How much should parents contribute financially?

Jinx

I think you can only give what you can afford and what you feel is 'fair'.

My daughter is at uni in London and she uses her grant and loan money to pay for her rent (halls at the mo and it takes the full amount she gets and a bit more). My hubby and I paid for her travel for the year and we pay her 30 a week for food. Her dad pays her 20 quid a week which I surmise goes on socialising We also pay one-offs like project materials, travel home and the odd new pair of jeans.

She works 18 hours a week in a shop and this helps fund going out and spending money for gigs over the summer etc.

Im very proud of how she budgets and think it does them good to work if they have the time. Others in halls think it is 'terrible that she HAS to work'. Fortunately she doesnt feel the same....

Living_proof

My son is at Edinburgh and for three years I paid £3000 per year on top of the full loan he gets. He also had a job which became something of a problem in that the late hours meant he was finding it difficult to get up for lectures and his body clock went haywire. My estranged husband, meanwhile, sat on his backside and provided nothing. I think the CSA should have the jurisdiction in cases like these to insist both parents provide at least something out of their income.

Oldernotwiser

Jinx wrote: »

I think you can only give what you can afford and what you feel is 'fair'.

My daughter is at uni in London and she uses her grant and loan money to pay for her rent (halls at the mo and it takes the full amount she gets and a bit more). My hubby and I paid for her travel for the year and we pay her 30 a week for food. Her dad pays her 20 quid a week which I surmise goes on socialising We also pay one-offs like project materials, travel home and the odd new pair of jeans.

She works 18 hours a week in a shop and this helps fund going out and spending money for gigs over the summer etc.

Im very proud of how she budgets and think it does them good to work if they have the time. Others in halls think it is 'terrible that she HAS to work'. Fortunately she doesnt feel the same....

Considering that she must have about £130 left after paying for her hall fees and with her travel expenses covered, I can't actually see that there's a lot of budgeting going on here. If you gross up her income, she'll have considerably more money coming in from the various sources than most young workers earn.

Oldernotwiser

Living_proof wrote: »

My son is at Edinburgh and for three years I paid £3000 per year on top of the full loan he gets. He also had a job which became something of a problem in that the late hours meant he was finding it difficult to get up for lectures and his body clock went haywire. My estranged husband, meanwhile, sat on his backside and provided nothing. I think the CSA should have the jurisdiction in cases like these to insist both parents provide at least something out of their income.

The CSA wouldn't be involved in arranging financial support for adults in their twenties and, even if they did, that would mean that student finance would have to be assessed on both parents' income, rather than just that of the resident parent. Rather counterproductive, don't you think?

Living_proof

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The CSA wouldn't be involved in arranging financial support for adults in their twenties and, even if they did, that would mean that student finance would have to be assessed on both parents' income, rather than just that of the resident parent. Rather counterproductive, don't you think?

Hardly. My son would have had a smaller loan to pay back and the contributions to support would be equally shared.

j-josie

With my DD we worked out the difference between what a student from the lowest income family would get and what she had been allocated based on our household income. The difference was £140 pm so we paid her that.

I also used to send her tokens for 2 for 1s for cheap meals out etc and would add something to my weekly shopping (tin of beans, washing up liquid, that sort of thing but sometimes a nice brand of skin cleanser etc..) so that when she came home, I had a goodie box for her to take back. (Also some much appreciated home made meals!)

AvidSaver

Very interesting thread and given much food for thought on dilemna of what should pay DD1 when she goes to Uni in September (grades permitting). Her tuition fees and halls should be covered by Student loan, but household income too high for her to qualify for anything else.

Happy to pay to cover essentials, eg food/books, but not keen to fund regular new clothes and a hectic social life, and reassuring to see other parents share my views. Also expect DD to get a part-time job.

Likely to get emotional blackmail from DD as friends' parents are likely to pay a monthly allowance far in excess of what I am planning, but will stand firm.

Lioren

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Personally, I am in a similar situation to your daughter, I get the minimum loan (as my Parents earn too much) and at my uni, even the cheapest accommodation only leaves a couple of hundred pounds left from the loan. My accommodation leaves (i think) about £150 over the entire year, however for the first two terms I had to supplement the loan amount with about £200 from my own Pocket.

How much you should (or even if you should) give your daughter extra money is heavily dependent on your daughter and her personal situation.

If she has cheaper accommodation - she doesn't need as much (And I mean if the university average is cheaper, not which one she personally chooses. It was my choice to pick a less expensive accommodation to cut costs, rather than go for one of the £5000 per year ones here!)

Her course and the local job market will heavily influence the amount as well. (I'm doing Engineering and have very little free time, though due to the job market around here I would be able to find a job if I had time. My friend studies English at a different university and has trawled the streets 1 day a week since the start of the academic year submitting CVs and asking about vacancies with no luck.)
I would definitely recommend that you encourage her to look for Summer Jobs - I would have had a much worse time this year had I not had a 40 hour/week job for the whole of last Summer. With regards to other holidays, I've spent the majority of them doing Uni work and revision, so personally wouldnt have been able to work, but if your daughter can, then I know people who would suggest doing that.)

My parents give me £50 per week to live off. I have only spent over this twice, and both in exceptional circumstances (In the first week of term where I had to pay over £300 for course books and again in another week when I decided to go on tour with one of my societies and had to pay the deposit for my house next year. This did, however, come out of my money I had earnt over summer.)
One of the best things that you could encourage her to do is something that I picked up off my flatmate - She writes down exactly what she has spent at the end of every day with different colours representing food, toiletries, clothes and 'socials'. It's then a lot easier to see where you are overspending and to cut back in those areas, plus when you keep a close eye on your cash it's very hard for it to go missing.
Also, it's not unreasonable for you to ask for a breakdown like this if you are providing her with the money (I know my parents were pleasantly surprised at how little I spent on partying - this is mostly because all my money was being spent on food as I love cooking and baking!)

I don't have to budget particularly strictly with this amount of money.
My flatmate is currently living quite happily off £20 per week (though she cant really go on nights out on this amount). If you set your mind on a ballpark figure that you will be able to and want to give your daughter (take off £5 so that there is some leeway :P) and discuss it with her. . .

silvercar

j-josie wrote: »

With my DD we worked out the difference between what a student from the lowest income family would get and what she had been allocated based on our household income.

Totally agree that this is the fair starting point. If everyone did this then all students would be on an equal footing.

This would keep a downward pressure on rents as few students would be able to afford inflated rents.

johnswife

I would like to say with regard to finding a job, don't give up. It is not easy and my daughter is just completing her first year and she started looking last August for jobs where her uni is (UWE Bristol).

She got two interviews and offers in her first week moving there then they let her down.
She has, like another poster said, walked the streets handing out her Cv's, posted on line , rang and lfinally in the last 2 weeks was offered THREE jobs. She is now doing two of them to get as much money during the summer as she can. She is so much happier now she can earn some money. She walks everywhere to avoid paying bus fares.

My youngest is starting this year and has currently got a cleaning job at a local small hotel. It is very hard work but she knows she has to save some money for when she starts.

My other daughter will be in her final year and did travel in from home for the second year but wants to get a flat nearer as the travelling was too much. She had a christmas job with Argos last year and they have told her to contact them in August for christmas this year so that i think is sorted. she is applying to jobs to try and get a summer one in the mean time.

Good luck to everyone.