*sigh* this may take a while

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Saying that, I guess I'm basing it on today's finances.  When my youngest goes to secondary (in 5 years and don't want to wish the time away), I plan to pick up extra shifts  So I'd be working full time during term time and 2-3 days a week in the school hols.  If I do those extra shifts in the private sector, financing them children £500 each a month at uni would probably not be too much of an issue.

enthusiasticsaver

We gave just the parental contribution to our DDs for maintenance when they started Uni as there was a 2 year overlap where we had both of them away at the same time but the scheme they were on was not the current one so I don't know how that works out. It was always based on family income so if yours is high then I guess the contribution will also be high.  Neither of ours was lazy though and they had both done shop work, cleaning jobs and waitressing from the age of 16.  I think I would be a bit resentful if your DD is very entitled and would only give the bare minimum.  I went back to work full time while they were both at Uni and although we just gave them the parental contribution but also paid the fees so they ended up with minimum debt compared to what students have to pay now.  No way could we have afforded £18k a year (£9k for each of them).  I guess it may be even more now.

It is a tough one though as it may make your DD grow up a bit if she has to be more self sufficient. Equally if she is lazy though you do not want to be funding a party year for her if she will not work at Uni.  If she pulls her finger out academically though and she is bright enough to do well at Uni you could maybe suggest she does a gap year and gets a job so she finds out how hard she has to work to earn minimum wage.  That was what spurred my DDs on to get a good education as in DD1s words after a long shift at a Little Chef restaurant serving some Hooray Henrys for minimum wage in her Uni holidays she realised she needed a good degree to get a well paying job. 

Drawingaline

Ok, so £500 a month! That changes things, I thought you meant just £500 for the year 😂

My daughter knows her accommodation will be covered, we will make sure of that, grandparents have already offered to help. I will carry on paying her £15 a month phone bill (she bought a phone outright with her earning so sim only) there will always be money set aside for an emergency get home now trip and we won't let her starve. I am leaning towards making her an authorised user on my cc with the knowledge that it will only be used in a supermarket up to certain amount a week, and any other transactions need to he paid back, or the emergency declared! Or a supermarket gift card that you top up weekly, I know some places do a specific student one.

But I absolutely will not be paying anything else. She works four shifts a week now while at college and is quite good at planning her time, it is a transferable job, the degree she wants to do includes foreign trips, that will be funded by a mix of herself, grandparents gifts, Xmas and birthday money. 

So we will ensure she has a place to live and won't starve, everything else she has to pay for from her income/savings. Right now outside her driving lessons I give her no money. She pays for all her clothes, all bus fares, all toiletries etc. The boy has just started working and I will be the same with him. Save a third of his pay, and then has to budget for his fares, lunches (he could chose to take a packed lunch to save money) and clothes.

Maybe I am mean, but I strongly believe they need to learn to pay there own way from a young age (outside basic needs). 

It has certainly given my daughter a desire to pursue a degree in a field that is very competitive with a strong chance of low pay for quite a while. She feels confident in her ability to save money and budget.

savingholmes

I don't recommend giving kids access to CC they can soon go off the rails.

I think it depends what degree they are doing how realistic it is for them to work. Also if they have disabilities. Can be hard to juggle everything.

I did make DS save ahead of time and when he first went to uni, he covered most of the first term.... 

Drawingaline

savingholmes said:

I don't recommend giving kids access to CC they can soon go off the rails.

I think it depends what degree they are doing how realistic it is for them to work. Also if they have disabilities. Can be hard to juggle everything.

I did make DS save ahead of time and when he first went to uni, he covered most of the first term.... 

Oh I agree with not everyone being able to work while studying, one of my younger children would definitely struggle. But from what the op has said this isn't really an issue with her child, more an unwillingness to even bother looking for a job. 

I wouldn't dream of allowing my son access to my cc, but my daughter is totally different. I have access to the account on my phone so can see anything straight away and freeze it if needed. 

It's a difficult one, we just don't have the income to sub above accommodation and basic necessities, so if she can't make it work herself she wouldn't be able to go, or would have to stay home which I really don't want due to her 'artistic temper' when she is in the midst of a project!!!

savingholmes

Drawingaline -it sounds like you are subbing. I am talking about subbing the difference between the maintenance loan which is round 4.5-5K and the £9Kish it takes to live as a student... I got the impression the OP isn't planning to offer anything - which can work if the kid gets a job and sticks with it - but it leaves DD in danger of crashing and burning...

ohdearhowdidthathappen

enthusiasticsaver said:

We gave just the parental contribution to our DDs for maintenance when they started Uni as there was a 2 year overlap where we had both of them away at the same time but the scheme they were on was not the current one so I don't know how that works out. It was always based on family income so if yours is high then I guess the contribution will also be high.  Neither of ours was lazy though and they had both done shop work, cleaning jobs and waitressing from the age of 16.  I think I would be a bit resentful if your DD is very entitled and would only give the bare minimum.  I went back to work full time while they were both at Uni and although we just gave them the parental contribution but also paid the fees so they ended up with minimum debt compared to what students have to pay now.  No way could we have afforded £18k a year (£9k for each of them).  I guess it may be even more now.

