Parents organising students lives

Oldernotwiser

noelphobic wrote: »

Until what age? 18? And wouldn't a change of government, which seems likely, affect this?

It goes up to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015. I believe it has cross party support and has been well publicised.

andyrules

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I never mentioned JSA for this age group; there has to be severe hardship for someone to be able to claim it.

sorry, it was another poster who said this - theonewho
'They'd rather take the money in the form of EMA or JSA. '

so I wondered about that as I thought 16-18 couldn't claim jsa, but I'm probably way out of touch with that one!

patchwork_cat

People mature at differnet rates, I wish my parents had been more supportive when I was at Uni and in my early twenties and I think that that is the crux being supportive. If that includes researching thngs for people be they friends, children or parents then so be it. If a friend is in a pickle and asks me for advise I will research it and let them know what I have found out, I consider that I would do more for family.

It is hard and a balance between being over protective, protective enough and not giving a damn for your children. Sometimes parents get the balance wrong. I will research things for my son, but also he will research things for me it is all part of being there for each other.(atm he is looking into cars for me and letting me know what he thinks.)

mellymeep

I have an amazing relationship with my parents, especially my mam. She is there for me whenever I need it, and I quite liked the fact that she was involved in my decision to go to university, she came with me to open days and we looked around and chose my accommodation together. She's been through all the financial hardship and is good for advice when I need it, so she did give me some help when first filling in the finance form (which is actually really confusing!!) after doing it three years in a row I'm an expert now though haha.

I think there's nothing wrong with parents wanting to take an active place in their children's further education.

andrina_nightshade

noelphobic wrote: »

I find this a bit confusing - how could they stop you applying for a student loan?

I encouraged my son to apply for the maximum loan available, as I knew he would not be able to borrow money elsewhere at such a low interest rate. He doesn't often go into his overdraft, just occasionally when a grant or loan payment is due. He will be graduating with a big student loan to pay off but at least he won't have to worry about an overdraft as well, which he may well have done had he not taken the maximum funding available.

They just didn't give me the details of their pay so that I could put that information on the form. As a result, I only get a small non-means tested loan (which they don't know about...) that doesn't even begin to cover my travel expenses, let alone my books, equipment and other materials costs. Sorry, I should have made that clear in my original post. Apologies for any confusion caused

I agree with you about student loans - if you're going to be in debt, it really is the most sensible type of debt to be in.

patchwork_cat

andrina that isn't on. Are you an only child? If you haven't got a loan how do they expect you to manage (sorry if you have already said haven't read all 5 pages!) Do you know any medics? It is a VERY hard degree and onerous my parents talked very sternly to me to talk me out of it! ( they were both Dr's!)

I feel for you when my DH was in his final year in the days before loans when parents paid for kids at uni if they earned too much my DH's father refused to pay his last 6 months of covenanted grant.

My MIL had to ring her ex husband, DH's father, and tell him to behave. My own mother said that she would pay my DH's last 6 months if necessary!

Student loans are as good a loan as you will get, but it does worry me people starting out in life with debt. However I also don't like means tested grants - as someone else pointed out you are 18 so why does parental income matter.

The_One_Who

andyrules wrote: »

sorry, it was another poster who said this - theonewho
'They'd rather take the money in the form of EMA or JSA. '

so I wondered about that as I thought 16-18 couldn't claim jsa, but I'm probably way out of touch with that one!

Sorry, that was me. I know a lot of people who appear to have a bit of cash to throw around even though they have left school, have no job, and don't come from a wealthy family. I have assumed, wrongly, that they must be getting some form of state-benefit.

noelphobic

The_One_Who wrote: »

Sorry, that was me. I know a lot of people who appear to have a bit of cash to throw around even though they have left school, have no job, and don't come from a wealthy family. I have assumed, wrongly, that they must be getting some form of state-benefit.

My nephew, when he was still at school and quite legitimately in receipt of EMA, told me in all seriousness that, if a student's parents were self-employed, then they could claim the highest rate of EMA, regardless of parental income! When I questioned him further, it transpired that one of his fellow pupils, who had self-employed parents had told him this! It was obvious that this pupil's parents must have fiddled their figures in order for their child to receive EMA and, if that was the case, they were no doubt also fiddling the taxman!

patchwork_cat

noel they may well have had a good accountant. The thing with being self employed is an accountant can advise you re tax deductable amounts as I am sure you are aware.

noelphobic

patchwork_cat wrote: »

noel they may well have had a good accountant. The thing with being self employed is an accountant can advise you re tax deductable amounts as I am sure you are aware.

yes, I am aware of that, but this particular family were extremely well off and definitely would have been above the levels at which a child could claim EMA.

BTW seeing, as you have pointed out that it is 'would have and not would of' (which is one of my personal bugbears, so thank you!) I would also point out that it is 'deductible' and not 'deductable' as far as I know, although 'deductable' is actually more logical!