Son going to Uni in September

mumsthe

Hi, my son is going to uni in September, he has been offered places at 4 different unis but due to me not being able to support him financially and worrying about him not eating properly etc he is going to accept the place at our local uni so that he can live at home and at least I can help him by keeping a roof over his head and food in his stomach.
Anyway I phoned around today to find out what money I will lose when he leaves 6th form, I am shocked, I will lose his maintenance, child benefit and tax credits totalling £533 per month. If he was to go to college I would keep most of it until he is 19 but because he chooses to go onto advanced education I lose it all.
I have been looking through this forum to see if there is any help that we can apply for and I can't find any. The only way I can think of managing is to cut my hours to part-time and claiming HB and CTB which I havent claimed for years.
Sorry for the longwinded explanation but that helps you understand where I am at the moment, he has applied for grants etc and we are waiting for paperwork to come through for me to fill in but we don't know how much it will be and it will probably go towards fees etc.
Thanks for reading and I hope somebody is able to help as I could burst into tears right now.
Sharon

MrsManda

With regards to your son's education I know it sounds like a good idea getting him to go to the local uni so he can live at home but as he has the choice he ought to choose which uni he goes to on the basis of the course content and where he feels is most suited to him. Three years is a long time to regret not going somewhere else.
He will get a separate loan for his fees, loans to pay for accommodation and other costs plus grants on top of that.
There's a calculator which works out roughly what he is entitled to HERE

jillymit

Oh Sharon, first off, well done to your son for having so many offers.

My son is also due to go to university this year and for a number of reasons has chosen to live away on campus. This is the only way we are able to afford for him to go really as he is now able to apply for a maintenance loan to live on and will qualify for a maintenance grant as we have supplied details of our household income.
As for food and looking after himself, he is the fusiest of eaters and does the bare minimum for himself in the way of personal care. I'm sure he won't starve though and although I have similar worries to you I think he will find his own way in time.
Could your son get himself a part time job to help out?

blue_ashleigh

My parents didn't support me for my first year or two at uni but I managed OK. Your son could buy big bags of pasta which doesn't cost much but lasts ages. Also freezing things such as bread and milk means it lasts longer because you don't have to throw it out (although I'm sure you know all this being on MSE!). My point is that although I know you must be feeling terrible right now because of the nasty governement (GRR) your son should still manage to go to uni.

The student loans (maintainance loan things) are around £4,000 a year for non-assessed income (ie. you earn over a certain amount) or even more if you don't earn as much. Then there's the tuition fee grant so you don't need to worry about paying that (at least not right off). Also, I know getting into debt is baaaaaaad, but interest free overdrafts are at least £1,000 for your first year if your son does run into trouble. Also, universities have an access to learning fund, basically if you're really tight for money you can apply for this fund and get X amount of money (I think it's up to £500) which you don't need to repay as a way of the university saying "here have this money so you can keep studying and don't have to drop out".

Also, in the first year most universities allow you into the second year with a bare pass in all modules (40%). Obviously you want to do well, but first year marks do not count towards your final grade, so you could get 40% overall in the first year but still get a first. Meaning that if he your son did get a job, most student unions have bar jobs going or there may be something in the town/ city, as long as he still did enough uni work to get by he wouldn't suffer from having a job. i.e. he could work some late night shifts at uni to bring in extra income.

I really hope you manage to sort things

mumsthe

Thank you Mrs Manda and jillymit for your replies, my son is able to do the course that he wants to at our local uni and the results are on par with unis up and down the country. He has already got a Sat/Sun job which pays to keep his motorbike on the road and is not workshy so that would not be a problem. I just wish there was some way I could help him finacially so that I would not have to worry about him.
I have looked at the calculator that you gave me the link for but I still don't know if this is going to be enough to cover everything.
He is the first in our family to go to uni so it is all new.

welshmoneylover

Good luck to your son, it's a huge shock when you realise just how much money you lose when they leave FT education.

