Where to get help for son starting Uni

JVRMac

My son is heading off to Uni in Sept and he will be the first person in our family to attend, so we are all pretty clueless about it and I'm trying to figure out how we can best support him. 
He was lucky to be accepted in all the ones he applied for. His preferred course was at Manchester however when we looked at student accommodation the cheapest was coming in at £299 a week, which is ridiculous when hes only entitled to about £5k student loan, there was no way we could afford that. He has now accepted a place in Nottingham, as the accommodation fees are so much cheaper, however they are still more than what he gets in student loan. I know as his parents that we are expected to cover the shortfall and I can and will certainly help out but there is no way I can fill the whole shortfall as well as giving him money to live off.
Apparently he is not entitled to any further support as we earn too much. He knows he will need to get a job there, but what if he doesn't get a job straight away?
Is there any other support out there that we may not be aware of?

Flugelhorn

has he got a part time job already or anything lined up for the summer - can be a good way of earning to extra before going to Uni.

certainly Uni accommodation can be expensive - often after the first year students rent together off campus and that can be a lot cheaper but he may have to pay more in the way of travel. 

some universities have bursary funds - might be worth having a look at these if you feel you can't afford the top-up

Alderbank

JVRMac said:

My son is heading off to Uni in Sept...I'm trying to figure out how we can best support him. 

Apparently he is not entitled to any further support as we earn too much. He knows he will need to get a job there, but what if he doesn't get a job straight away?
Is there any other support out there that we may not be aware of?

You are in the same position as lots of parents.

I was in that position when my daughter went to uni and I was a newly widowed single parent . Further back, my parents were there in your position when I went off to uni back in the '60s.

You need to be aware that there is a very close correlation between the number of paid hours that a student has to work and the risk of failing courses or dropping out altogether.

It's a matter of deciding your priorities.

strawb_shortcake

I've seen a lot of young people changing uni choices due to the cost of accommodation. 
I currently have 2 at uni, one is local and able to work alongside their course. They don't really have to work, but they have decided they want a house deposit when their course finishes. 

The other has a full on course and only works over Easter, Summer and Christmas when home.

Working whilst at uni may make things more trickier if they want to come home for the odd weekend or holidays. Some of the larger supermarkets may be able to offer some flexibility with working between home and uni. 

I'd suggest you and your Son start saving now, and be able to have a lump sum to start uni life. My eldest started work after A levels and managed to save £1k on nmw to cover the extras. They have spent the £1k but after 2 years haven't strayed into their overdraft. 

JVRMac

Alderbank said:

JVRMac said:

My son is heading off to Uni in Sept...I'm trying to figure out how we can best support him. 

Apparently he is not entitled to any further support as we earn too much. He knows he will need to get a job there, but what if he doesn't get a job straight away?
Is there any other support out there that we may not be aware of?

You are in the same position as lots of parents.

I was in that position when my daughter went to uni and I was a newly widowed single parent . Further back, my parents were there in your position when I went off to uni back in the '60s.

You need to be aware that there is a very close correlation between the number of paid hours that a student has to work and the risk of failing courses or dropping out altogether.

It's a matter of deciding your priorities.

Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean by deciding my priorities?
We don't have a large disposable income and I will support him as much as I can but it's still not going to be enough. Just wondered how people do it, we've never come across this before as none of us went to Uni?

Flugelhorn

JVRMac said:

Alderbank said:

JVRMac said:

My son is heading off to Uni in Sept...I'm trying to figure out how we can best support him. 

Apparently he is not entitled to any further support as we earn too much. He knows he will need to get a job there, but what if he doesn't get a job straight away?
Is there any other support out there that we may not be aware of?

You are in the same position as lots of parents.

I was in that position when my daughter went to uni and I was a newly widowed single parent . Further back, my parents were there in your position when I went off to uni back in the '60s.

You need to be aware that there is a very close correlation between the number of paid hours that a student has to work and the risk of failing courses or dropping out altogether.

It's a matter of deciding your priorities.

Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean by deciding my priorities?
We don't have a large disposable income and I will support him as much as I can but it's still not going to be enough. Just wondered how people do it, we've never come across this before as none of us went to Uni?

I think that, wherever possible, people save up in advance for this - it is an expensive time, my most la-la moment was when I had 2 at Uni at the same time for 2 years  - I paid their accommodation for them and they lived on the student loan. They also had some money from granny and odd bits of funding from the EU and scholarships 

silvercar

JVRMac said:

Alderbank said:

JVRMac said:

My son is heading off to Uni in Sept...I'm trying to figure out how we can best support him. 

Apparently he is not entitled to any further support as we earn too much. He knows he will need to get a job there, but what if he doesn't get a job straight away?
Is there any other support out there that we may not be aware of?

You are in the same position as lots of parents.

I was in that position when my daughter went to uni and I was a newly widowed single parent . Further back, my parents were there in your position when I went off to uni back in the '60s.

You need to be aware that there is a very close correlation between the number of paid hours that a student has to work and the risk of failing courses or dropping out altogether.

It's a matter of deciding your priorities.

Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean by deciding my priorities?
We don't have a large disposable income and I will support him as much as I can but it's still not going to be enough. Just wondered how people do it, we've never come across this before as none of us went to Uni?

The priorities are how much you should be encouraging your son to work part time while he is studying. You want to leave him enough time to study and ideally enjoy his time at university.

how much you can support him will depend on your budget, the government assumes you will support him based on your income. Of course you will have some savings by him not living at home so your food budget and potentially utilities will fall.

Emmia

When I was at Uni 25 years ago it was difficult to find a term time only job in Nottingham, so I was free to study. Instead I worked every holiday going (including one year on Christmas Day) back home to save up money to get me through - I also made use of the 0% student overdraft. 

Does your son have a part time job now? If not I would suggest that he needs to find at least one (ideally something that is full time over the summer) and get saving.

Skibunny40

Check for any bursaries & grants hhe might qualify for

400ixl

Where is your son staying accommodation wise? Is he in halls through the University? They normally guarantee first year students halls and are usually affordable. Looks like £120-140 with an en-suite.

There is usually 2 options on length of stay as well, 39 weeks to 50 weeks (or there abouts between the two) which can reduce the cost if they are not going to be there over the summer. So there should be an option which comes in somewhere around his loan amount.

Job wise, it is worth looking for companies that allow transfers between stores. McDonalds, Next, Sports Direct etc would all take them on locally and then allow them to transfer stores for term time which makes it much easier to be up and working quickly in the first year.

We have done similar to others in that we pay the accommodation and the loan (only gets the minimum) is used to live on.

Ivrytwr3

I've looked at Manchester Uni and the accom fees are cheaper than £299! Also, as above the courses are usually approx 40 weeks, so not 52 weeks accom is required.

We do it the other way, son gives us the full loan which we use to pay the accommodation and we make up the difference, so for food and socials etc we give him £70 per week.

It isn't cheap and we have another one starting this year too