Paying for children at university

Homeownertobe

princesstippytoes wrote: »

Does your partner have a job now? Or are your 11 children (and one on the way) still supported entirely by benefits? Where is the financial responsibility in that?


My children aren't quite at uni stage yet but I will encourage them to work hard to get what they want. That doesn't mean I could sit back and watch them struggle.

Quoted for truth. This is shocking.

I do hope this poster comes back to defend this seeming hypocrisy and explain why taxpayers should fund her irresponsibly large family completely.

baldelectrician

I was talking to someone in the SNP recently, the Scottish Government were talking about the skills gap (in particular problems recruiting GP's in remote areas of Scotland)
One person mentioned using students from England (attending Scottish Universities) who are liable to pay student fees in Scotland and offering incentives to these students (by writing off all or part of their fees if they took hard to fill roles and stayed).


It was also mentioned that the current junior doctor love in policy of the current Conservative administration in Westminster may help things a bit.

toniq

My 2 girls at uni get the same we pay their rents and give them £100 each for food a month, anything else they have to figure out.

One is in the midlands and her rent is £120 a month cheaper than her sister on the south coast.

Both get the basic loans as our household income is too high for any grants.

Both cope fine and do summer jobs back here and weekend jobs in uni areas.

System

I used to be defensive of "mickey mouse" degrees, having done one myself. But looking back i was a naive 18 year old who didn't know what the hell i wanted to do in life (still don't at 29 ) so panicked and did the one thing i was good at during my A Levels. In the end my heart just wasn't in it and i ended up not using it. Although i did have a long period of ill health which has set me back a lot, though now i'm doing a job that doesn't require a degree, i'm not completely hating myself as it a vast improvement of being too ill to work at all.

Part of me still wishes i could use it in someway, but part of me bitterly regrets the choices i made and wishes i could go back and do something more worthwhile (that would get me a career)

Andypandyboy

Homeownertobe wrote: »

Quoted for truth. This is shocking.

I do hope this poster comes back to defend this seeming hypocrisy and explain why taxpayers should fund her irresponsibly large family completely.

Seems she decided against it;)

Clairsdad

Surely going to university is their first venture out into the real world and they ought to be clever enough to make informed choices... Your babies have grown up and are leaving the nest.... great if you can afford to help make their journey more comfortable but please don't wrap them up so tightly they find living away overwhelming. 33 years helping homeless teens and Care Leavers!

newkitchenfund

Parents, and students, need to understand that the amount of grant/loan the student is entitled to is in inverse proportion to the parent's income. In the old days (back in the 80's when I was at uni) it was spelt out on the grant letter that the expected parental contribution was £x. It's a pity they don't do this any more really. Whether you think it is morally right to make adult offspring remain financially tied to their parents is beside the point. Telling them to earn the extra they need is unwise - it is very hard to get a good degree if you are doing umpteen hours in a paid job in termtime as well. (holiday jobs are a different matter).

Anyway, here's how I and my daughter decided on a fair amount:

Go onto the student finance website and calculate an estimate of the support they would get using the assumption that household income is zero. This will give a loan of ~ 3300 and a grant or ~4000 for outside London. Total income from student finance ~ 7300. - it will be about £2000 more in London.
Then when the real numbers come through, simply deduct their actual loan plus grant (if any) from this figure to work out what you should be giving them. If they want more, they will have to earn it.
The danger with saying 'oh, we'll just pay your rent for you' is that they will be price-tag-blind when they go looking for student accommodation. I know people who are in £130+ per week houses paid directly by the bank of mum and dad when they could have got something perfectly OK for well under £100.

priestone

I have 3 children and they will all get the same. They know that part of their choice of university is a financial one, so it's up to them. It is a life lesson - they are lucky that we are in the position to help. My parents couldn't help me.

vw_campervan_mum

There are no maintainance grants now. Only student loans. The Government announced that as soon as they got in power. So with only a year's notice my daughter faces going to \uni with full loans and probably will owe £54K after 3 years. She wants to be a psychologist so needs a degree and then a PHD for another 3 years (which may get some NHS support). I am on a very low income so will be unable to help her and have not been able to save up over the last year.
If I could help I would - as much as possible. To me that is what parents should do for their children. Instead of money I will be giving moral and emotional support - just as vital. A levels are not easy. When I look at her work now it is already of a higher standard than degree level in the 80s when I went to Uni.

minimacka

I have been reading this thread as my son is going to university in September, I have 2 sons my eldest decided no to go to university but to be a electrician apprentice and is now qualified.


I just wanted to comment on the financial side of things and how I so disagree with the parents being means tested as to what the "students" get in respect to loans.


My son wants to do a math degree and we do not live in a place which has a university he could get into (3 x A*) so he will have to move out. He has applied to go to Newcastle university, the accommodation costs are approx £5370.00 (this year). He has also applied to go to Nottingham university and these accommodation costs are approx £6050.00 (this year).


I have been looking at what my son can get in loans if we earnt £25k or under (which we don't) he would get £10702 loan living in London and £8200 living outside London. My o/h and I have 2 full time jobs and I would say earn the "norm" for this area and I have worked out that he can get approx. £5200-£5800. As you can see this might cover Newcastle accommodation if he gets in but wont cover Nottingham.


I think that a fairer way to help students who lets face it might have parents who will not help them out financially but earn above the £70K wage bracket meaning the student would not get enough to cover accommodation costs if they had to move out, would be to give the student the facility to draw from the max £8200/£10702 pot, that way every student would be able to afford to at least have the accommodation costs paid for them if they needed it. Or if they had parents who were willing to contribute then they would not need to "draw" from their pot.


I know that some people would think this is ridiculous because what student wouldn't draw the full amount out but looking at this another way. Say for e.g. my son lived near to a university so lived at home and me and my o/h earnt £25K then he would be entitled to £8200/£10702 anyway so would have the full student loan to himself to spend as he wished which is a lot of "beer/drugs" money. (to quote pigpen)


Anyway this is just my thought and yes me and my o/h will be supporting our son by topping up his accommodation costs if needed and also helping him out if needed with food etc. I also expect him to get a job though to fund his "student lifestyle". My son has worked hard to get his grades good enough to do a math degree and I hope that our helping him achieve his goal of getting his degree will not make him a privileged lazy student.


MM