Hope things work out for you hun

mumsthe

Thanks to you also blue-asleigh for your advice I am worried about him having to work full time just to live then not being able to study if he is too tired but you have said that you managed and it was okay, thank you.

Student loans!! Due to getting myself into debt some years ago and now only having 1 year left of payment to be debt free I am trying to teach my boys that they live within their means and pay only in cash not get into finance agreements, loans worry me but I suppose he has to work it out for himself, he has got a sensible head on his shoulders.:rolleyes:

Char_pdc

Hi

Altho I don't have much experience of this because I am on the old style of loan (pre-top up fee) iirc, the maintainence loan (to live on) and the fee loan (to pay the tutition) are separate. So I would bear this in mind when budgeting with your son for costs and stuff.

I totally get the first to go to uni thing - I was the first in my family to go to uni and we found it really hard to cope at first (I graduated from my degree almost a year ago in summer 2008).

Afraid I can't help you out with the benefits thing, but what uni will he be at? that way people may be able to offer some more tailored advice on the circumstances?

hth

MrsManda

blue_ashleigh wrote: »

but first year marks do not count towards your final grade

Not necessarily, my first year counts though not very much and it is still possible to get a first if you just pass 1st yr but it does make it harder in later years.
On saying that, your first year is the year you've got the most 'free' time so any money you can earn and save is going to be useful. Remember the 3/4month summer you get which is very useful for earning cash in.
I'm the first in my family to go to university and my parents had very little money and really bad debts so couldn't help me financially. However I lived on campus, still managed to have a lot of fun and worked hard. Providing your son sits down with a budget prior to going to uni he'll be fine.
It helps if you don't think of student loans as a debt, more as a graduate tax.
It doesn't count towards your credit rating so doesn't affect getting a mortgage etc... and you only have to pay back a % of your earnings after you start earning 15K or more. Plus it's the lowest interest loan ever likely to be available.

As your son already has a job make sure he fills in an R85 form from the HMRC - he won't pay tax as a student and it saves the effort of claiming back paid tax at the end of the financial year.
Where do you live? If possible it'd be better for your son to try to get a job with the university (the union is a good place to start) as they are conscious of workload and exam time. Plus stewarding concerts etc... is a good source of income and it generally is casual work where you can pick when to work so if you've got lots of time you can work a lot and during busy times at uni you don't have to work at all.

Good luck to your son, remember it's a mum's job to worry but try not to too much, I'm sure he'll be fine

Surfbabe

Understand where you are coming from as my DS went off to Uni in 2007 - 300 miles away BUT that was the best decision he could have made. Mothers always worry but they have to stand on their own two feet at somepoint and at least at Uni there are support mechanisms in place to help out. Some of my DS friends have stayed living at home and they have missed out an awful lot by now living on campus. DD is off to Uni in September 150 miles away !!! We can;t afford lot finanically but will both have had Student loans (around £3400 if not income assessed) for paying living expenses and Fee loans to pay their tution fees. They both have part-time jobs here in the holidays and DS does at Uni as well. It doesn't interfer with his work load!

As for your loss in income, you would have lost it anyway once he turned 19. If you are recieving maintenance for him, can his dad not help him out once he is at Uni?

mumsthe

Thank you everybody for your reassuring replies, we sat down last night and had a talk, I said that it might be better if he lived on campus instead of at home he now thinks that I dont want him at home, I can't get him to understand.
We live in Plymouth and he has been offered a place at Plymouth Uni, the next place he has been offered is Bristol Uwi. He has until 4th May to accept a place so we really need to come to an understanding.
I know I would have lost the money when he reached 19 but that is still over 1 year away and I would have had time to get my head around it but tax credits have said I need to tell them as soon as he leaves school so they can adjust payments (end of June) not long to work out new budget by loosing £330 per month.
His dad walked out of his life the week before his 2nd birthday, he has paid maintenance regularly for 10 years but is refusing to increase the amount he pays off his arrears so they are paid off before September so there is no way he will help his son whilst he is at uni.
Thank you everybody again, I will try and have another talk with my son later when he gets home from his friends.