MSE News: Hidden 27% rise in university costs for parents of new starters in England

Former_MSE_Steve_1 · 26 September 2016 at 12:25AM

Parents of students going to university are facing a large hidden hike in the amount they are expected to contribute to support their child's living costs, with some now asked to pay over £5,300 a year, MoneySavingExpert.com analysis reveals....

Read the full story:
'Revealed: Hidden 27% rise in university costs for parents of new starters in England'

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

agrinnall · 26 September 2016 at 7:44AM

It can't be that hidden, Martin was talking about it on his 5Live segment a week ago. Sensationalising an issue really doesn't help, you're not The Sun you know.

Sacredcat · 26 September 2016 at 3:28PM

I agree with Martin. We have just realised how much we are supposed to pay, and it's far more than we thought. Thank you Martin for the attempts to publicise the issue. we are responsible parents but we don't think we will be able to pay the full amount that the Government is expecting. I hope the political climate changes and we can go back to having a fair system. Despite what MSE says about 'it's a loan and you don't have to pay it back until you earn over X amount', as parents we are really feeling the strain here. Also, children from poorer families tend to feel stressed about borrowing vast sums of money. It is awful to feel that one is in debt. From what I hear, it is also causing poorer children to drop out of uni.
When our children graduate, they probably won't be able to afford to buy a house ...

Mrs_Arcanum · 28 September 2016 at 11:26PM

This will hit students from middle income families hard. The government are basically dictating to parents how much they must pay towards their children's university costs. How can this be right?

Plus according to the student loan calculator they are not covering the increases to tuition fees.

No thought to existing outgoings, or cost of living.

Sacredcat · 29 September 2016 at 6:22PM

I intend to vote for a political party that believes education should be free for poor families and means tested for the middle income families. Not a student loan system. I would like to see education properly funded through taxes again. I want a society that allows hope for poor, and middle class clever people, that they can get a good education, get a decent job and afford to buy a house.
For the moment home ownership and education houses is increasingly only going to be for the wealthy. If we wait a while health care will go the same way unless there is a change in politics.

TheGardener · 29 September 2016 at 6:43PM

I was looking at an old copy of a university prospectus from 1957 - it contained a table of figures and it said " If the student is a resident (not living at home), he will be required to make, towards the cost of maintenance, a student contribution assessed in accordance with the income of his parents. Parents are required to furnish a return of their income before the beginning of each session (term)"
The figures showed students were expected to make a minimum contribution of between £60 and £212 per academic year depending on parental income. Students were also obliged to pay 30s pa for the Student Union and 40s pa towards the cost of stationary and materials. Not really sure what the average family income would have been in the 1950's but I suspect these contributions were as scary then as ours are now.

There was no system of loans - either the parent paid or the student worked and saved. Student bank accounts and overdrafts were not, as far as I can see, available.

Love the assumption that the student would be a 'he' :rotfl:

MSE News: Hidden 27% rise in university costs for parents of new starters in England

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free