Paying for 25 year old child

silvercar

Spendless wrote: »

I've just looked up nmw for 18-20 year olds and working on a 37.5 week that comes out at £11.5K, so not enough to meet that criteria.

I'm really not sure on the exact amount, it was a guess from what I've read here and on other forums.

peachyprice wrote: »

That makes no sense whatsoever.

You believe that instead of paying towards their children's uni expenses people would rather pay a higher mortgage or for a loan they don't need? So they'd end up paying more than if they made a contribution? Really?

To make the system fair all that needs to be changes is for the maintenance loan to allow all students to pay rent and live a very modest existence with a top-up based on income for students from poorer families. That at least puts everyone nearer the same starting position.

Or even better regulate rents for halls to be affordable on a maintenance loan. At the moment we have the ridiculous situation where a student living in London receives a larger maintenance loan and is comfortably able to afford halls and food even if their parents are earning a decent wage while the same student studying in the rest of the country would not receive enough to even cover their rent.

I doubt London halls are affordable with the larger maintenance amount. the fact is that there are some very expensive towns/ cities where student rents are high and halls follow suit eg Bristol, then there are cheaper areas eg smaller northern towns. Then there are random student area affects that make eg Manchester cheaper than Birmingham.

annandale

When you say hardly a United Kingdom. The Scottish govt have made the decision to scrap tuition fees for Scottish students. Welsh students get a subsidy, they get part of the fees paid in a grant. It’s 4800 I believe. The reason that students studying in England pay fees is that the Uk govt haven’t made the decision to scrap them.

Scotland scrapped them two years after the then govt brought them in. Clearly the devolved parliaments of Scotland and Wales made decisions that they thought would benefit students. Particularly poor households I assume.

annandale

I had a look the other day at flat prices. A flat in Glasgow that was priced at 600 pounds a month was going for 1200 in London. The same company was offering them. Clearly students get more of a maintenance loan if they live in London for good reason.

annandale

Just like to point out that not everyone will be a student until they are 25. I was 23 when I graduated.

My brother was 21.

We are looking at someone needing financial help for 3 years in most instances. Four in Scotland as an honours degree takes longer.

As someone else said earlier in the thread once this student has graduated and hopefully gets a job they can make a financial contribution to the household.

peachyprice

silvercar wrote: »

I'm really not sure on the exact amount, it was a guess from what I've read here and on other forums.



I doubt London halls are affordable with the larger maintenance amount. the fact is that there are some very expensive towns/ cities where student rents are high and halls follow suit eg Bristol, then there are cheaper areas eg smaller northern towns. Then there are random student area affects that make eg Manchester cheaper than Birmingham.

They absolutely are affordable, that's my point. You have to bear in mind that not all London unis are in central London, London boroughs cover a huge area from Middlesex, to Surrey to Essex, to Kent, any uni in a London borough attracts the premium but even the central London unis have halls and the same price point.

My daughters top 3 choices are in London, all have mid-range halls available at around £150pw, same as the majority of other unis in the south (I can't comment on north, we haven't looked because she wants to stay down here). If she goes to a London uni she will have around £2k left after rent, I wouldn't have to give her a penny to get by and she wouldn't have to get a job. If she goes elsewhere she won't even get enough to cover her rent and I would have to come up with the shortfall and she would have to get a job.

While we will be benefitting from the the scheme as it is it doesn't make it fair for others who don't want to study in London.

annandale

Not every student gets into halls. There are limited places. And often students who get into halls get a place for the first year of the degree only. My brother did and he was in flats after that.

peachyprice

annandale wrote: »

Not every student gets into halls. There are limited places. And often students who get into halls get a place for the first year of the degree only. My brother did and he was in flats after that.

The vast majority do, if they want to.

And the vast majority of students who rent after their first year will go into a house/flat share with a group of students which enables them to keep their rent around the same level, if not cheaper.

peachyprice

I'll be honest here, this doesn't have any real effect on us as a family. My daughter will study in London, she will get the premium, we can afford extra support, by then she will have access her own not insignificant amount of savings, she's our only child still at home. We're alright Jack.

However, she has friends whose household income is roughly the same, but they don't want to/can't study in London, they won't get the premium, they don't have savings, they have younger siblings still at home and their parents are having to make sacrifices for them to go to uni.

We keep hearing stories about the raising rates of student suicide and mental health problems but we're sending these young adults off to uni with the tremendous pressure of knowing that their mums, dads, brothers, sisters at home are going without for them to be there. The weight of that guilt is not a good mental place for any young adult to be, so is it any wonder suicide and mental health problems are on the rise?

annandale

I live near Glasgow and I can assure you that there are not places in the halls of residence for every student who needs one. Mike dailly who is a solicitor with the govan law centre posted on twitter recently that some Glasgow landlords are charging astronomical rents to students and that rents should be capped.

And not all halls in London cost 150 a week. Far from it. It’s more expensive to live in London. Obviously that’s why there is a premium. The cost of living is higher.

I would assume the cost of travel is higher in London as well. Even for students. In my area it’s either 350 or 440 for the academic year.

Are you seriously suggesting that students are killing them selves because they are going to university and they are sitting worrying that family members are going without?

No one forces parents to make contributions. Some parents don’t. Some students work 2 and 3 jobs to keep their heads above water.

The cost of living is lower in Scotland than in London. By far. Scottish students don’t pay tuition fees.

My brother took out the maximum student loan. I was working full time when he was at university. I helped him out financially as did my mum. And my gran.

There will be families who have relatives who will be happy to give something extra. Even if it’s only to pay a bill or two. And my mum was a single parent who didn’t earn much money.

Not everyone is going off to uni worrying about their family making sacrifices. Not everyone comes from a family that has several younger siblings. They might have older working siblings who are happy to help them out if they need a hand.

And in my case and my brothers if we had had a dad who actually contributed to the family household in any way shape or form it would have been easier on my mum. Because there would have been two wages coming into the home in the first place.

Some student flats include bills. Others don’t. What people have to pay out will vary dramatically.

I lived at home and travelled into uni. Not everyone needs to experience living away from home to get their degree.

maman

peachyprice wrote: »

That makes no sense whatsoever.

You believe that instead of paying towards their children's uni expenses people would rather pay a higher mortgage or for a loan they don't need? So they'd end up paying more than if they made a contribution? Really?

Maybe they aren't good examples but I could imagine people finding ways to cheat the system if outgoings were considered.


I remember many years ago needing a barrister. I remember my solicitor looking incredulous that I didn't have anything on credit like a car or any furniture or any mail order catalogues. So I had to pay the full fees as I didn't qualify for legal aid.