how do you live off student loans if it all goes on rent

cor26

I have to pay £220 for rent (the flat is a dump) out of £400 a month term time only in private accomodation but in halls it is £350 for rent incl bills. Much better to rent privately.

Also in some universities you can apply for hardship funding (you have to prove you have more going out than coming in and cant extend your overdraft any further which means I'd have to be in £1500 debt before I can recieve this help i think?)

I buy most of my clothes of of ebay with money from selling old clothes and other stuff which has really helped.

Foodwise by looking on here and trying things ive managed to find cheap substitutes for the things I like.

It does annoy me that you are expected to get money from your parents as my dad is a single parent and can just afford his own rent and living without having to pay for me to live. My aim was to get a job over summer but not through lack of trying havent succeeded.... seems that there are to many students and not enough temporary jobs nowadays.


Though at the end of it im still skint.

Oldernotwiser

silvercar wrote: »

Wait for the backlash. Wind forward 25+ years when the parent who didn't support their offspring wants help as a pensioner. The ex-student refuses on the grounds that they need the money for themselves or are putting it by to fund their own children's education.

Remember it is your children that choose your care home.

Now that I DO agree with!

Oldernotwiser

cor26 wrote: »

It does annoy me that you are expected to get money from your parents as my dad is a single parent and can just afford his own rent and living without having to pay for me to live.

Surely if your father's that badly off you get the maintenance grant as well as the loan, giving you far more than £400 per month?

Broke_Student

The_One_Who wrote: »

Well then we should be giving those from poorer backgrounds all the advantages that those from wealthier ones get. Good schools; supportive parents who can help with homework; good, safe neighbourhoods; annual holidays; days out; gardens; houses that aren't going to damage their health because of damp; good food; adequate heating; etc etc etc.

OK, so they get some financial help when it comes to higher education, if they get that far. They don't get the leg up they need throughout compulsory education. There are children from poor backgrounds who start school miles behind some of their more well-off peers. Being smart isn't cool for a lot of people. Those who try to do well in school can be bullied mercilessly because of it. Those from middle-class areas don't tend to have this experience.

Thank you for putting some of those points across as I can really relate to some of them.

Accomplishing my achievements had always seemed to be the 'wrong' thing to do because of the environment in which I was educated. At school I would have to watch on as my 'friends' would spit on a teachers back or demolish equipment before I could use it. Getting straight A's in everything I attempted was seen as seriously uncool but I was smart enough to join in with anit-social behaviour out of class to avoid being bullied like other kids sometimes were. In this sort of environment it was almost impossible to find ways to excel further and I would have to find ways of improving my CV out of school. The teachers were not always helpful either - I once had a piece of coursework draft marked at 98% stolen from the teachers cupboard and there was absolutely no followup and I had to do it again in 2 days! I think of it almsot as a real life Grange Hill!!

Being in that sort of educational circumstance usually correlates with less than average circumstances at home, as I would say was the case with me. Without going into too much detail - terraced house no real garden, divorced parents (but a mother with very good morals), nobody in the immediate family through higher education so nil help with homework or careers advice, chavs/rudeboys on the streets making the home environment feel less safe etc.

My University obviously recognises this through giving me the scholarship I recieve (as it is based on both merit and home circumstance). I am actually very comfortable as I also recieve a full loan/grant/bursary package, so have started saving for a deposit when I graduate from medical school.

This sometimes raises comments from my friends at University. It is 'unfair' that I get more money than them, I 'run down' the system, their parents work hard etc etc. I don't always blame them as many have been brought up bright but naive. Many are from ridiculous backgrounds; new cars, £10k+ per year private school fees for 7yrs, even getting bought flats to live in - i've noticed there is a disproportional amount of rich kids at London medical schools. Ofcoarse not everybody is as well off as these guys but the fact is most of the middle class kids who don't get a full grant have lived relatively fulfilled lives (but the problem is they don't know it) and have current security they cannot see (i.e. their families won't struggle for food or shelter whilst at Uni).

I know this post is a little off topic but I wanted to emphasize the different situations people can be in as understanding this is important in understanding that how limited funds are distributed is a resonable way in todays world.

If loans/grants/bursaries were split equally between all students then those like myself are more likely not be able to go to Uni despite how hard they tried when younger, yet those from middle classes should still be able to go to Uni (but be slightly more comfortable for 3 years).
If the money is distributed disproportionately away from those most likely to be from fulfilled/secure backgrounds (but still manage to go to Uni) then more people will be able to go to University (and importantly, those extra people are likely to be the ones who will gain most).

What do you guys reckon?
I say go f*** yourself to the person who once told me I should not be at University achieving more than them yet still be from the background I describe.

bestpud

Ignorance (perhaps not intentional) is playing a big role here, I agree.

A few have said it now and the more posts I see trying to justify equal grants for all, the more I believe it to be true.

The_One_Who

bestpud wrote: »

Ignorance (perhaps not intentional) is playing a big role here, I agree.

A few have said it now and the more posts I see trying to justify equal grants for all, the more I believe it to be true.

I didn't think there had ever been equal grants for all though. That is really just not feasible with the numbers of students there are.

Oldernotwiser

The_One_Who wrote: »

I didn't think there had ever been equal grants for all though. That is really just not feasible with the numbers of students there are.

There never were equal grants for all; they were assessed on parental income even when only 10% of the population went to university in the 1960s.

Oldernotwiser

The trouble is that there's a lot of middle class families who aren't prepared to give up aspects of their lifestyles to support their student offspring. All this talk of "higher living expenses" is just an excuse, in my opinion. My (working class) parents made real sacrifices so that I could go into HE the first time round but others don't choose to, regardless of how they choose to dress it up!

The_One_Who

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

There never were equal grants for all; they were assessed on parental income even when only 10% of the population went to university in the 1960s.

I thought that. But have never really looked into how any of it worked before my time. I assume there was a similar fuss over funding in those days too?

astrocytic_kitten

I think Broke Student has put things better than I ever could! (Btw, I'm a first time poster and this seems a scary thread to jump into...)

I started uni in 2000 and was one of the people who got the minimum loan and no financial help from their parents. I'm from the sort of low income background that Broke Student describes, but due to a fair amount of luck as well as hard work my parent's income had increased to be just on the borderline when I started uni. They were still struggling financially though and apart from the odd train fare home couldn't help me out. I was really lucky that part time work was in abundance when I was at uni, but even with working throughout the term and holidays I still struggled and came out of it with a big overdraft and credit card debts in addition to my student loan.

Despite this I do think that giving students from low income families more money, rather than giving everyone the same (lower) amount, is a good thing. Any system like that will have people who are on the borderline and lose out. But life isn't fair, and coming from the background I did I wasn't horrified by the living standards in the cheap halls, or by never having any money to go out or buy new things, or by sometimes having to choose between putting food on the table and having a warm house - because I'd grown up with all of those things and knew that it was a normal way of life for lots of people, who had worked hard all their lives but still struggled. I knew that life could be much worse and I was - and still am - just grateful that my parents were always so supportive and encouraging of what I wanted to do, I wouldn't change them for the world.

My boyfriend at the time was from a comfortably off family and was horrified that my parents didn't give me any money. I never managed to get him to understand that it wasn't a choice, they'd lived their whole lives hand to mouth, never been able to save, and yes their outgoings had increased as their wages did - mainly by buying a house in a safe area away from the council estate - but as they had done it fairly late the mortgage was really high and they just didn't have money to give me. If I couldn't change his mind I don't suppose I'll change anybody here's. But I just wanted to put my tuppence in!