Labour Govt - waste of time

D_e_n_i_s_e

A girl that lives across the street from me is preganant - shes is just 20, has just started final year of university commuting to and from uni daily 30miles away, her husband, 23 is also at uni 2years into a four year course. they both pay together £70 week rent for the house.

she was telling me the other day that they are not entitled to
Maternity allowance or surestart support.

there baby is due in December.

As students they can apply for loans - which isnt much ALL which are repayable
the only plus is that the council waives there council tax as they are students.

there total income for the year £5000 (student loans)
in which both have to travel to and from uni - £1000 year commuting costs
books and literature costs - £200
food and drinks cost £1600 @£30/wk
House Rent £3500
Mobiles and Telephones and Internet £250/year
Electric and Gas £1000
Car and home insurance £1000
BABY COSTS - (cot, buggy, pushcahir, nappies etc ?????)

Incoming (loans) = £5000
Outgoings = £7500 (1000 + 200 + 1600 + 3500 + 250 + 1000 + 1000)
SHORTFALL OF £3500

after hearing this i thought how lucky i was that under the tory government - yes the tory government i got free schooling, got paid to go to uni, and didnt have to worry about repayments at a later date.

At this young stage of there lives i think its so sad that there isnt much help out there from this useless govt of ours. As you may have noticed the list above doesnt include socialising or going out costs - cos theres no way they can enjoy themselves with the money they have.

This is DSS reply to them
'As neither of you are working there are no additional benefits we can give you'
'you would need to be working to et working tax cred, child tax credit, family tax credit, income support etc'

adr0ck

only a labour government could have got rid of free education without any backlash

i must admit i agree with paying for some part of tuition fees as obviously not everyone goes.......

however since people now pay to go to university they should in my opinion be able to claim family tax credit etc

its another of labours half baked ideas

like the scottish mps being allowed to vote on matters in england and wales when the english and welsh are not allowed to vote on the same matters in scotland..........its all a con!!!!!!!

Andy_L

A quick trip to the CAB and the Students Union is called for

If they can't come up with anthing looks like one of them's going to have to put their academic career on hold & start supporting their family

going2die_rich

No such thing as "FREE" anything. If your not paying for it someone else is. Why should tax payers pay for someone to get a good job, such a doctors and dentists who then run off to private practices?

Wasted of tax payers money.

I do agree that student loans should be larger and more based on what job you get later, but in order to do that they should be charged a fair interest rate and not just inflation. That way their is more money available for the next lot of students.

It's the last generation of students who are to blame, giving them a choice in paying backing the student loans was a big mistake. Obviously they were going to always defer it.

JennyB

Awful. My entire life I was an anti-Conservative voter until this year when I've finally got so sick of Labour messing up our country that I have actually turned to the dark side, I mean Conservative. Not that they're a lot better but at the moment I think they couldn't be a whole lot worse! To hell with the lot of them I say.

[Deleted User]

Students, in debt? Wow, they must be the first students to have ever experienced not being able to survive on student loan only.

Why exactly should they be entitiled to anything? Maybe they should have thought about the financial consequences of starting a family when neither are in employment and are currently running up major study-related debts.

If they are in significant financial strife then one of them will have to quit their course and get a job.

JennyB

BTW, IMHO tax payers should pay for students to get good degrees and get good jobs because it benefits our economy which in turn benefits everyone. It's the same as giving tax credits and paying welfare benefits to people with children - if people aren't supported in having children they won't bother and then we all ultimately suffer.

Our current system is just inching towards a decent education for the rich and a poorer (cheaper) education and mountains of debt for the poor. I thought Labour were all for social change?

lynzpower

Not strictly true, if you are not earning you can get child tax credits. Loads of discussion on the benefits board about this.

Conservatives wanted to abolish the maternity grant entirely, labour doubled it from £250 to £500

[Deleted User]

Once, university was elitist. Only the best students went and the results of higher education were significant for future earnings. Because few people went to university, the state could afford to pay for them.

