Benefits trap mum on £70k a year says she can't afford to work

grizzly1911

michaels wrote: »

Other interesting facts
Even though she and ex husband could afford a 1.6m property he can only pay £13 pw child maintenance?

IF uni tuition fees are a loan repayable only if above average income is earned why are they free for those with unwaged parents?

Is it worth 'separating' when my kids are uni age?

If parents are on low income then the student gets mostly grant assistance with very little loan component. The loan amount increases and grant assistance tails off rapidly as income increases. As parental income reaches something like £42K all vestiges of grant assistance disappear and the maintenance element of the loan also starts decreasing.

Under the new scheme I don not see why any parental income should be taken into account in assessing loan eligibility. All students (where parent-kins can't afford to pay for it) should fund their education through student loans and all should pay it back at the appropriate rates. The students are over 18 and it is for their benefit they are going to Uni. If it is such a big advantage then repayment will not be a problem. There is no need for grant assistance.

andy.m_2

I think the repayment threshold on student loan payback is way too high, not nearly enough of a deterrent to ward off timewasters and those on "fine arts and pottery" degrees!

grizzly1911

andy.m wrote: »

I think the repayment threshold on student loan payback is way too high, not nearly enough of a deterrent to ward off timewasters and those on "fine arts and pottery" degrees!

Perhaps there needs to be flexibility in the scheme to provide "greater assistance" to those doing "worthwhile" degrees. Even more "free" places to the sciences and engineering related courses.

CLAPTON

andy.m wrote: »

I think the repayment threshold on student loan payback is way too high, not nearly enough of a deterrent to ward off timewasters and those on "fine arts and pottery" degrees!

don't knock it; much of the wealth of england was based on pottery

Generali

andy.m wrote: »

I think the repayment threshold on student loan payback is way too high, not nearly enough of a deterrent to ward off timewasters and those on "fine arts and pottery" degrees!

I did a BA and now earn well over double the average household income.

My mate did the same degree and probably makes better than half a million quid if you include his bonus!

It's not what you've got it's what you do with it!

andy.m_2

Degrees should be a sliding scale, with the fees inversely proportional to the likelihood of a job at the end of it and that contribution that job will make to the country as a whole.

Engineering/law/medicine, highly subsidised
History of Spanish WMDs with Man Utd studies modules gets the full £9k hit payable as soon as you collect your first Giro!

IronWolf

Easy to fix. Stop all benefits to anyone that refuses two job offers.
Stop all benefits to anyone that hasn't applied for a suitable job in the last 2 weeks.

CLAPTON

andy.m wrote: »

Degrees should be a sliding scale, with the fees inversely proportional to the likelihood of a job at the end of it and that contribution that job will make to the country as a whole.

Engineering/law/medicine, highly subsidised
History of Spanish WMDs with Man Utd studies modules gets the full £9k hit payable as soon as you collect your first Giro!

It does, I suppose depend upon what one sees as the purposes of a Uni education.

I rather think we should have liberal arts graduates, the odd historian to remind us of the absurdities of the past, the country does well (financially) out of art & design and I struggle to see why a medical doctor, who get a guaranteed job for life and an income expectation of over 100,000 and with massive numbers of people applying should be heavily subsidised.

Graham_Devon

IronWolf wrote: »

Easy to fix. Stop all benefits to anyone that refuses two job offers.
Stop all benefits to anyone that hasn't applied for a suitable job in the last 2 weeks.

That's alright, but that would include chucking parents off benefits who have received a job offer that doesn't fit in with childcare.

Lokolo

CLAPTON wrote: »

It does, I suppose depend upon what one sees as the purposes of a Uni education.

I rather think we should have liberal arts graduates, the odd historian to remind us of the absurdities of the past, the country does well (financially) out of art & design and I struggle to see why a medical doctor, who get a guaranteed job for life and an income expectation of over 100,000 and with massive numbers of people applying should be heavily subsidised.

And I am pretty sure just having a certain degree doesn't make you neccessarily employable! I'm sure there are plenty of Oxbridge 1st's out there who are complete !!!!!! with no business sense.