Gross or net salary used to calculate parental contribution to student maintenance costs?

cjmerritt7

If both parents are considered ‘high earners’ around £50-60k basic pay. What figures are taken into account for determining the parental contribution? Eg I also make AVC’s into my DC pension scheme. But overtime and bonuses can be variable. And could I for example pay more AVC into pension/or work less overtime (accrue TOIL) to ‘reduce’ any figures that would be assessed for the parental contribution?

BestnamesRgone

There’s a student finance calculator on the Gov.uk website, you will both have to declare your taxable income.

Spendless

It's  the taxable income not net (I wish - lol) the income you will find on your P60 plus if you have any benefits in kind (eg company car, private heatlhcare etc) that also needs adding on from your p11D as income. 

It is the household in which the student lives where the household income is taken into account. So if parents have split and student lives with their Mum and Mum's new partner then Mum + partner's income is taken into account. Here is the link mentioned to have a play with.

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

silvercar

I’ll ask the forum team to move this to the student board. You may find similar threads on there.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/student-money-saving

kaMelo

cjmerritt7 said:

If both parents are considered ‘high earners’ around £50-60k basic pay. What figures are taken into account for determining the parental contribution? Eg I also make AVC’s into my DC pension scheme. But overtime and bonuses can be variable. And could I for example pay more AVC into pension/or work less overtime (accrue TOIL) to ‘reduce’ any figures that would be assessed for the parental contribution?

The income they ask for is your household taxable income however any pension contributions you make are deducted from this figure in calculating the student's maintenance loan.