Too much income, no spare cash to finance children at uni

Cadenza41

I have just moved in with my partner and our household income is over£65k. The trouble is my income is only a small portion of that and my partner won't support my children from a previous marriage through uni and I don't blame him. I will have three at uni in september so it will be expensive and I can't support them. How can they finance their studies when they can't get loans and their studies are 5 days a week with lectures andpracticals all day so jobs will not earn enough to support themselves. Any advice would be appreciated

Dazi

Why can they not get student loans?

mumps

Cadenza41 wrote: »

I have just moved in with my partner and our household income is over£65k. The trouble is my income is only a small portion of that and my partner won't support my children from a previous marriage through uni and I don't blame him. I will have three at uni in september so it will be expensive and I can't support them. How can they finance their studies when they can't get loans and their studies are 5 days a week with lectures andpracticals all day so jobs will not earn enough to support themselves. Any advice would be appreciated

Can their father help? To be honest if you and your partner are a couple then your children are also his responsibility, aren't they?

If he won't help and you want to be with him maybe you need to put this on hold until your children are independent. Three years isn't that long.

devildog

Is it per your title that you have no spare cash or that your partner will not support them(it doesn't make any difference to what they can/can't claim) but I would be dubious about living with a man who will not give ANY support to your children.
Do they meet the residency criteria/degree course for funding? If they do then they should at least be entitled to a basic loan, as in a minimal loan not assessed on your husehold income. Are they going to be studying a subject/excelling in a particular sport that their uni offers scholarships in?
I think it is fair to say that most students get part time jobs in the evenings/at weekends to bring in extra cash.
What is their relationship like with their dad and is he in a position to be able to help them out?

Dunroamin

devildog wrote: »

Is it per your title that you have no spare cash or that your partner will not support them(it doesn't make any difference to what they can/can't claim) but I would be dubious about living with a man who will not give ANY support to your children.
Do they meet the residency criteria/degree course for funding? If they do then they should at least be entitled to a basic loan, as in a minimal loan not assessed on your husehold income. Are they going to be studying a subject/excelling in a particular sport that their uni offers scholarships in?
I think it is fair to say that most students get part time jobs in the evenings/at weekends to bring in extra cash.
What is their relationship like with their dad and is he in a position to be able to help them out?

Agreed - particularly someone who earns a high income.

melancholly

i assume that you mean the student loans aren't enough...? i guess this means gap years to save up, term time holidays, interest free overdrafts, seasonal work at uni when possible or any combination of the above. they have the whole summer holiday to try to find work and build up a buffer, plus the possibility of weekend jobs during term time. there may be specific grants from their uni, but that would be specific to any particular place and/or course. this isn't an ideal solution but it's do-able - many students manage this way.

System

mumps wrote: »

To be honest if you and your partner are a couple then your children are also his responsibility, aren't they? .

Why should he support ADULT offspring when he has no say?
Even CSA don't insist on supporting children at University

amiehall

!!!!!! wrote: »

Why should he support ADULT offspring when he has no say?
Even CSA don't insist on supporting children at University

I would expect someone I lived with to do their best to support me if I had financial problems whether that was a gift or a loan. To be working all hours of the day to scrape together money for your kids while he's sitting on stacks of cash seems stupid. It's his financial situation that has caused the children to receive reduced finance payments, wouldn't you feel even slightly guilty about ignoring that?

I think even loaning them some money for a few years would make a huge difference to their quality of life. If that's something that's easily possible for him to do then I would worry about a guy that wouldn't do something like that for me.

System

amiehall wrote: »

It's his financial situation that has caused the children to receive reduced finance payments,

No it's not, it was the OPs decision to move in with him. Even the OP accepts that he shouldn't have to support them.
Unless I misunderstand the Student finance system, for starters the loans and grants foir this year are based on last years income and the grant/loan ratio is the main change. The total money available to claim does not vary by much. They may lose grants/bursaries from the unis but these were discretionary anyway.

Derivative

In all fairness I think you are a bit knackered.

To those claiming the partner should pay - are you serious?

They've been together for probably a year or two if they've just moved in together, and you want him to stump up £5k living fees per child per year?

It does go off last years' income, but just going for it anyway would be even worse - next year you'd have to cover the shortfall and your kid(s) will be left having done only some of their degree and in debt on tuition loans.

I would say your options are to live apart (married couples often do this to get student loan support), or for the children to work part time for their degrees. It may be 'his fault' that they are unable to claim, but I think asking a new partner for tens of thousands of pounds to support your children is a non-starter really - particularly as he's probably been thinking "well, they're moving out soon".

hardtoexplain

Maybe this might be a good opportunity to explain to your children they need to stand on their own two feet and work out how much they need budget wise and how they will achieve this?

I'm a student who has fallen in the limbo category, parents earn so much I only get enough loan for rent but have debt, massive mortgage etc so can't give me anything. I've been at university for 3 years and have worked part time/all through summer in admin jobs to support myself while doing extra things on the side e.g. working at elections, mystery shopping. No work = No university.

If anything I think it's going to improve my chances of getting a job at the end of it, it will set me apart from all the students who have never had a job