Teen wanting to go to uni

Alan2020

mikkiplum said:

My daughter is hoping to go to university this September (2021) however, I'm frightened about how much it will cost, I know that her tuition will be covered by a student loan, but how does she pay for her rent? Her dad and I only earn enough to cover our own bills etc, and I'm worried that she may not be able to go because we can't afford it. 

I am going to break this and be frank:
1. If you earn below a threshold she will be eligible to loans and grants to support her - check student loan and uni 
2. If you are poor think with your head and not your heart if you want to get out of poverty - do a course like medicine, engineering etc Beggars are not choosers 
3. drinking and partying is for the rich and the foolish. If you don’t want to live in poverty and open doors, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, don’t waste your money or time. Focus and achieve your aims.
4. Stop complaining about lecturers and universities, shut up and focus on achieving what you came there for. Complaining is for the rich or the foolish.
5. Work very hard, build your friends with the people who can help, yes your lecturers and others in power.
6. Try and get into a job, if they say work starts at 8am get there at 7:30 or better still 7, make sure you are noticed.
7. Study everything your lecturers ask you to do, be polite. Attitude is needed if you are poor.

if you are rich doesn’t matter, if you are a fool you will always be poor. If you want to change your life education can. Don’t do a lifestyle subject do one everyone will pay you for. Even the rich fall ill and need a doctor but they don’t need other specialisms people study because they like it.

amanda_p

Working in term time is very dependent on what course they study. My son studied medicine, there was no way that he could have had a job during term time. Apart from the sheer volume of work from the third year onwards he was on placements at different hospitals throughout the county. He worked in the holidays which helped ease the pressure slightly. When on placement he had to pay for hospital accommodation as well as rent for his student digs for 3 months.  It's a long hard 5 year slog and certainly not easy. Then you get released to the NHS and the hard slog continues, but at least with a salary!

oystercatcher

Some universities like Cambridge don't like undergraduates working , I believe they don't allow it, not sure how it is enforced. Certainly when my son went there as a post grad he was warned not to join any societies or expect to have time for hobbies or a relationship , he found the change in pace huge after being at a normal redbrick uni. He survived and the PhD was much easier and he is now very well paid.
Accommodation is much cheaper at some uni's compared to others as well so it's worth looking into prices when deciding where to apply and there is no guarantee of being offered the cheapest accommodation either, one of my boys didn't get expected grades and went through clearing, by the time he found a course he wanted only the expensive accommodation was available which actually cost more than his living loan, his course was also very intensive so he didn't have time available for working so we had to top this up.
AS mentioned above it is well worth considering the long term goal. I know a couple of people with degrees in English and psychology who are now working in minimum wage office jobs or in shops because that is all they could find. Medicine, engineering, nursing type degrees tend to lead to better paid careers, it all depends on individual interests and skills of course but now so many youngsters go to uni just having a degree is worth far less than it was back in the good old days when only a handful of us went there and it was all paid for by the government!

Sandtree

mikkiplum said:

but how does she pay for her rent? Her dad and I only earn enough to cover our own bills etc, and I'm worried that she may not be able to go because we can't afford it. 

Same way lots of students have, by getting a job.

In my day low income families got a maintenance grant rather than loan but the sum given to even the poorest wouldnt cover rent let alone bills, food, books etc. Everyone I knew at university had at least a part time job, or was looking for one.

If she doesnt go to university and decides to move out how do you think they'd pay for their new digs and food in those circumstances?

suejb2

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/?_ga=2.55012907.1850387036.1611689696-1716932671.1595866628

Read this

Spendless

Glad this has bumped back up because I heard from my Uni student son yesterday. He's yr2 of a degree (though 3rd year there due to having to do foundation first). He told me he is currently getting 3 hours of on-line lessons a week, all on the same day, that is all.  

 He went back to Uni late December after his housemates came to us for Christmas, so well before Boris said students shouldn't return. I'm glad he's getting the use of a house that has already been paid for because there's no way a private landlord would be refunding rent. Otherwise I'd have just thought it a huge waste of money and wished I'd known to tell him to stay home last Autumn and save money on rent and food since he could do 3 hours of online learning anywhere. I know contact hours and that the student should self study came up earlier on this thread but 3 hours, son got more (funded) contact time than that, when he was 3 years old and I put him in nursery!.

OP - I know you're asking how it's affordable but I really would ask questions of any course how they intend delivering it. If need be put off for a year or two. 

littlegreenparrot

You havn't mentioned what course it is that your daughter would like to do. 

It's not applicable to everything, but it would be worth having a look to see if it is possible to do an apprenticeship or other work based route to get qualified in the field of her choice. 

It is not the same as the University experience, but I don't think she would be getting the proper University experience this Sept anyway, and of course that way she is earning from the start. I think the part time jobs students generally get in term time are also still going to be a bit thin on the ground. 

Silvertabby

oystercatcher said:

.... but now so many youngsters go to uni just having a degree is worth far less than it was back in the good old days when only a handful of us went there and it was all paid for by the government!

Back in the days of 'free' further education going to Uni was never on the cards for most poorer children.  We were expected (forced, in my case) to leave secondary school at the earliest opportunity (15) in order to find work and bring money into the house.

When Tony Blair (yes, it was Labour who introduced university fees!) announced that it was his aim to get 50% of youngsters into university, hence the need for fees, 2 points immediately came to mind:

1.  There won't be enough graduate level jobs for all.

2.  This was Blair's plot to make himself look good by reducing the youth unemployment figures.  At least until the next general election.

Spendless

Silvertabby said:

oystercatcher said:

.... but now so many youngsters go to uni just having a degree is worth far less than it was back in the good old days when only a handful of us went there and it was all paid for by the government!

Back in the days of 'free' further education going to Uni was never on the cards for most poorer children.  We were expected (forced, in my case) to leave secondary school at the earliest opportunity (15) in order to find work and bring money into the house.

When Tony Blair (yes, it was Labour who introduced university fees!) announced that it was his aim to get 50% of youngsters into university, hence the need for fees, 2 points immediately came to mind:

1.  There won't be enough graduate level jobs for all.

2.  This was Blair's plot to make himself look good by reducing the youth unemployment figures.  At least until the next general election.

Tuition fees most certainly, though most of the time the full amount can be borrowed. It's the maintenance loans that cause the issue brought in in the early 90s (Conservative Government) though I understand even prior to that Grants were means tested.

olgadapolga

My daughter is at uni in London, on full maintenance loan. Admittedly that is slightly higher than the non-London allowance but my daughter seems to be managing just fine on it. Her rent is half of her loan then there are bills, food and uni stuff on top. She hasn't asked for any help with anything (apart from getting her to and from university, which we are obviously very happy to do for her).

I think that I said this before, my daughter and her friends all say that going to Uni in September would be a waste of time and money, as the pandemic will still be ongoing and it will affect not only the delivery of the courses but the overall student "experience". My daughter feels very cheated and is considering a year out so that at least one-third of her student days are more like she was expecting.