university. He also has a job. I couldn't afford to send him regular money and he wouldn't expect it

If he can, he should give money directly to his daughter. No need for mum to be given anything. But if he can't afford it, he can't afford it.

If he gets the maximum loan then that’s fine
The problem is when people don’t make up the minimum loan to the amount of the maximum

I can't afford to.

I can just about find the money to cover the increase mortgage, energy, food costs...I don't have a spare £4k a year. There are no holidays here either. We simply don't have it.

The threshold for earnings is way too low.

I also think the system is heavily flawed. Step-parents have no legal responsibility over their step-children. In the event of a divorce, they have literally zero right to have any involvement in any children so why their income should be taken into consideration for a fully grown adult, I'll never know. It's a proper pick'n'nix society we live in. Either step-parents have parental responsibility, or they don't.

Totally agree

But that is the system
Campaign to change it,but while the system is that parents should make up the difference ,then it is very unfair to students who don’t get this

Step parents are included because the couple share finances and therefor half their living expenses.
teo Single parents running homes each would not afford to top up.

Untimatly parents contribution reduce the students debts.

If his DD is still in full time non-advanced education then her mum will continue to receive child benefit for her, so if she can prove she is still in receipt of child benefit then yes he should continue to pay, it would be illegal not to.
Or alternatively he can ask CMS to assess the claim.

Whether DH should be supporting his DD whilst at uni is a whole other debate. In the eyes of the law and CMS she’s financially responsible for supporting herself once in higher education. My DH helps his DD out with money whilst at uni but he’s in a position to do that and still pay our own household bills. Most of my friends paid their own way through uni (student loans), only the parents who were quite well off helped with uni costs.

Of course he should still be paying for his daughter and support her through uni whatever course she's doing.

My friend had a similar thing with her ex, took him to court and won so he had to pay support throughout uni.

Any parent may not be able to afford it but guess what? They find a way to support their kids! Second job, downsizing house, sharing a car, getting a smaller car etc etc.