My DD (17) has just come home with a whole pile of Uni prospectus booklets. On checking I find that the LEA take the parents joint gross income (without any regard for their expenses & other commitments) & on last years money we are liable for the full fees of £1215 plus a contribution of another £300 per year towards her living expenses! (last year & this year DH did a lot of overtime to try and pay off our mounting debt problem- failed on both counts)
We have 3 younger children & both work full time because we have to. We're barely keeping our heads above water (& I haven't paid the Council Tax yet because if I couldn't manage £94 last year then I really can't find £106 this year). We'd told her she'd have to take a Gap year & save up, but assumed she could pay for herself... Apparently not. The £300 is deducted from the maximum amount she is allowed to claim as a Student Loan.
To add misery, the Halls of Residence then charge her £80 pw for board.
It's looking like we have 3 options: a) she can't go, (b) we separate, so that as a single parent it's only 1 income we're assessed on or (c) one or both of us gives up work, we become homeless & claim benefits, so she then gets to go for free.
It is so unfair. It's bad enough expecting the child to be saddled with debt but leaving the parents bankrupt as well? Where does it leave us if the others want to go? There is only 5 years between the 4 of them, so we could realistically have 3 at uni at the same time.
Has anyone been through this & lived to tell the tale?