Child Maintenance University

Projam

My son is 18, he is still in school but will be going to university next year.
Question is do I still continue to give his mother the child maintenance or will I give it directly to him.
He will probably stay with his mum every few months

Lenka_Spence

She does feed him and looks after him and it costs money and effort

Projam

Lenka_Spence said:

She does feed him and looks after him and it costs money and effort

Lenka, I am not saying I am not going to give her the money, I am asking the question as he will need money for university, he wont be there all the time, every few months for the weekend. He stays with me also so he may be with me those weekends he is back, I wont be asking his mother for money when he stays with me!!!

bluelad1927

Lenka_Spence said:

She does feed him and looks after him and it costs money and effort

The question from the OP was a valid one and you clearly didn't read the question properly before giving an irrelevant reply

Rejast

You only have a legal obligation to pay child maintenance to his mother up to age 20 if the he is in full time non advanced education.
If your son goes to University he is advanced education therefore your legal obligation to pay maintenance to his mother would cease. 
What you decide to do morally is between, him, you and his mother.

Spendless

Projam said:

Lenka_Spence said:

She does feed him and looks after him and it costs money and effort

Lenka, I am not saying I am not going to give her the money, I am asking the question as he will need money for university, he wont be there all the time, every few months for the weekend. He stays with me also so he may be with me those weekends he is back, I wont be asking his mother for money when he stays with me!!!

He will receive a student maintenance loan to live on. How much he will receive will depend on the household income where he now lives, so if he currently lives with Mum, it will be her income plus the income of any live in partner she has (whether married or not )  If the student doesn't receive enough money to live on then there's an expectation (but no obligation) that parent/s will plus the gap.

Usually there's no requirement to pay CM once child is in Uni - as per the above reply.

What you might wish to do is get an idea of what your son will receive as a loan, look up how much student rent is in the area he'll be studying and then make a decision about whether he can financially manage or whether you feel you should help him

To give some idea of costs. Both mine have received min student loans even during the times I haven't been working due to husband's salary and benefits in kind (car, petrol, health ins). Son studied in a cheap part of the NE received just around £4k each year but there was only 1 year (his first when in Uni halls with a shorter contract) that he would only just have had enough to cover his rent. The following years his rent exceeded his loan. Daughter had same when she studied last year she received £4k-ish, rent was £6.5k. This year she comes under London allowance so receives around £6K, rent is just short of £10K. We have always paid kids rent for this reason. This year due to the high rent DD has had to contribute all her loan and instead we send her monthly money to live on.

Depending on the course it's not always as easy as 'they can get a job'. Daughter's course is not only 5 full days a week (just like last year) but this term they've added a Saturday morning class on top. That's a frustration of mine because I feel it took them all away from being able to find a temp Christmas job. 

There's articles both on this site and Government website about maintenance loans and how they work for you to have a read through.