Parents Contribution

Jkay

My eldest will be starting their 5th year at medical school in a couple of months or so.


Our family circumstances have changed dramatically for the better from previous years. I got a new job that pushes my earnings above any grant available but also comes with costs even though I am employed (PAYE) I have had to buy a certain spec expensive car to impress customers etc. (Haven't had my own car for years.)


Eldest was getting a bursary and grant and I have been able to help out now and again.


This year eldest will not get a grant save for the £1,000 NHS bursary.


The letter that was received back from the NHS says that my contribution to my 22 year old child's maintenance will be £5,124 for next year. I thought it was supposed to be about £3,000!? That is a lot of money as I have never had to pay anything like that in a year before and there is quite a difference between £3,000 and £5,000.

Also, my second child will hopefully be starting university this year. Will I have to find £5,000 for him as well?


Again it seems reasonable to pay £6,000 for two but £10,000 will really put a strain on the families finances.


I have looked at the student finance sites and they are not easy to negotiate or understand. I am happy to help with funding but £10,000 will be over one third of my take home pay.


Are there any good websites that give a clear step by step break down of what I have to contribute as I don't want to be left owing my children money or to be honest pay them too much either!

Lokolo

Your post isn't making a lot of sense to me unfortunately. Why are you having to pay any contribution what so ever? You don't, so I am not sure where you are getting all these figures from.

Your son will get a loan for Maintenance and Tuition fees usually. Previous years he has managed to get a grant on top of this because of your low income. As this is now not the case he doesn't get a grant.

Your other son, again, you don't have to contribute anything so I don't keep why you keep mentioning this. He will get the standard maintenance loan and tuition loan if your earnings take you over the grant limit.

CharlieRabbit01

the best course of action is to call Student Finance and ask them.

They will have taken your household income for 14/15 to calculate the award for your son. If your household income is over a certain amount no maintenance grant will be received and the maintenance loan will be reduced.

The government then expect the household to contribute towards their childs living costs. You do not have to do contribute the full or even the whole amount. It is not uncommon for me to see students who have little or no contribution from the home.

there is no change for having a second child at university.

The amount of loan they get is also lower in the final year.

There should be a money advisor at your son's univeristy that you or your son can talk to, they should have the most uptodate information on loans and thresholds.

I am not involved with NHS courses so I couldn't comment on their thresholds.

hope this helps.

Starrystarrynight1

You don't have to pay any contribution if you don't want to, or can't.

You mention that your family's financial circumstances have improved, but don't say when this happened. Both the NHS and SF will work out your children's entitlements based on household income from the 2014/15 tax year.

Is your eldest child still able to apply to SF for a small maintenance loan? I know it won't be much, but it all helps.

Jkay

Household income went from under £25,000 per annum to over £60,000 per annum in January this year. This is because before January my wife and I were separated and got back together in January. My eldest lived with my wife so got the full grant.


The NHS bursary people made it clear that the claim was to be based on 2015/16 pay which I found odd as everything prior had been for the previous year. I would have thought that they would have taken 12 months of my wife's income and 3 months of mine but they don't!


I understand about not being compelled to help but eldest is going to have a hard enough time of it in the last year with all of the travelling to different centres, work in hospitals and study that being mean with money is not what I want to do, even though it will be painful for me!

agrinnall

Does having an impressive car matter more to you than your children's futures? If not I suggest you get something cheaper and explain to customers why you have done so.

sheramber

Your son can also get a loan and travel expenses to placements

https://www.gov.uk/nhs-bursaries/overview

missbiggles1

Jkay wrote: »

Household income went from under £25,000 per annum to over £60,000 per annum in January this year. This is because before January my wife and I were separated and got back together in January. My eldest lived with my wife so got the full grant.


The NHS bursary people made it clear that the claim was to be based on 2015/16 pay which I found odd as everything prior had been for the previous year. I would have thought that they would have taken 12 months of my wife's income and 3 months of mine but they don't!


I understand about not being compelled to help but eldest is going to have a hard enough time of it in the last year with all of the travelling to different centres, work in hospitals and study that being mean with money is not what I want to do, even though it will be painful for me!

If the household income has gone from £25k to £60k - why is paying out £5k pa a problem? Not that I think you necessarily should do so (as others have pointed out) but assuming you choose to do this.

Jkay

agrinnall wrote: »

Does having an impressive car matter more to you than your children's futures? If not I suggest you get something cheaper and explain to customers why you have done so.

Unfortunately the car was specified by the employer as terms of employment. I don't even like it. It is too big and thirst but can't do anything about it.

Jkay

missbiggles1 wrote: »

If the household income has gone from £25k to £60k - why is paying out £5k pa a problem? Not that I think you necessarily should do so (as others have pointed out) but assuming you choose to do this.

We were living separately and I have huge expenses myself from training that I had to pay for and bills and loans that I have to pay off. I can pay the £5k but it will mean hardship for the rest of the family as it is more than the family's spare money after bills each month. Just need to extend the loans! Just need to know why it has gone from £3.5k to over £5k.

sheramber

Why did you think it was about £3.5k?

Do you have a link to that information?