Benefits when you have children who are in further education

Oldernotwiser

wendyj90 wrote: »

The trouble is, they can't get any work - what my daughters' have found is that local employers are taking on people who live locally all year round not just term time.

The answer then might be to stay in the university area and not come home for the holidays.

findingmyfeet

hi there, i know nothing much yet about student loans as only just starting with this but i was under the impression that if you have more than one child at uni at the same time they could get extra grant/loan etc???? might not be correct but certainly worth checking out

AnxiousMum

findingmyfeet wrote: »

hi there, i know nothing much yet about student loans as only just starting with this but i was under the impression that if you have more than one child at uni at the same time they could get extra grant/loan etc???? might not be correct but certainly worth checking out

Some universities offer a 'siblings' allowance - I know Kent canterbury do - as we looked at that when second son was making his choices. Might not be that all the OP's children are at the same university though.

space_rider

Due to the recession my daughter struggled to get work this year so she has put her student grant into my account and I divided it by the amount of weeks it covers and put that amount in her bank every week. This has meant that I have only had to give her £30 for food since October last year. My other daughter goes to uni in Sept and I will do the same for her. Ok it doesn`t exactly teach them to budget themselves but at least it stops them from spending all their grant/loan almost as soon as they get it.

PolishBigSpender

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The answer then might be to stay in the university area and not come home for the holidays.

Along with sharing a room with someone and living frugally.

It is not the taxpayers responsibility to subsidise those that NEED to have a seperate room, internet, books, etc.

Or they could transfer university - I was hearing about Bradford University - rents are apparently incredibly low there.

Jowo_2

wendyj90 wrote: »

(It actually looks like my youngest will not actually be coming home for Easter as she cannot afford the train fare. She has no money until her loan comes through again and currently has no food left.)

Many colleges/Universities offer hardship funds - get your kids to check if theirs do.

Also, I hope this comes across as in praise of frugality rather than a simple criticism of her budgeting but is there a particular reason why your daughter can't travel by coach which is usually just a fraction of a train fare (such as not living along a common route) or could not have bought her train ticket as an advance purchase when she got her funds through earlier in the term?

Can she look into the type of car sharing/journey sharing websites that exist where people ask for and offer lifts?

mummytotwo_3

I have to comment on this, I went to university later in life 27 and supported myself by working 20hrs a week, living at home with my parents and travelling an hour each way every day to the uni. I found that on my course unless you bought your own books then there was a waiting list at the liberary and half the time you couldnt get the books you needed to do the coursework as other students tended to hang on them until after the coursework was handed in.

The internet is needed to do the research, there are only a set amount of computers in the university and far too many students needing to use them.

The maintenance grants are minimal, and i only got by as i had my part time job. My parents at the time were in no position to help me except letting me off paying keep whilst i was studying!

To the op have you spoken to your local council about possible single person reduction on your council tax you can only ask, even if its for part of the year.

bestpud

mummytotwo wrote: »

I have to comment on this, I went to university later in life 27 and supported myself by working 20hrs a week, living at home with my parents and travelling an hour each way every day to the uni. I found that on my course unless you bought your own books then there was a waiting list at the liberary and half the time you couldnt get the books you needed to do the coursework as other students tended to hang on them until after the coursework was handed in.

The internet is needed to do the research, there are only a set amount of computers in the university and far too many students needing to use them.

The maintenance grants are minimal, and i only got by as i had my part time job. My parents at the time were in no position to help me except letting me off paying keep whilst i was studying!

To the op have you spoken to your local council about possible single person reduction on your council tax you can only ask, even if its for part of the year.

You lived an hour away and worked 20 hours a week, i.e. you were restricted time wise!

These girls live on campus and do not work - therefore they are able to use the library when nobody else (including them, no doubt) want to!

My uni is small and not great for resources, but with forward planning, it is possible to get everything you need.

Most have a service that lets you recall books so they should look into that, as you should have. If they don't have such a service then they should get onto their student reps and ask if they can have one.

Unfortunately, most students want everything handed to them on a plate, but life isn't like that!

Jowo_2

I guess the fact that two out of three of the OPs University undergraduates cannot secure part-time work is a testament to the recession and/or impact of immigration because of the dearth of temporary casual work.

I'd have thought the fact that one daughter freely knows her loans/grant only cover her accommodation would motivate her to find work to buy groceries, for starters, but we are actually now approaching the end of the student year so how did she get by?

I went to University as a mature student with savings in the bank from previous employment, I worked part time during the term time, full time during most holidays and I generally stayed on in the University town for the majority of my degree rather than return home. I got post-graduate qualifications on the Open University while working.

Partly I stayed on in my Uni city because of the employment opportunities I could have compared to my former small hometown. Partly I did this because I really didn't want to slope off home and pimp off my parents as I'd left home some years before (I expect my age made me more independent and averse to returning to the nest, perhaps I expected my parents would have resisted it, too, though I can't actually recall any reluctance on their part).

My recollection is that most of the students I knew worked, very few had rich folks that coughed up for everything. In scotland, where I studied, it was extremely common for the students to study in their hometown and many opt to remain living with their parents. It didn't seem to have the stigma attached to it that my southern pals had who all seemed to flee as far away from home as possible.

But the OP mentions a struggle with a debt repayment plan so maybe its an idea to speak to a debt advice charity or CAB to sort out that bottleneck.

lizzielondon

bestpud wrote: »

Ah right, that makes more sense - thanks for pointing that out!

That's exactly what I was - speechless! Even with massive debts, she should be able to manage with a salary of that size.

In that case the girls should be getting maximum help from student finance and should be able to fund their own way on that.

It is often students from higher income families who struggle hardest if the parent can't (or won't in some cases) contribute.

If they aren't working, I can't see why they need internet in their accommodation for a start, and they should also be able to manage without buying books as they have time to get to the library and organise themselves.

That may seem harsh but that's the way it is for many students - I live 30 miles from my uni, and I am a single parent who also works, but I manage without buying books by thinking ahead and making sure I can get what I need from the library.

Perhaps they'd let you help them work out a budget to make sure this situation doesn't arise again, as they probably have more disposable income than you!

students need the internet to do their work- reading lists, problem sets, course packs etc are all online- nothing is given to me in paper form- i spend at least £5 a week printing and photocopying & that's the bare minimum i need to have on paper-

my library only has one copy of some books on my reading list - set texts are in very high demand and some books have a 24 hour limit with a fine of 50p per hour after the 24 hours are up- yes the library is open 24 hours a day, but i don't want to get the last tube home on my own- and my library is very well funded as is my uni