The ultimate incentive worked! Now onto phase two

zigmeister

Just wanted to mention something about your brother and the uni fees, Dinah.

My Dad and step-mum are sending me £200 a month for me to pay off me fees. It's currently sat in a savings account and I'm not touching it. I've already said to them that I'm grateful for them doing it, but it doesn't make sense, especially at the moment.

The student loans are at like 0% interest, and if you don't earn enough to pay them off within 25 years (I think) then they write them off. It baffles me as to why anyone would want to pay them off anyway. Surely they (your parents?) have a better use for the money!

Instead, my Nan (Dad's Mum) thinks that they may say 'ok, use it for your house deposit instead' which would be great. As they are obviously keen to help me in some way.

I think it might be worthwhile mentioning to your parents how it's not worth paying it off early/at all. It might make them see then that they're not being mean by not helping your brother out, it just makes financial sense. Besides, as other people have said, everyone at uni is in the same boat!

ETA: About your brother getting a job, I know tons of people who didn't have a job and managed ok on their grants/loans, but a few months in they soon wished they had that bit of extra cash. I was lucky in that I don't really drink much (as in go out drinking) so I wasn't wasting money on that. But I had debts to pay so I needed it.

He'll soon figure out if he wants the extra money enough to work for it. There's no use pushing him if at the moment he doesn't see the need and is feeling lazy. He'll work it out when he gets there

wendz86

My parents paid my first years fees then said if i got a loan for the other two years they would pay me off. They didn't actually do this but they are now saying they would take that money off teh deposit i'm borrowing which will be really useful.

Dinah93

Oh it's not to pay off the loan, its that hes at the minimum level because of what my parents earn, so the loan only covers his fees, not his rent or living costs, so they're trying to pay these too!

Birdie85

Dinah93 wrote: »

Oh it's not to pay off the loan, its that hes at the minimum level because of what my parents earn, so the loan only covers his fees, not his rent or living costs, so they're trying to pay these too!

This seems really unfair IMO, everyone's outgoings are proportionate to their income; if you earn £20k a year your mortgage etc will reflect this, most people on £50k a year have bigger mortgages, utilities bills etc so they don't really have the extra income to just throw at their kids when they go to uni and need support. If it is a loan, that will be paid back in theory, you should be able to choose how much you need to borrow as you're the best judge of your own circumstances. Most parents earn enough to support one home, not 2, yet they're expected to just find the extra money!

zigmeister

Dinah93 wrote: »

Oh it's not to pay off the loan, its that hes at the minimum level because of what my parents earn, so the loan only covers his fees, not his rent or living costs, so they're trying to pay these too!

Oh I see! :think: I guess that's where the student account overdraft comes in then! That's mad though. I swear you get money towards your accomodation etc even if your parents earn a lot. You just don't get as much. Maybe his uni will do bursaries as well. That's a bit of extra money. Either way, it would sensible for him to get a job!

I'm of the thinking that uni isn't there to just mess about for 3 years. It costs too much! It suddenly becomes very real and adult when you go from living at home being looked after by your parents, to sorting out your own money and being responsible for where you live etc. You've got to be mature enough to deal with it all I think, and at the moment I don't think it's very fair of your brother to be putting your parents in the position where they feel they ought to help him out a lot. If he was at least trying to earn a bit of money before he goes then it'd look a lot better! Have they tried explaining to your brother that they can't really afford to pay for his uni costs? I know I'd feel really guilty taking money off my parents if I knew they were struggling and I wasn't working myself. But I don't know your brother or the situation, so !

Sorry, essay and a half!

Tete_en_l'Air

Similarly Birdie, I have a couple of friends are twins with well off parents, and both twins went to Cambridge which I imagine charges more than most other unis, and they found that there was no allowance made for the fact that they were sending two kids off to uni at the same time. I guess to tailor the means testing to every single person's individual cicumstances would be impossible.

wendz86

You can get a seperate loan for fees these days, i did in my last two years of uni.

My sister also got more money when I went to uni at the same time as her. The first year though she just had the normal loan. We did both get more than the normal though because my parents incomes were counted as low enough and they took into consideration there were two of us. I wonder if it depends on where you live as i know they are all dealt with by different people.

Birdie85

I have twin friends like that, well off parents but no allowance for 2 of them going to uni in the same year. Their parents aren't *that* well off! The whole thing is unfair, they shouldn't encourage so many kids to go to uni when the financial support isn't right.
It could be worse though, OH's best friend is a pilot; it cost him £60,000+ to do all of his training- I have no idea how he sleeps at night with all of that debt!

Dinah93

End of the day all I can do is offer my opinion and hope they take it, they're all adults and its not my place to sort out their finances for them.

wendz86

That is very true, you are only trying to help though, so hope they see it that way.