What's the going rate for 'keep' from your children once they start work?

Riq

Lunar Eclipse, have you lived in a bubble for the last 10 years?!!! :rotfl:

Lunar_Eclipse

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Only a minority of students come from families who earn enough for the minimum loan to be applicable.

None of my friends got bursaries. None of their parents were rich. Or even well off, although it's all relative. So the figures the Government use are just too low. And do they take into account house prices (mortgages) and other expenses? Thus my friends may earn above the barrier now, but they live in an area where three bed semis start at 400k.

Lunar_Eclipse

Riq wrote: »

Lunar Eclipse, have you lived in a bubble for the last 10 years?!!! :rotfl:

I bloody hope so!

Why do you ask? Because I have no idea about uni funding these days? It's dull and I have no need to know. But there have been some interesting comments made and I'm trying to see which side of the fence I fall.

I should perhaps say that I know debt is sadly inevitable for most university educated folks in case you think I am thoroughly naive on this front!

Riq

I suppose not, I went to uni between 2002 - 2005 so I know the rules from back then.

£1100 fees which my parents paid, I got £40 a week from my parents during termtime, worked every hour i could during the holidays at Natwest which set me up for a comfortable life at uni.

Yay me.

No bursaries for me either.

Lunar_Eclipse

Riq wrote: »

I suppose not,

See I went from 1990-1994. And I have no idea what the fees were.

Well done you. I also worked every holiday. But not ever during term time. I honestly don't know how many parents expect their children to work in addition to studying. Uni was most definitely full time education for me. And there are only 24 hours in a day.

My best friend had a bar job. But she got a crap degree result. And I'm sure the two were related. She just didn't have time to fit everything in. And her job, for the money, came first. I thought it was wrong.

Thankfully I got a First. To steal your saying 'yay me'!

Riq

I know, it is heartbreaking isn't it :rolleyes:

vicky_kidder

If my parents had asked for monthly keep out of a loan I had (which is the money that all students get the option of having now) I would have gone mad. They say it's interest free but its not, its goes up with inflation so is about 5% a year interset charged. But this would have been a lot higher if it had been taken out of a loan. And yes, some might received £6,400, but nearly £3,300 of that goes straight to the uni every year for fees and the rest is for travel, books (roughly £40 a go and you need about 8 a year, more in first year), food, clothes, stationairy and general living costs.

I think it is awful if parents expect to be given money out of a loan.

Oldernotwiser

vicky_kidder wrote: »

If my parents had asked for monthly keep out of a loan I had (which is the money that all students get the option of having now) I would have gone mad. They say it's interest free but its not, its goes up with inflation so is about 5% a year interset charged. But this would have been a lot higher if it had been taken out of a loan. And yes, some might received £6,400, but nearly £3,300 of that goes straight to the uni every year for fees and the rest is for travel, books (roughly £40 a go and you need about 8 a year, more in first year), food, clothes, stationairy and general living costs.

I think it is awful if parents expect to be given money out of a loan.

I'm sorry, but so much of this is just wrong! The £6,400 I quoted does not have to go towards paying fees. That's provided for by a separate fee loan which is available to everybody. As only students from lower income families would get this amount then why on earth should they expect their parents to keep them and for them to have nearly £130 per week( £200 if divided between term time weeks only) pocket money! How could any person with any sense of self worth scrounge off badly off parents in this way?

As for your examples; do you think that every student has to buy 8 books a year at a cost of £40 each? That may have been the case for you but many people spend less (and a very few spend more.)You make it sound as if this is a standard amount; almost compulsory in fact! Neither do you understand the concept of interest free in this context. If the amount of money you pay back is worth the same as the amount of money you borrowed then that is interest free to all intents and purposes.

I quite appreciate that there have been enormous changes in student funding in the last 10 years and there's no reason that anybody who's not directly affected should know about them. However, if you're not up to date in your facts it's not sensible to post on this sort of forum and broadcast your ignorance. Everybody's free to have opinions but get your facts straight before you post.

vicky_kidder

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm sorry, but so much of this is just wrong! The £6,400 I quoted does not have to go towards paying fees. That's provided for by a separate fee loan which is available to everybody. As only students from lower income families would get this amount then why on earth should they expect their parents to keep them and for them to have nearly £130 per week( £200 if divided between term time weeks only) pocket money! How could any person with any sense of self worth scrounge off badly off parents in this way?

As for your examples; do you think that every student has to buy 8 books a year at a cost of £40 each? That may have been the case for you but many people spend less (and a very few spend more.)You make it sound as if this is a standard amount; almost compulsory in fact! Neither do you understand the concept of interest free in this context. If the amount of money you pay back is worth the same as the amount of money you borrowed then that is interest free to all intents and purposes.

I quite appreciate that there have been enormous changes in student funding in the last 10 years and there's no reason that anybody who's not directly affected should know about them. However, if you're not up to date in your facts it's not sensible to post on this sort of forum and broadcast your ignorance. Everybody's free to have opinions but get your facts straight before you post.

I'm at university at the moment! I think it's a bit rude to imply I'm ignorant, as not once did I say that that should get pockey money at all. They should live using the loan and not expect any handouts from anyone.

i've got a lot of friends at uni right now and around 8 books a year is roughly average, as you say people spend less and people spend more. I did only mean this as an average as I thought it was only an informal forum chat and didn't mean that every student has to spend this. It was just a casual summary of the costs that I know my friends and I face right at this very moment.

for the record, I worked during sixth form and uni and gave my parents 1/4 of this (this is in a previous post) but my point was that my loan was not taken into account before calculating what I had to pay, as neither I nor my parents thought it would be fair.

So in summary, I don't think parents should give their children pocket money whilst at uni but I also don't think keep should take into account money from the loan.

hope this isn't too ignorant, lol.

bestpud

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

See I went from 1990-1994. And I have no idea what the fees were.

Well done you. I also worked every holiday. But not ever during term time. I honestly don't know how many parents expect their children to work in addition to studying. Uni was most definitely full time education for me. And there are only 24 hours in a day.

My best friend had a bar job. But she got a crap degree result. And I'm sure the two were related. She just didn't have time to fit everything in. And her job, for the money, came first. I thought it was wrong.

Thankfully I got a First. To steal your saying 'yay me'!

It's not something just uncaring parents expect any more! Students are expected to help keep themselves now and, as such, you would be in a minority if you were at uni today.


I think the main question on this thread is whether students living at home should be treated differently from students living away from home?

Those staying at home get a lower loan, to allow for the cheaper living costs, but they are still gaining considerably if they pay none of this to their parents.

Some parents are happy with this and others feel it is right to take a proportion of this money, to supplement the household income, or to save, or just as a 'life lesson'. Others feel they shouldn't take anything as it is a loan. There is no right or wrong though, I guess?

It is a choice for individual families to make, and students should not expect their parents to do this for them, I don't think.

The fact is, most students live away from home and pay rent etc from the maintenance loan, so students living at home are being subsidised by their parents if they don't pay anything at all. That's not a given though.

I, personally, would feel insulted if my children thought this was their 'right'. However, I don't think I would charge them keep out of their loan (not there yet so don't know for sure!). I think I'd see it as helping them out tbh, but I wouldn't be washing and ironing etc for them either!

If they worked, then yes, I would expect some sort of contribution, whether they were students or not.