Hi all

Our circumstances at home have changed considerably in the last year. I separated from my husband late last year after 20 years and we were going through a divorce, when he sadly passed away. Without going into it all, there are lots of issues with his Will, his family and much more.

My dd will be starting Year 13 in September and her intention has always been to work hard at A Levels and go to Uni. She is still keen to start Uni but as her Dad's death was only 2 months ago is obviously finding it hard processing it all.

We have visited 2 Uni's, one a couple of hours away and one 1/2 hour away. We hope to go to 2 or 3 more in the Autumn term.

My question is, will my dd be able to go to Uni without any financial help from me? I don't think I've ever been in a worse financial position and I would hate her to miss out. We've looked at the Tuition Loans, Maintenance Loans, Bursaries and Scholarships. Has anybody been in a similar financial position (on a low income and receiving UC) that has sent their child off to Uni?

At the moment the Uni nearest to home looks good. She would stay at home and travel in therefore the living costs would be fine. If she decides to go further afield I want to make sure that it won't be a struggle for her.

Any advice would be most welcome.

The tuition fees are a loan and the maintenance fees are means tested. There is a website -https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator - if you put your details in will tell you if your daughter would qualify for a full loan. If she does it should not be an issue as she will only start paying back when she is earning over the threshold.

Thank you. If anyone has any experience of receiving a Maintenance Loan and whether it is enough for living costs?

This might be helpful in general. I think in there it mentions what the threshold parental income is for the student to get the full amount of loan. Whether that’s enough is obviously open to debate.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/stude ... s-changes/



Somewhere DD found a site that helped with expected costs at the various unis, I’ll try and find it. Most uni websites will give costs for uni accommodation which also help.

ETA found it
https://university.which.co.uk/student- ... calculator

I am really sorry to hear of your family's loss - it must be particularly hard for your daughter.

I hope that she is able to go to University at some stage but would wonder if having a gap year would help? She could earn some money maybe and also have more time to get over her father's death.

When she does go to Uni, I really think it is better to live away from home - it is part of the whole "experience" and an important part of growing up. Appreciate home would be cheaper but hope things do wort out for her to be able to go away

Just another thought - Did father have any occupational pension? some of them will pay pensions for dependants until the age of 23 if in education

Thank you I'll take a look

Thank you.

I agree I think if she was to live away from home it would be so good for her. There is the option of a gap year. I agree it may give her more time to come to terms with her Dad's death.

Re the pension. He changed his Will. This has only recently come to light. He did have pensions, one a Civil Service pension which does pay out for dependants. At the moment I'm trying to get a copy of his Death Certificate which is proving challenging as he passed way abroad and his family are not being supportive. It's quite complicated and I can see the benefits of a gap year while it's all being sorted out could be attractive.

A full maintenance loan "should" be enough to live on, but some halls of residence are eye-wateringly expensive. Many universities offer bursary schemes as well, which would be on the websites, I imagine. Some courses also offer scholarships for those with good grades, again, the websites would have details or you could ask the finance people at open days.
Depending on her course she could also probably work part time to help fund it. With some courses it's simply not possible, though. There is also the fact that holidays are long, with further opportunities to earn money. If she is willing & able to contribute it should certainly be do-able.
I'm sorry your family have had such a difficult time.

I work in an area where there are many people on very low incomes and in receipt of benefits. Some of them do have children who go to university; many of them go relatively close to home but quite a few move away from home too. I have never had occasion to ask them how they manage but they definitely do.
There are websites that advise which universities have the highest living costs - I don't know how accurate they are but I was playing around with them with a friend the other day - Southampton came out extremely expensive whereas Bristol came out much better I seem to remember.
A gap year sounds a great idea; applying for universities knowing her grades might be easier as well as the ability to earn for a year.
I'm so sorry that you have the issues that you are facing; I hope you and your dd have good support from friends and family.

You have probably considered/be doing this already but if a will is changed to disinherit a child you can put a block on the new will and make sure she is provided for. Acting swiftly is important (the gov.uk website is very informative).