So, do you want your kids to be able to go to university if they're average, but it'll cost a lot, or only if they're top-grade and it'll be free?

whambamboo

D_e_n_i_s_e wrote:

A girl that lives across the street from me is preganant - shes is just 20, has just started final year of university commuting to and from uni daily 30miles away, her husband, 23 is also at uni 2years into a four year course. they both pay together £70 week rent for the house.

she was telling me the other day that they are not entitled to
Maternity allowance or surestart support.

there baby is due in December.

As students they can apply for loans - which isnt much ALL which are repayable
the only plus is that the council waives there council tax as they are students.

there total income for the year £5000 (student loans)
in which both have to travel to and from uni - £1000 year commuting costs
books and literature costs - £200
food and drinks cost £1600 @£30/wk
House Rent £3500
Mobiles and Telephones and Internet £250/year
Electric and Gas £1000
Car and home insurance £1000
BABY COSTS - (cot, buggy, pushcahir, nappies etc ?????)

Incoming (loans) = £5000
Outgoings = £7500 (1000 + 200 + 1600 + 3500 + 250 + 1000 + 1000)
SHORTFALL OF £3500

after hearing this i thought how lucky i was that under the tory government - yes the tory government i got free schooling, got paid to go to uni, and didnt have to worry about repayments at a later date.

At this young stage of there lives i think its so sad that there isnt much help out there from this useless govt of ours. As you may have noticed the list above doesnt include socialising or going out costs - cos theres no way they can enjoy themselves with the money they have.

This is DSS reply to them
'As neither of you are working there are no additional benefits we can give you'
'you would need to be working to et working tax cred, child tax credit, family tax credit, income support etc'

Cry me a river.

You know that when I was at Cambridge University aged 19 my girlfriend got pregnant.

Do you know what I did?

I dropped out, got married, spent all my savings and ran up debt initially, got a job.

I didn't say "I got this woman knocked up, now someone else should foot the bill".

I left immediately, got married, got a job, worked hard, and enrolled with Open University, and am completing a degree with them. Which I have paid for in full.

Entitlement culture is absolutely pathetic.

The world owes you *nothing*.

Never forget that.

I don't understand where you get your attititude from. Why in god's name did she get pregnant when she's got no job and no income? Accidents happen, as they did to me, but jesus christ, when they do, people have to make sacrifices.

Your attitude is "why should I (or my friend) have to pay for my (her) lifestyle, somebody else should foot the bill". No, wrong answer.

She needs money to pay for "Mobile phones, internet, a university education". Nope, she doesn't. Nobody 'needs' these things.

And boo hoo hoo, "As you may have noticed the list above doesnt include socialising or going out costs - cos theres no way they can enjoy themselves with the money they have. "

For god's sake, why do you think they should be able to enjoy themselves? Should people who have decided to get pregnant while NOT HAVING ANY MEANS OF SUPPORTING THEMSELVES not face the consequences of their actions? Wah wah wah, give me some more money. Er, no thanks.

Oh and by the way, the loan amount is not £5k/year, it's £4.4k/year EACH. That's nearly £9k. Is that not enough???? And that loan is gold-plated, index-linked, practically free money. http://www.studentsupportdirect.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=1647,468683&_dad=portal&_schema=PROTOCOL

I'm sorry but I have no sympathy whatsoever. I have been there and took no handouts from anyone. You have two intelligent people (as they are going to university), who are having a child and are perfectly capable of supporting it - they are not disabled, they are not ill, they have just got a horrible entitlement culture (or you have on their behalf) that *somebody else* should pay for their behaviour, and it's stinks rotten. It's no wonder we have estates filled with generations of people who think "i'll have another kid and then we can get some more money" and never do a day's work in their lives. This is no way to run a country.

The government says if you have kids you get more benefits if you can be bothered to go to work. So what's the problem? Either go to work, or don't complain.

I just can't believe people think that you should get free education, free money to "enjoy yourself", have a child, get that paid for as well, get benefits for this, benefits for that. It's totally parasitical.

Is nobody willing to take responsibility for their actions?

[Deleted User]

It's becoming clear that you went to Cambridge.

What, by his adult attitude of taking responsibilities for the consequences his actions? It must have taken massive guts to drop out of a prestigious uni to 'do the right thing'.