how / if to fund my kids uni expenses

barbarawright · 4 December 2016 at 11:52AM

It's worth looking at scholarships and grants. There are more of these around than people things, some very local - given to young women of good standing from Manchester studying engineering and that sort of thing. Some trusts have more money than they know what to do with because they don't get enough applications. It's worth students spending an afternoon in a large reference library with the Educational Grants Directory and Directory of Grant-making Trusts

pollypenny · 5 December 2016 at 6:48PM

18 year old behaving like adults! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Only when it suits them, i.e. getting into pubs etc, not when paying their way.

Andypandyboy · 8 December 2016 at 12:23PM

Caroline_a wrote: »

Did I say that? Firstly I didn't have a large grant at all as both parents worked, and secondly only one of mine went to university - interestingly the other two who chose not to go earn far more than their sister! Secondly the one who went to uni did get some help, but as a single parent we worked it between us with her having part time jobs and me helping out as much as I could. She certainly wasn't disadvantaged.

However, I think there are too many parents subisdising children who shouldnt even be at university. There are so many doing degrees which employers wouldnt touch with a bargepole. The nefarious 'Business Studies' usually has little to do with actual business practice. I interviewed a girl last year who was very sweet, but didn't have a clue what was meant by problem solving. When asked what she would do in a particular situation she said she'd ask her mum! She had a Masters.... needless to say she didn't get the job.

No, she wouldn't have been as only your household income would have been taken account of. Her father could have been a multi millionaire giving her thousands every month in support and she would still have received the same amount of SF. I think that aspect of the system nneds a complete overhaul. Parents divorce each other they should still have financial responsiblity for their offspring.

I don't disagree with your premise re types of degree. All ours wanted to do degrees with an end profession and we wouldn't have been overly keen on any of the more "airy fairy" degrees.

You haven't addressed the real issue though which is either they are adults and self sufficient or they are dependents and parental income is taken account of. Do you not think if it is the latter (which it is) then parents have a duty to contribute?

Flightchecker · 10 December 2016 at 11:22AM

Looking from accounting perspective and relevant costing it could be worth to consider relocation to Scotland (if possible) for 3 years then kids would get free funding ,say if you have 3 children the saving would be huge,plus they would be able to apply to bursary + if they want loan for living cost from SLC, of course this maybe sounds irrational but for some people would be suitable depending of responsibilities where they currently leave ,employability etc...

Andypandyboy · 11 December 2016 at 1:41PM

Flightchecker wrote: »

Looking from accounting perspective and relevant costing it could be worth to consider relocation to Scotland (if possible) for 3 years then kids would get free funding ,say if you have 3 children the saving would be huge,plus they would be able to apply to bursary + if they want loan for living cost from SLC, of course this maybe sounds irrational but for some people would be suitable depending of responsibilities where they currently leave ,employability etc...

That is another issue which irks me.....

Dird · 29 December 2016 at 1:10PM

Send them somewhere else in Europe to study, or at least suggest it to them.
- Free education
- Learn a language on the side (classes in English)
- Part time job towards living expenses (if kids went Norway/Denkmark the government will give them 800euros/month extra if they do 16+ hours/week, effectively a tax break)
- You chip in towards living costs as you would with those £30k uk student loan debt unis

Not much point helping them in UK. Even if they only take tuition loan that's over £30k debt paid back with 1.6-4.6% interest. I don't see any students repaying this over the 30 years before it's wiped besides people in finance. If your eldest is a daughter & insists on studying in the UK I'd provide as little as possible and tell her to max out the loans because a chunk of those 30 years will be eaten up by child rearing

I've no idea how the Plan 2 scheme can work when most will default large amounts of debt in 30 years

foolofbeans · 1 January 2017 at 11:53PM

barbarawright wrote: »

It's worth looking at scholarships and grants. - given to young women of good standing from Manchester studying engineering and that sort of thing.

What are women "of good standing"??
Great idea to search grants but some of them are quite strict on who can apply.

Maycie_unicorn97 · 8 March 2017 at 5:31PM

So I am currently in my second year of uni and it has been a great experience (I am at Exeter uni)
So tuition fees are £9250 as of next year :mad: (they have been £9000 for 2015/2016 and 2016/2017) which my student loan covers. So that is £27250 just in tuition fees

yikes.

For my living costs I get around £7600, approximately £3400 of this is a grant which means I do not have to repay that amount. I get this due to my parent's income.
Overall my debt will be £39805 ... which is frightening!
I get a £1000 bursary from the University each year which is based on my parent's income.

My accommodation this year has been very expensive (£7000 ) however I worked hard over the summer to be able to afford to go out, join societies and live comforably.
My parents do give me money every now and then, probably equates to around £50 a month which I think is more of a 'please stay alive and eat' token than anything, however I earnt enough over the summer to live off and as a result this money goes into my 'savings' account as they won't accept not giving it to me but I am grateful and if anything happened I have that back up.
I have a friend who's parents have paid for everything and that is great for him as he has no debt but I do not think he actually realises the concept of money... he just has a credit card which his parents pay off and he has no limit. I am glad in a way that it is my debt, it was my decision to go to university so I have to pay for it, I am an adult now (yikes) and need to take control of what I do.
Uni is great for actually being able to live independently and not having my parents do everything for me anymore and even when I go home I realise how much my parents did for me so now I will cook and clean etc for them. As much as I think it is great when parents can just pay everything off for their children to go to university I think it is the best opportunity for parents to actually get their children to take responsibility with their life and be independent (obviously if the child wants to go to university)