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Kids at uni - how did you help?

Yes he does.

All my 3 girls got through without term time jobs - but they did earn during the summer holidays. Some quite affected by lockdown did work when they were at home - supermarkets were desperate for part time staff at the time.
 
Bob McC said:
Spot on and exactly what we did. We gave two of ours help towards their house deposit rather than pay off any student loan.
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Daughter was paying 2% more on her student loan than mortgage, lucky i suppose that she's now done her 20 years and paid off her mortgage.

I know we all think you have to be doing well to pay any student loan back but when you look at people like doctors, nurses and train drivers it's understandable that they get a bit disgruntled when they are getting into the higher rate tax band and paying student loans back.
 
But
A student loan is not really a loan is it?
Paid off after X years, depending on which cohort you were in.
Lose your job your payments stop, earn under the threshold at any time you pay nothing.
Become unable to work through infirmity it’s written off.
Get into big bucks and you may pay it off.
It is basically a degree tax.
I felt the money was better used helping the kids on the housing ladder.
 
For some students the student finance/loan doesn't even cover the rent, which was true for daughter no. 2 this year. So even if you take the max available then extra cash is still required from somewhere.
 
Looking a bit more for Warwick, they seem a bit more chill on accommodation. no guarantor, but I think we have to pay a term up front.
 
My son starts uni in September after a gap year. He's somewhat immature for his age still, but the gap year has helped with independence as he went to Canada for 3 months.

Anyway, I'm basically in the same spot as the OP, can basically do what we like but would like to try to hit the sweet spot of him being comfortable but not over-privileged, and certainly want him to be aware of the sacrifices some of his classmates might be making to be there. I was thinking I'd cover his fees and accommodation and tell him to pay his way on his other costs.

I mean he doesn't drink much, he likes Warhammer and he's going to Anglia Ruskin to study film so it seems unlikely he'll be spending time with Rupert and Tristan discussing the perceived shortfalls of the proletariat while quaffing montrachet.
 
tricky1 said:
That's what we do too. We currently pay £450/month for the rent in private digs in Liverpool. My daughter is house-sharing with 5 other students. It's cheaper than the Halls of residence but Halls are good for first year to establish contacts and just make life that little bit easier in unfamiliar territory that 1st year.
She seems to get by on her student loan herself for food/drinks/going out and during term breaks, we will pay for her rail fair to/from home. She does work in summer holidays as well to supplement her income.
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Also paying £450/month here to son who is in Sheffield, although doing it other way around in that those are living costs and his loan gets used for accommodation (although I have to top that up as well). He has part time bar work during term time, and fingers crossed will sort some out locally over the summer. Costs me about £7.5k per year at the moment. 2 years to go, 2 years left on mortgage, after that, maldives here I come!
 
We are thinking pay for half of his accommodation each term up front and he has to earn the rest then a few quid a week for food. Its not cheap, nothing is cheap.
 
For both kids we went for a mixture of using available gov loans and we gave a top-up to pay for accommodation. I also subbed phone contracts and sent some "care packages" - mainly boxes of Sirencraft beer. Paying for accommodation seemed the fairest approach as rentals vary hugely from one uni to another.
 
gintonic said:
I am intrigued, which HEI and what course
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I am not the OP, but my daughter is at Cambridge and while they do not prohibit students from taking jobs they impressed on us repeatedly that it is not recommended and is frowned upon by tutors, lecturers & supervisors. In the case of that institution it is due to a combination of the work schedule and the comparatively short terms. Their experience (so they told us) was that it negatively affected students results.

As I said, this is only what we we told about term-time jobs, and we chose not to test it. They suggested working over the summer break if you wanted.
 
It is a different world in which we live in these days, and those with kids will have to do what they feel is right for themselves, and their kids. When I was trying to figure out what I was going to do once out of high school, I knew upfront that whatever I did, would be on my own for the most part, we had no money or means to do much, and any kind of grant etc, wasn't available to me.

I picked a trade school for electronics, paid my way, paid for my own apartment and food etc. It was the best thing ever for me, and to this day, I feel I got a lot of bang for the buck. I have been very fortunate to have never been in a layoff situation, or made redundant, and have made decent money. I have always been thankful for being able to manage it on my own, and I do not mean any of this in a boastful type of way.

