Student Finance when you have more than one child at University

RayDan

Hi,

I Have two children currently at University with another starting next year. Last year I was unemployed so was able to get full support. However, I am now employed and confident that when means tested we will only qualify for the minimum amount. 

There doesn't seem to be consideration that I have to support two/three students or my outgoings which are high with little to no disposable income on a monthly basis.

Any guidance appreciated, I just do not no what we're going to do?

Thanks

pinkshoes

They can do what most students do at university - get a part time job.

I worked log hours during the entire summer of my course to save up enough to pay for my fees etc...

Spendless

Am afraid that's the way the system works. Doesn't take into account outgoings and not if you have more than 1 child at Uni at a time.

Might be worth you looking at the finance calculator putting in your current salary and working out what they will actually receive.

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator

Typical student jobs (retail, bar work, hospitality) have been hard hit by the pandemic but maybe things will start to pick up soon and if they already have or can find something soon, maybe they can start putting some savings away towards it.

I know people who have told their kids they can only go to a local uni live at home and commute as they've not been in a financial position to help out.

My Niece and Nephew (twins) both took a year out between sixth form and Uni and worked f-time and saved their wages. . Nephew because he didn't get on his first choice course and decided to try again a year later.   Niece because she was looking at joining the police and had just missed the min  age required  to apply. She's now joined and the police pay for her to do a degree as well as her having a salary. 

One of the Unis we looked at for DS, the cheapest halls was 50% more than his entire minimum loan. He would have needed to find a part-time job that both earned him enough to pay the difference plus enough to live on. Thankfully he chose to study somewhere cheaper, which is helpful as we've now got DD going too and what she wants to do means she's in a more expensive place.

The course will play a part too in how much free time they have for work outside their studying in term time. Some courses are more 'full-on' than others.  

Spendless

BTW - The one going to Uni next year, did they qualify for the Child Trust Fund when they were born? If so, they'll be a few hundred pounds in there, even if you never contributed anything to it. (I didn't) Mine is aware that the money in there has to go towards  supporting  her for her first year of study 

silvercar

The government continually fails to consider that the level of the max grant/ loan combination is often not enough to support a student. Even expecting parents to make up any shortfall in loan to the maximum would leave a lot of students with insufficient income.

All very well saying they should get a part time job while they study, but some courses don’t leave sufficient spare time to do so.

GeordieGeorge

silvercar said:

The government continually fails to consider that the level of the max grant/ loan combination is often not enough to support a student. Even expecting parents to make up any shortfall in loan to the maximum would leave a lot of students with insufficient income.

All very well saying they should get a part time job while they study, but some courses don’t leave sufficient spare time to do so.

Which courses are you thinking of? I don’t think that there’s any course that doesn’t leave enough spare time for an evening or weekend job.

My university didn’t allow students to work in term time, but even then there were 28 weeks of the year when we could work.

strawb_shortcake

GeordieGeorge said:

silvercar said:

The government continually fails to consider that the level of the max grant/ loan combination is often not enough to support a student. Even expecting parents to make up any shortfall in loan to the maximum would leave a lot of students with insufficient income.

All very well saying they should get a part time job while they study, but some courses don’t leave sufficient spare time to do so.

Which courses are you thinking of? I don’t think that there’s any course that doesn’t leave enough spare time for an evening or weekend job.

My university didn’t allow students to work in term time, but even then there were 28 weeks of the year when we could work.

My Daughter was looking into becoming a vet, the course information stated that the students would not be able to take paid employment due to the intensity and during holidays students would be undertaking placements to support their studies.

Spendless

GeordieGeorge said:

silvercar said:

The government continually fails to consider that the level of the max grant/ loan combination is often not enough to support a student. Even expecting parents to make up any shortfall in loan to the maximum would leave a lot of students with insufficient income.

All very well saying they should get a part time job while they study, but some courses don’t leave sufficient spare time to do so.

Which courses are you thinking of? I don’t think that there’s any course that doesn’t leave enough spare time for an evening or weekend job.

My university didn’t allow students to work in term time, but even then there were 28 weeks of the year when we could work.

Medicine I believe can be restrictive in terms of trying to take outside employment. Acting believe it or not, not at the Unis but at the drama schools (many run degrees) where the contact hours are long eg I've heard of someone training at Bristol Old Vic who can't take term time work because the hours are long and spare time filled with rehearsals. 

gizmo111

Social work courses have placements 4 days a week and Uni days on top of this.. A lot of courses are very intensive and it is not always possible to get work to fit in with placements/uni hours etc

silvercar

When I went to university in the mid 80s, everyone qualified for some student grant, but there was still an expected parental contribution from those whose families earned above a certain level. The difference then was that in most places, the total student grant/ expected parental contribution was enough to live on, in the majority of the country. I don’t think that is the case now.

I’m trying to work out when it would be obvious that a parental contribution would become a necessity at the same time as the number of children intending to go to university became relatively high. I would say we reached that point somewhere in the 00s. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if we are now at the point where this is a natural consequence of having children with a small age gap. In the same way that it doesn’t come as a surprise that children with a small age group both attend nursery at the same age or both need nappies at the same time, is it a wonder that they both go to university at the same age?

Spendless

My DS is one of the first in both families to go to Uni. The only one before was Neice and Mum was a single parent at that point so I didn't take a great deal of notice of finances. I only really read about how maintenance loans worked on here. When we did the tours of the Unis in 2017/2018 I found there was very little info about it. I think I found no more than 1 or 2 sentences  about it buried in a prospectus of one of the places. At another's open day I even attended a 'parent talk' put on and wasn't mentioned there either.  

For children born nowadays yes parents may have to think about the spacing of their families, when I had mine it was 2000 & 2003. I had no idea the educational system would change and employers seek to look for those educated to graduate level. I'm from the generation where my peers have become bank managers and Nurses and legal executives without having to have a degree. As they were growing up, I could find the 3 year age/school gap between my two frustrating because I felt I was always waiting for the younger one to 'catch up'. Mine when to separate Infant and Junior schools so were rarely in the same school at the same time. As eldest got older, though he didn't start talking about Uni himself until he got into yr13, I then started inwardly 'congratulating' myself on the spacing I had, one at Uni at a time. Then my eldest didn't do well with his college results and was put on a foundation year first, with the result we now have an overlapping year. So, the best laid plans.........