Am I being unreasonable?

Savvy_Sue

jackashton1 wrote:

i dunno how long his holidays are, but im off from the 5th of june to the 9th of october, surely he could get a full time job then...

He probably could, but he's more likely to see if his old part-time job wants any hours done over the summer. And then he can jolly well help me with any odd jobs I need done at work as well!

The point is, what he earned before he ever went to Uni has given him enough to comfortably pay his fees. His loan comfortably covers his living expenses this year. He needs to work out whether he NEEDS to earn a lot more for future years. If he doesn't, I can't see him going out of his way to do so. I've pointed out that holding down a 'proper' full-time job would improve his cv, but I'm only his mother, so what would I know? :rotfl:

lauz_snores

Hi all
Just wanted to add, if it's possible please don't let your son work while he is at university! I'm a 2nd year student, didn't work in my first year (and spent my time at the edge of my o/d limit) but worked as a temp leading up til xmas. I now regard it as my biggest mistake in the past year - my marks slipped, i was tired so i missed lectures and deadlines. I went from getting a 65 point average (thats a 2.1) in my first year to being currently at 51.5 (just a 2.2). i know everyone is different, and maybe i couldn't cope where others might but when you want money for food/clothes/nights out etc you don't always think of the effect working extra hours will have.

I'm all for working during the holidays though! I had two jobs last summer - one 9-5 mon-fri, and the other 9-5 sat & sun... it was tough but it paid off my overdraft (and then some!)

Savvy_Sue

lauz_snores wrote:

Just wanted to add, if it's possible please don't let your son work while he is at university!

Since he's not under our roof any more, it's a bit difficult to control what he gets up to. :rotfl:

However, I take your point and repeat that if at any point he said money was a problem we'd help in any way we could - as long as he was able to demonstrate that he hadn't spent it all on 'cigareets, whuskey and wild, wild women' or the like!

I don't think he'd hold onto a job he couldn't cope with. The one he has in holidays is a really cushy number: at the local cinema. When they're busy, they're busy, but once the films were all in he used to do his homework, read a book, or go and watch a film himself sometimes. I suggested that the Uni arts centre might have similarly cushy numbers, but he's held off so far ...

ianian99

freebie_junkie wrote:

please dont patronise me just because i dont live with my mummy and daddy and feed out of their pockets, i would hate that- it would be stifling and uncomfortable, to take money from your parents at such an age! imagine!

but you get all your money and handouts from the government so in essence you are feeding out of the tax payers money

ianian99

alexjohnson wrote:

The reason the taxpayer helps is because any benefit given to students is likely to be paid back directly many times through higher average earnings => higher taxes, and indirectly for us all through having a better-educated and therefore more productive workforce, which helps the economy. Not all students will be productive, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing. Although this is MSE (!) it's worth adding that most people think having a few people just sitting around and having a "think" makes our society richer, too.

And, you may be confused as to how generous the state is now anyway. Students now have loans, not grants. Grants were frozen 16 years ago and scrapped completely when Labour got in, which was nine years ago. These are subsidised to the extent that the taxpayer pays if they can't pay back, and the rate of interest isn't a market rate. But generally there aren't "handouts." Personally I completely agree with this - this has happened in the US for years and through a different method Australia and it is completely fair enough (I believe) to ask those who benefit most to pay most.[/QU

I was refferring to people on benefits

jojo2004

Check if he can get help from the Access to Learning Fund - there's a fab post on it in this thread, and it's money from the government, so can't be bad!!