These days are tough, I think a lot of parents want to give their kids everything(maybe because of what they didn't get?) and yet the kids have little to no skin in the game. Parents become a bank, and some become bankrupt over providing for, or being enablers. What is wrong with kids taking it on, seems most think it is the most horrendous thing, like they have given them the boot out the door. Like many of my colleagues here at work, I think they get boastful about what they are doing, yet for many, their kids learn nothing about the real world and what real money is. Kids want it all and right now for the most part, and things are so ridiculously expensive, how do they expect to ever pay for it all? Ugh...Sorry for that bit of a rant. I will go and hide now.....:(
 
Daughter#1: 5 years at Lincoln College, Oxford
Daughter#2: 3 years at Exeter Uni (starting 2 yrs behind Dau#1)
overlap was three years, during which we were shelling out 15 grand per year.

It was a relief when they both graduated :D
 
Graham B said:
I am not the OP, but my daughter is at Cambridge and while they do not prohibit students from taking jobs they impressed on us repeatedly that it is not recommended and is frowned upon by tutors, lecturers & supervisors. In the case of that institution it is due to a combination of the work schedule and the comparatively short terms. Their experience (so they told us) was that it negatively affected students results.
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That's interesting. I worked as a supermarket shelf-stacker all through uni - two evenings a week and every Saturday. That obviously eats into your time but it's hard to know whether it impacted my studies. I don't recall friends who took out loans instead being any more industrious. I think the biggest impediment was simply youth and the freedom of living away from home for the first time, going to strange nightclubs, talking to strange girls/boys, waking up in strange places.. all that stuff was far more interesting that studying (and in some ways just as much of an education.)

When I did a Music BA a few years ago I paid for my fees and living expenses by crewing in venues. It sometimes meant skipping the odd afternoon class so I could do an evening shift but the industry experience complemented the course and I sometimes learnt more from an evening pushing flight cases and chatting to crew than I did sitting in a classroom. The tutors were totally fine with it.
 
Graham B said:
Cambridge and while they do not prohibit students from taking jobs they impressed on us repeatedly that it is not recommended and is frowned upon by tutors, lecturers & supervisors. In the case of that institution it is due to a combination of the work schedule and the comparatively short terms. Their experience (so they told us) was that it negatively affected students results.
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i don't know any University that wouldn't impress that on their students and parents
 
MIne is about to apply and has no idea what she wants to do, she's not academic either....if she does Leisure Studies / Business Administration or some other crap just because she wants to avoid work I may not get involved at all. She's doing Psycology A Level and has made some noise about joining the Police in this area...so if she went to do Psychology, and knowing there was a plan in mind, I'd probably just send about 200 a month and guarantee the rent.
 
Bob McC said:
But
A student loan is not really a loan is it?
Paid off after X years, depending on which cohort you were in.
Lose your job your payments stop, earn under the threshold at any time you pay nothing.
Become unable to work through infirmity it’s written off.
Get into big bucks and you may pay it off.
It is basically a degree tax.
I felt the money was better used helping the kids on the housing ladder.
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If the payments stop the interest keeps rolling up.

Our youngest looked at the benefits of a degree and balanced against the noose of a loan decided to work instead.

Three years saving and she had enough for a decent deposit.

I wouldn't class £25k as big bucks!
 

paulfromcamden said:
There are some really generous and supportive parents on this thread.

What strikes me is how difficult it must be for children from low income families to access HE now if there's no Bank of Mum & Dad.
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My sisters kid got full bursary at Bristol, accommodation and everything. She did really well at school and college though.
 
dweezil said:
If the payments stop the interest keeps rolling up.

Our youngest looked at the benefits of a degree and balanced against the noose of a loan decided to work instead.

Three years saving and she had enough for a decent deposit.

I wouldn't class £25k as big bucks!
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In reality the interest rate is irrelevant.
Whether it’s 6% or 600% You only ever pay 9% of your earnings over the threshold. And it’s written off after X years. The higher the interest rate the more likely it will be written off.
As I said it’s a graduate tax.
Martin Lewis calculated that for most students they would need a starting salary of £45K to ever hope of paying off the student loan.
I, along with most financial advice, think help is better aimed at getting offspring on the housing ladder than paying off a student loan that may get written off anyway.
 
I think on the job front, if I went devils advocate.

It will hinder studies inevitably. There’s about £50k going into this course, so is this the time to be making hard lessons?. And of course, is there another way the lesson could be achieved.

Just a thought.

Or, in other words, it’s not exactly spoiling him to cover living costs modestly.

Where’s the course to be?
 
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