Warning: Parents with 2+ children who’ll go to uni, SAVE NOW, the system’s biased aga

When I was at uni years ago my parents had a good income so I didn’t qualify for a loan or grant but my parents wouldn’t give me any financial help so I just had to struggle, work multiple jobs etc. This has always been an issue if parents are unable or unwilling to help. Having 2 or more kids at uni at the same time is clearly really tricky but even if there’s an age gap parents will still be expected to fork out, the pain will just be dragged out longer instead. Government needs to decide if over 18s are “independent adults” able to sign up for a lifetime of debt, or “dependent children” relying on bank of mum and dad, at the moment it’s whatever suits at the time and I agree it isn’t made clear to students or their parents.

My eldest son has just started university. His maintenance loan is less than his rent, hence we are paying his rent for him, and letting him use the loan to live on. When means testing parents why is our expenditure not taken into account? Mortgage repayments, car loans etc eat vastly into most peoples salaries yet these are not touched on - just the amount you earn. It worries me that for 2 years I will have to do this for 2 children together. In total if all 3 go to uni, which they could do, and they all cost me what the first year has cost, I will have paid £48 000 at the end of it all. By this point my husband will be 63 - and the government would also like us to be making adequate provision for our retirement. It just doesn’t all add up.
Incidentally, my son is living in a University owned flat and on a corridor with 8 others. They share 3 toilets/ showers, and 1 kitchen, and the bedroom is basic, no wash basin or even carpet on the floor. Between the 9 of them the university collects £4602 in monthly rent. This is way over the top compared to private rental prices. I can’t even say it was well maintained when he moved in - paint peeling off the wall in places and dirty to add insult to injury.