worth nagging parents?

KattyP_2

hi,
i'm in my last year at school, about to go to uni. it's a private school, and altho i'm on a 75% scholarship my parents have been paying upwards of £5k/yr. this means they could afford most of the university fees, but say since the student loan is effectively interest free i may as well pay them myself. should i try to persuade them to contribute a bit to tuition fees etc., or does it make sense in the long run just to use the student loan system?
(i realise this is quite an enviable situation to be in, but i'd be grateful for any advice!) thanks!

BruceyBonus

You could have the loan paid to the uni and then try to extract as much money from your parents as possible!! That way you will be paying 3.8% on the loan and can be earning potentially 7% in a savings account on any money your parents give you.

bestpud

KattyP wrote: »

hi,
i'm in my last year at school, about to go to uni. it's a private school, and altho i'm on a 75% scholarship my parents have been paying upwards of £5k/yr. this means they could afford most of the university fees, but say since the student loan is effectively interest free i may as well pay them myself. should i try to persuade them to contribute a bit to tuition fees etc., or does it make sense in the long run just to use the student loan system?
(i realise this is quite an enviable situation to be in, but i'd be grateful for any advice!) thanks!

I'd have thought they would offer if they wanted to help out? Why would you need to nag them?

If they offer, thank them and accept if you wish.

If they don't offer, thank them anyway for what they have given you so far and take out a loan.

Beverley

You've already had the benefit of a high standard of education at a a cost of £5k a year to them. You could now demonstrate what good that education has done you, take the mature approach, do the decent thing, and take responsibility for your higher education.

liney

Perhaps when you have finished your degree they will pay off your loan and buy you a house !:A


Read your post again, and i think you know what the right thing to do is. You will have to support yourself sooner or later, and it may as well be now. If your parents didn't agree they would have offered you the money: didn't they teach until you are offered? How rude of you to presume, or ask.

Northern_girl_2

liney wrote: »

You will have to support yourself sooner or later, and it may as well be now. If your parents didn't agree they would have offered you the money: didn't they teach until you are offered? How rude of you to presume, or ask.

To be fair to the OP the amount you get in student loan is means tested according to parental income. It is the government that assumes that parents earning above a certain amount should make up the shortfall.

That's not to say that it isn't possible to support yourself through University but the system does enshrine the idea that parents above a certain income will make a contribution.

As for the OP's original post, if your parents want to support you then that's great. Use the money to live on but still take out the maximum loan and put it in a high interest account. Many of my more well off friends did that and are now sitting on a nice lump sum for a deposit on a house.

liney

Yes but the 'certain amount' is about 30k household income isn't it now? How many families with more than one child on 30k per year can afford to pay towards university fees when they have bills of their own to pay?

Perhaps i sounded sharp, but i am sick to to the back teeth of Kidulds.

[Deleted User]

Work out where you want to go to uni, estimate costs of living + tuition fees and then let your parents know there's a lot more than just fees.

My parents paid for my fees (only a grand back then) and gave me money towards food. This was all on the basis that I earned money during the summer. I finished off a 3 year BSc and 1 year MSc with only 4.5k of debt (had to pay my own way through the MSc). I'm extremely thankful for their support but I did turn down the offer of private education and went to a comprehensive whilst many of their friend's children went to the local private schools. Not that it did them that much good really.

I don't really feel too bad about having them help me.. i've stood on my own two feet very well since graduating. It never put them under any financial pressure and saved me from a lifetime of student loan debts.

Don't nag - use facts. Do your research, explain to them how much it costs. It is expected that parents who earn reasonable money should be contributing to their student children (otherwise, why means test the fees?). Ask for a contribution, but don't expect an instant payout.

Bamber19

liney wrote: »

Yes but the 'certain amount' is about 30k household income isn't it now? How many families with more than one child on 30k per year can afford to pay towards university fees when they have bills of their own to pay?

Perhaps i sounded sharp, but i am sick to to the back teeth of Kidulds.

The point is that children of rich parents who are not going to contribute to their uni fees are much worse off. For example, if the OP's parents pay nothing he also gets nothing (or very little) from the SLC because of his parents earnings. Contrast this with someone else on the ourse, family earns £20k p.a, they give him what they can, maybe just £20 a week to help out, he also gets a healthy loan in terms of the mean tested part. Obviously ends up in a better position that the OP in a system that aims to level the playing field. The big question is why are loans tied into parental income anyway? It's not your parents who pay it back and when it comes to graduation the richer students and poorer students should have the exact same earning potential, and thus the same ability to pay it back, but this logic seems to have been overlooked and replaced with an unrealistic "You're parents earn more money? they'll happily throw a large portion of it at you" logic.

tom9980

To echo Bamber i know a case where a girl couldnt get a means tested grant because her mother refused to fill in the form! the worst thing is she would have got it too and as a consequence she lost out through no fault of her own. The system does need a few tweaks for these kind of situations.

tom9980

KattyP wrote: »

hi,
i'm in my last year at school, about to go to uni. it's a private school, and altho i'm on a 75% scholarship my parents have been paying upwards of £5k/yr. this means they could afford most of the university fees, but say since the student loan is effectively interest free i may as well pay them myself. should i try to persuade them to contribute a bit to tuition fees etc., or does it make sense in the long run just to use the student loan system?
(i realise this is quite an enviable situation to be in, but i'd be grateful for any advice!) thanks!

I think they might just be a bit worried they may be spoiling you too much and just want you to learn to stand on your own feet, i am guessing that they will help you if you really need it. tbh i think they are slowly trying to cut the purse strings a bit but in a nice way.