It is a tough one though as it may make your DD grow up a bit if she has to be more self sufficient. Equally if she is lazy though you do not want to be funding a party year for her if she will not work at Uni.  If she pulls her finger out academically though and she is bright enough to do well at Uni you could maybe suggest she does a gap year and gets a job so she finds out how hard she has to work to earn minimum wage.  That was what spurred my DDs on to get a good education as in DD1s words after a long shift at a Little Chef restaurant serving some Hooray Henrys for minimum wage in her Uni holidays she realised she needed a good degree to get a well paying job. 

The difference between full loan and what she'll get is approx £400pm which is what the government expects us to contribute and will still barely cover accommodation.  If she'd get herself any kind of job now, I'd be less resentful, but she does NOTHING.  We suggested a gap year to work and save, but she made it clear if she took a year out it would be to 'chill'.  
I agree, the reality of how hard you have to work to earn would be a beneficial lesson to her, but she's not interested.Drawingaline said:

Ok, so £500 a month! That changes things, I thought you meant just £500 for the year 😂

My daughter knows her accommodation will be covered, we will make sure of that, grandparents have already offered to help. I will carry on paying her £15 a month phone bill (she bought a phone outright with her earning so sim only) there will always be money set aside for an emergency get home now trip and we won't let her starve. I am leaning towards making her an authorised user on my cc with the knowledge that it will only be used in a supermarket up to certain amount a week, and any other transactions need to he paid back, or the emergency declared! Or a supermarket gift card that you top up weekly, I know some places do a specific student one.

But I absolutely will not be paying anything else. She works four shifts a week now while at college and is quite good at planning her time, it is a transferable job, the degree she wants to do includes foreign trips, that will be funded by a mix of herself, grandparents gifts, Xmas and birthday money. 

So we will ensure she has a place to live and won't starve, everything else she has to pay for from her income/savings. Right now outside her driving lessons I give her no money. She pays for all her clothes, all bus fares, all toiletries etc. The boy has just started working and I will be the same with him. Save a third of his pay, and then has to budget for his fares, lunches (he could chose to take a packed lunch to save money) and clothes.

Maybe I am mean, but I strongly believe they need to learn to pay there own way from a young age (outside basic needs). 

It has certainly given my daughter a desire to pursue a degree in a field that is very competitive with a strong chance of low pay for quite a while. She feels confident in her ability to save money and budget.

I agree... I'd be interested to see what the discrepancy would be from the loan to cover her accommodation.  DH and I have been talking and if we could 'top up' that plus £25pw for food for around the £300-400 mark then we would suck that up.  We'd also carry on paying for her phone.  That leaves her with entertainment etc, if she saves Christmas/Birthday money and got a little job, she'd be fine

ohdearhowdidthathappen

savingholmes said:

Drawingaline -it sounds like you are subbing. I am talking about subbing the difference between the maintenance loan which is round 4.5-5K and the £9Kish it takes to live as a student... I got the impression the OP isn't planning to offer anything - which can work if the kid gets a job and sticks with it - but it leaves DD in danger of crashing and burning...

We were hoping just to give her a bit for food and trips home (so £100-150 a month), I've obviously been a bit delusional

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Drawingaline said:

Oh I agree with not everyone being able to work while studying, one of my younger children would definitely struggle. But from what the op has said this isn't really an issue with her child, more an unwillingness to even bother looking for a job. 

It's a difficult one, we just don't have the income to sub above accommodation and basic necessities, so if she can't make it work herself she wouldn't be able to go, or would have to stay home which I really don't want due to her 'artistic temper' when she is in the midst of a project!!!

Yes, she has no disabilities other than an overflated sense of entitlement and an unhealthy dose of laziness.

It's really getting on my tits that it's means tested out of our income.  She'll be 18 - old enough to vote, get married etc etc.... the loans will be in her name, so they should means test her 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

While I was off isolating, I used the time to rearrange some utilities... managed to get decent deals on:

-gas/electricity, fixed for 2 years at what I have been paying, so no savings as such, but missed the hikes
-house insurance, reduced by £25pm
-car insurances, moved to multicar and saved £30pm

Was pretty pleased with all that.

Getting a small pay rise at work (the infamous 3%), works out at £29pm after deductions, so better than a poke in the eye. 
Although saying that, the new NI hike next year will wipe a lot of it out.... my DH will get clobbered by that too  but that's not until April, so I'm ignoring that at the mo