Do you want your kids to go to university ? then have you sorted out the funding ?

ruperts

Do the maths and for most it's a 30 year graduate tax, not a loan system. At 9% above £21k it's not too painful, either, so if I was a parent I wouldn't even think about trying to save for it. I'd just let the kids take on the extra tax if they think it's worth it.

Lokolo

ruperts wrote: »

Do the maths and for most it's a 30 year graduate tax, not a loan system. At 9% above £21k it's not too painful, either, so if I was a parent I wouldn't even think about trying to save for it. I'd just let the kids take on the extra tax if they think it's worth it.

The £21k also raises with inflation.

StevieJ

melancholly wrote: »

most seem to pitch it at £6K to £8K, with some of these websites suggesting it's ok to spend money on non-essentials like clothes every month within that budget!

Ok that might be alright for the booze but how much for the food and accomodation?

eleanor.

I'm 21 and if my parents had miraculously managed to save that kind of money I could think of far wiser ways to spend it than on a degree.

I don't have a degree and have no intentions of going to uni. I am working and have far more practical experience than my peers who are just finishing and struggling to find work.

atush

I have a son at Univ of Bham. His living costs are 7K a year. So yes, he will going to year3 and will be leaving w/o debt- I am paying for him. 10K+ is over egging the pudding to scare people. Maybe if you went to the London school of economics or other london unis. Most of the country is far cheaper.

We have twins starting in 2012. They will also be paid for. We have been saving. It was the prudent thing to do. If money ran out, then I would have them pay but hoping it wont come to that.

I got a degree and was a scientist. But I grew up in the USA where you had to pay big money to go to Uni (like the UK is facing now). So no one went and took silly subjects It had to be worth the expense. but I know planty of people who didn't go, and became plumbers and builders etc. And they earned more than I did as a scientist.

Getting a degree is a great thing to do, if you are looking for work in sectors where it is helpful, and if you are taking a 'proper' subject. But if you are taking just any old subject (and gosh knows there are some useless ones out there), just to have the Uni experience then no it is not money well spent.

If you aren't going to study something serious, then you would be better off learning a proper trade such as plumbing, electrician, hairdressing etc. These people are needed and wanted and you won't leave training with as much debt.

Lokolo

StevieJ wrote: »

Ok that might be alright for the booze but how much for the food and accomodation?

After accommodation I spent approx £300 a month. This included running a car (apart from insurance which was paid out of placement earnings).

My accomodation was £185 a month (cheap up north!)

atush

IronWolf wrote: »

£9,000 a year today in fees, around £10,000 a year in living costs and more in some locations, can give rise to a £25,000 a year bill.


This has to be one of the best quotes of the day. Firstly I was gobsmacked that anyone thinks students need £10k a year, I lived off at most £5k a year.

BUT, then he adds 9 to 10 to get 25!

Brilliant

Well said. We know he didn't get an A in GCSE much less A level maths :cool:

I am putting a boy thru as we speak. He gets around 7K a year. It pays for his room (around 4500) 50 a week in food money, transpo to and from Uni, and books.

He had a kids savings account around 2K when he started, and has just spent it. I think he has a fiver left ;-) About 1K a year. So this was spent on his larking around- form his own pocket. when he was a boy and given money I made him put first all of it, then later half if it (he got to spend half) in his account. He sure was glad to have it, but this year has had to get himself a real job (got 2 actually so they are out there).

For xmas this year he got a laptop (I got free Tesco Vouchers), and a few vouchers for free meals (again Tesco for Pizza express and a pub) and a Sainsbury's gift card.

So the OP was right people have to save, and it is really hard ont hose of us who did save but didn't have a crystal ball to see that the fees would rise to 9K per year. but as I went in the USA where it is and was expensive, I always did expect for it not to last forever (ie free tuition, later 3K).

kfm

IronWolf wrote: »

£9,000 a year today in fees, around £10,000 a year in living costs and more in some locations, can give rise to a £25,000 a year bill.


This has to be one of the best quotes of the day. Firstly I was gobsmacked that anyone thinks students need £10k a year, I lived off at most £5k a year.

BUT, then he adds 9 to 10 to get 25!

Brilliant

Why is everyone bashing this guy for suggesting living costs may be 10k?!

I live in London and pay £155/week for accommodation. Granted, this isn't cheap compared to some places in the UK but it's not out of the norm for the capital. 52 weeks and that's over 8k already.

That leaves less than 2k or £40/week. Even if you're only talking about the essentials such as food, travel, electricity, gas and water, you'd be hard pressed to stick to this budget.

Just because you were able to live off 5k doesn't mean that everyone else can.

Idiophreak

kfm wrote: »

this isn't cheap compared to some places in the UK but it's not out of the norm for the capital. 52 weeks and that's over 8k already.

"The capital" is not "the norm" though - and that's the point. Yes, if you want to study in London, with the ridiculous cost of living, it's going to cost more. But most people, if they're worried about saving money, won't bother. There are few exceptional uni's in "the capital", anyway.

Most people's rent won't be anything like your £155 - I paid around £53 in Swansea (which was including splitting a spare room amongst us), my OH paid around £96 in Southampton - both of which were, incidentally, on 40 week contracts...53x40 = little over 2k.

Swansea is cheap. London is expensive. People are talking averages on this board....and the average cost of living, for a student, simply isn't £10k per year.

kfm

Idiophreak wrote: »

"The capital" is not "the norm" though - and that's the point.

So people shouldn't expect their children to study in London? I don't understand why having few or many exceptional universities in London is relevant.

Surely, it's better to assume a worst case scenario where the cost of living may be high. If you get it wrong, you can pocket the difference. Underestimate and you may have to settle for a less "exceptional" university.