parental contribution for uni students

WarriorPrincess

Is there a calculator or table that shows how much parents with different household incomes are supposed to contribute to student costs for young people at uni?

missbiggles1

There are various charts (depending on when a course started) and information on how to calculate househo;ld income in here.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_194536.pdf

ciderwithrosie_2

I don't imagine there is. (OK, I stand corrected) However, that could be quite different to what you can actually afford (not just on paper) or are willing to contribute. You only have to read some of the posts in The Student Room to see that some parents aren't prepared to help at all. Most students, even with the loan and grant will have a shortfall or a minimal amount left to actually live on. We are probably looking at subsidising our son at least £250 a month. He'll still need to find a bit of work if he can though.


Unfortunately, although I've been collecting the odd bit of household stuff for him, there's lots more initial expense. He'll need 2 months rent up front (half as deposit), he needs a laptop, about £600 for equipment, some new clothes and shoes (he can buy these), cost of getting him and his stuff moved (we don't have a car). I'm already stressing about all these extras.


When our oldest was at University in London, he was a bit better off as he got the London weighting on his maintenance loan, so I didn't have to subsidise him as much - Tesco delivery once a month, and the odd bit of cash towards the end of each term.

WarriorPrincess

Thank you Miss Biggles, but your link is to a 33 page document dated 2011/12. We need to know how much parental contributions are supposed to be for 2014/15.

missbiggles1

WarriorPrincess wrote: »

Thank you Miss Biggles, but your link is to a 33 page document dated 2011/12. We need to know how much parental contributions are supposed to be for 2014/15.

Gosh, doesn't time fly!:rotfl:

There's an approximate chart in here which you can read in conjunction with the more detailed guide.

http://www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/the-big-fat-guide-to-student-finance-2012.html

rachy182

Parents arent forced to hand over a set amount to their uni children. Parental income does affect the amount of loans and grants that are available to them, which sometimes is less than living expenses such as rent. if parents are well of they are expected to contribute but it is not mandatory. I think most parents will help by giving the difference between money available and basic living expenses and anything else they have to earn themselves. To start i would look at what your child is entitled to and what their costs are and see how much help they may need. I think a lot of are surprised by how much the shortfall is when their child chooses a far away uni but have already committed themselves to the university.


Personally I was entitled to the full loan and grant amount and this would have just covered rent with about £20 a week left over. My parents would not be able to give me much so instead i choose somewhere close by and my parents have contributed by letting me live rent free at home while i study.

Buzzybee90

Not required to give anything, my friends and I had between £0 and £70 a week, ending last year,

Seanymph

Expenses depend upon where they are too.

We costed Bangor for one that ended up in Norwich which is about half the price for accomodation compared to Cambridge.

The grant/loan isn't enough to live on though, as a generalisation, and they have had to work as well as be supported financially by us.

There is also sometimes an issue (I've seen it with their friends) where the loan hasn't come in in time to pay the rent/deposit on the accomodation and kids have had to drop out.

Wyre

My daughter will be starting her final year in September. We (myself and my husband, her step-dad) don't regularly give her any money, we simply can't afford to (her father is not interested in helping out unfortunately). I sat down with her worked out a budget based on the money she has coming in and known expenditures. She puts her phone bill payments away in a savings accounts for several months in advance and pays her rent asap.

We take and pick her up at beginning and end of terms, we do a big shop each time we drop her off and we provided most (but not all) of her household items. We would give her money if she really needs it and wouldn't see her starve if some how she did mess her finances up. I have paid her coach fare home a couple of times and gave her money for an extra-curricular trip to France.

She worked part-time while doing her pre-uni courses and now works in the holidays to pay for flat deposits, phone bills and so on. Equally she isn't a big one on going out and spending all her grant on pub crawls and social events so her money stretches further than most and she isn't in London where just living expenses can be out of this world.

Buzzybee90

Believe me, it will cause arguments between friends. We had countless occasions where those on an allowance would want to go out for a meal, cinema etc and those on nothing wouldn't be able to.

Can't really win!

GwylimT

My son receives almost the full maintenance loan, it doesn't however cover his rent/proportion of utilities. The help we give him varies, we have a card that we top up for his shopping, or when he is busier we will sometimes do an internet shop for him.

Apart from topping up his food card we give him around £20 per week for books, travel etc. We then cover the remainder of his rent/utilities which is £50 per month.