Real life MMD: Should youngest get more?

pennypinchUK

As hard as it is, you have to treat each of your children equally. It's out of your hands how much universities charge, so you must be consistent and pay each the same. Yes, it's hard on your youngest that they're not going to get all their fees paid. But you've been consistent and not shown favouritism.

JoannaS_3

tom1985 wrote: »

To the other posters saying children should pay for their own debts, whilst I would generally agree with this sentiment I wholeheartedly disagree where education is concerned. A majority of members of this site would have grown up when university education was free. Now kids are expected to pay £27,000 tuition fees, have less chance of finding a job, pay higher taxes and work more years until retirement. Have some compassion.

Compassion is a great idea but......University may have been free for our parents generation but life was equally as hard but in different ways. I don't know many parents who could afford to pay £36K for both their children's University education and what's the harm in working hard, saving up and paying for something you really want yourself, if it means that much to you, you'll find a way of paying the £27K back. Too many of us young people expect life put on a plate for us when if we want it, we need to go out and earn it! :beer:

Jacqui123

I agree with Rachb2. Use your money more wisely and help your children after graduation, i.e. with a deposit towards a house etc. I am in the same situation, with one child at university on the lower rate and with another due to go in 2012. I too was shocked at how easily this change went through parliament, but having read more about it, we have resigned our daughter to the fact that yes she will have this large 'debt', probably around £40K, once the maintenance loan is added on, but as Katieso says it does not hang over them, it is deducted at source so they don't notice it, it does not affect their credit rating for the future - and unless they are high wage earners they won't ever pay it back and it will be written off after 30 years - the latest figures that 70% of graduates will never pay this money back. Don't think of it as a 'debt' but more as government funding by the back door.

Brian_Steele

You cannot predict inflation or future government policy changes, although some might think they can.

The most equitable way of doing things is to provide the same "service" to both children. If you paid for the first one's tuition and say 50% of his living costs, then do the same for the second. While the monetary figure might differ, they have both been put through university having to pay proportionately for the same things - 50% of their living costs only and none of their tuition.

It does work the other way. If you bought the older one a laptop and then the younger one a laptop a few years later, it will have cost you less.

scorpian81

I think if you have decided on giving your children money, it should be of equal amount. Your youngest child may decide to ignore university and join an apprenticeship for example.

careerbee

Do not pay off student loans! Seriously. Cheapest loan you'll ever have and no real impact on future prospects if you don't may it off.

If you want to give you kids money, give them the same amount and put it in their bank accounts. They can choose to use the money towards their loans if they want to. The size of the loan shouldnt make any difference on your decision because it won't make any real difference to thier future financial situation!

ShakeyStacey

Student loans are character building (and one of the best loans you will ever get). Encourage your children to pay off the loan as it is meant to be paid off (as a percentage of their wage). If you want to give them something, set up a savings account and put the money in there. Stress that they can do whatever they want with the money but reccomend saving it for a rainy day.
I'm currently a third year student, soon to graduate. My parents gave me money before I started uni that I have kept just for emergencies, and added to when I can. Now I have the money to put a deposit down on a flat and not worry about getting a job straight away. I feel that this is much better than spending it on fees!

minerva_windsong

Honestly? I would put the money into savings accounts and then when the time comes for any big life decisions (like buying a house or getting married) give it to them then if you want to give your kids the money. If you really want to pay their student loans off for them then split it equally. That's just my opinion though as I left university just under two years ago with £20,000 of debt and I would much rather that my parents didn't use their money to cover my loans.

juliamarsh

If I had the money to be able to do it (and assuming I could get a better rate on my savings than the interest rate charged on the student loan) I would invest the money at the highest rate I could then pay the loan off in a lump sum once it became payable. I would do the same for all my children because I do not want them to be penalised for getting an education and have to start their working lives with a debt. I would like to put them all in the same position financially once they finished university so if I had to pay a higher amount for one loan than another then that's what I would do. Of course if the Government changes the rules and penalises early repayment then that could change everything, might be better to fund their university fees out of savings if you were lucky enough to have that sort of money, or else pay their monthly repayments for them once they were earning if the interest rate was still lower than what you could earn on your savings. Everyone will have different views on this and most people will not be flush enough with money to make this anything other than an academic argument, but I am old enough and lucky enough to have benefited from the grant system so paid nothing for my university education, and in an ideal world I would like to put my children in that position too if I could sensibly afford it.

halibutty

Do not pay any of the student loans off!!! I can't stress that enough. Even if your youngest averages £30k/year wages, he'll still only pay back £24,300 before the debt's written off (((30,000-21,000) * 9%) * 30 years), saving you nearly £3k before you even take into account the interest on it. Do you really want to give the Government all that extra money for no reason!?! And because of the way the student loans are structured, you pay off in real terms the same as you've borrowed, so by paying it off early you won't save any money. In fact in the scenario above, by paying it back early, you'd end up paying much, much more! Like others have said, if you want to give them a helping hand, give them the money as a deposit towards a house. They won't spend forever throwing away money on rented accommodation whilst they're trying to save up, and they'll get much better returns on it in the long run.