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

enthusiasticsaver

I am not a Daily Mail lover as they tend to exaggerate on stories like this but if true this is horrendous. Most of us on average incomes cannot pay university fees upfront and if it is the student's responsibility then why should those on benefits get them paid by the taxpayer? I also think this is the reason why people think the welfare system needs sorting out. She will be on benefits for the rest of her life if it is generous enough to pay this without her doing a stroke of work.

The_Green_Man_2

grizzly1911 wrote: »

You were incorrect.

If you refer to your peer group, as parents, if they children aren't entitled to grant or loan assistance then the parental income is assessed as too high.

I don't agree with the system.

Yes we know that people on benefits/low income get this, it said so in the article. Hence my earlier response:

"To be fair, I don't understand why the 'children' (adults surely if they are at university?) have their fees paid by the taxpayer if their parent is on benefits?"

This is also why I mentioned my peer group - clearly people who aren't on benefits or low income as their kids don't receive assistance for living costs.

CLAPTON

grizzly1911 wrote: »

You are right but the loans directly cover the fees and barely cover the accommodation costs at anything like reasonable parental income. Above £42K ish the maintenance loan tails off quite quickly.

Maybe I am misunderstanding this but

I can't post the table but here is a link

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/students/funding_2012_13.php


it seems to show that even at £62,000 and above, the maintenance loan is £3575

at a modest £40,000 students get 5230 maintenance loan AND a grant of 540

The_White_Horse

everyone should get no more than rent paid on a two bedroom flat. you want more, work.

It is utterly disgusting and a disgrace on the country that this layabout is in a house genuine workers on £35-40k a year would struggle to afford.

personally, i'd drag them out by the hair and throw them on the street where they belong.

grizzly1911

CLAPTON wrote: »

Maybe I am misunderstanding this but

I can't post the table but here is a link

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/students/funding_2012_13.php


it seems to show that even at £62,000 and above, the maintenance loan is £3575

at a modest £40,000 students get 5230 maintenance loan AND a grant of 540

I couldn't find a table like this this afternoon, I was going off a graphic demonstrated in a Uni lecture hall recently.

At £42600 grant nil and from £42875 loan starts dropping away.

At my daughters chosen university accommodation runs from around £90 per week/39 weeks, self catered but most are in the £110/120 range for first years. The posh ones, normally taken up by foreign students apparently, are at £140+

My son is in a shared house where the rent is lower around £3200 on a 52 week contract before bills around £500 plus keep.

The poorest are entitle to £1700 - £3602 more than the "wealthier" students.

IMO it should all be loan funded at something closer to the £7000 if needed.

A ticking time bomb for future years whichever way it gets cut up.

The_White_Horse

all students are over 18 - their parents finances should have nothing to do with it.

neverdespairgirl

jamesmorgan wrote: »

I think you are confusing training with education. Degrees like Medicine and Law are training - they train you to do a specific job. Numbers are rationed by the appropriate professional bodies and as a result unemployment is low.

With medicine, I understand it's that way.

Not for law. Entry to law degrees is not regulated by the Bar Council or Law Society, and a law degree does not train you to do a specific job. The training comes after a degree, with firstly a year of vocational education, and then pupillage (for barristers) or a training contract, previously known as articles (for solicitors).

Jennifer_Jane

As it happens, my brother is a solicitor. He's never been to university. As NDG says, he did articles for, I think, 3 years, and then 6 months academic training somewhere. He then started lecturing at a very early age, combined with being in practice where he has remained for the last 50 years.

chewmylegoff

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

With medicine, I understand it's that way.

Not for law. Entry to law degrees is not regulated by the Bar Council or Law Society, and a law degree does not train you to do a specific job. The training comes after a degree, with firstly a year of vocational education, and then pupillage (for barristers) or a training contract, previously known as articles (for solicitors).

I would be surprised if anything like half of people who read law end up getting a training contract or pupillage, let alone make a career out of it. There are hordes of people with law degrees - it is one of the subjects with the greatest oversupply of graduates.

CLAPTON

Talking to a partner in a well known commercial law firm, he told me that most of the new graduate were anything except Law;
they particularly liked Engineering and Science graduates as they felt they would have more empathy with the clients' business.