How Much It REALLY Costs to Send a Child to College, Revealed by Experts

The cry of despair over the cost of college has never been louder from parents across the country, many of whom are discovering that their child will not be able to afford college unless they contribute to living expenses.

Middle-income families face the greatest challenge. They often do not have substantial savings or income to pay for college, but their children are unlikely to receive full maintenance loans or qualify for scholarships.

As prospective students prepare for their next step after receiving their A-level results on Thursday, here’s what parents need to know about the cost of university and whether your child can afford to go.

Loans for living expenses and maintenance

The annual cost of an undergraduate degree in England is typically £9,250, and most degrees last three or four years, bringing the total to £27,750 or £37,000. Most UK undergraduates are eligible for a tuition fee loan, so parents usually don’t have to worry about this.

Parents will likely have to cough up for living expenses. Most students are eligible for a maintenance loan, supposedly to cover expenses such as housing, food and books. But often it doesn’t go far.

A student at an English university outside London, who does not live at home, can borrow up to £10,227 for the year 2024/2025. But this depends on the parents’ household income.

If this is £62,347 or more, the maximum a student can receive is £4,767 per year, which is £397 per month. A maximum of £6,647 is available to students in London with a household income of over £70,000.

Maintenance loans have barely changed since 2017, despite the skyrocketing inflation of recent years. This could mean they don’t even cover rent, let alone other expenses.

The average student rent is £439 per month. According to the National Student Money Survey, groceries and eating out come to around £200 per month, along with other expenses such as socialising and phone bills.

The total cost of student accommodation is around £1,078 per month or £12,936 per year. So if your child is on the minimum maintenance loan, you’ll need to pay £8,000 per year or £680 per month to keep them afloat. In London, the average cost is £1,211 per month – £14,532 per year.

The student finance system is different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

What you need to earn to support a student

Parents need £24,500 over a three-year course to support a child who only gets the minimum maintenance loan. Such a large outlay can be tough to absorb, says Alice Haine of wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, especially as cost-of-living challenges in recent years have left many facing heavier mortgage payments and other higher bills.

Ms Haine says this could result in some parents having to go back to work, while one of them stayed at home.

However, if both parents are already working and their family finances are tight, a higher rate taxpayer earning £62,347 a year with a net income of £46,722 after tax would need to increase their net income to £52,191 to increase their child’s income by £5,460.

This would equate to the highest maintenance loan of £10,227, which can be achieved on a pre-tax salary of £71,775.

Young people forced to find part-time work

Not many parents can afford this kind of expense. For those who can’t, their children have to find a job while they’re in school or work and save money in advance – perhaps by taking a gap year.

According to the National Student Money Survey, about 56 percent of college students take on part-time jobs during their studies.

However, it is not always easy for students to find a job because of the fierce competition, and more intensive courses do not give them much free time. Cherry Hagger, a higher education advisor, says that more students are now struggling because of the rising costs.

She says that ‘threshold parents’ suffer the most. These are parents with a household income of more than £60,000 – perhaps a mechanic and a nurse who could not budget for university because they assumed student loans would cover the costs.

Mrs Hagger said: ‘It’s a shock to hear that they have to be prepared to give their child up to £10,000 a year from their taxable income. Many haven’t saved for this.

‘To qualify for assistance, your family income must be low. Parents who exceed the threshold are not eligible for this assistance.’

Parents on the What I Wish I Knew About University Facebook group say they give £50 to £100 a week to help cover rent and food bills, with children also expected to earn extra money during the holidays or while studying. Mrs Hagger and her husband Mark have put their three children through university, although they started putting money aside when they were in Year 7. They each received the minimum maintenance loan of £4,700 a year. Two have completed university and the third has completed his second year.

Mrs Hagger says that a few years ago, rent would cost around £400 to £500 a month for a room in a shared house. Now it’s £600 to £800 a month. And she adds that landlords now often demand 12-month leases, whereas her other children were able to get 10-month contracts to avoid paying rent during the summer holidays.

“I don’t want to scare people, but parents need to be realistic about the high prices,” she says.

Is University Worth It? Maybe Not for Everyone

The advantage of this is that your child will earn more in the long run and expand his/her social network.

However, some teens consider alternatives, such as a university-level apprenticeship or going straight into the workforce.

According to the Student Loans Company, which manages the loans, graduates in England leave university with an average debt of £44,940 for tuition fees and living expenses.

For students who started their course after 1 September 2023, the loan will start to be repaid once they earn more than £25,000. They will pay back 9 per cent of their earnings above this amount. So if they earn £30,000 a year, they will pay £37.50 a month. The interest rate is based on the Retail Prices Index and is currently 7.7 per cent. Any outstanding loan plus interest will be forgiven after 40 years. It is likely that many students will never pay off their loans.

In 2023/2024, approximately 200,550 school leavers will have started an apprenticeship, an increase of 2.5 percent compared to the previous school year.

Emma Bradley, 48, a tutor and money blogger from Gloucester, says her middle child, 20, had planned to study finance and business at university but instead became a trainee accountant at a local firm. He lives at home, has no student debt and earns a good salary.

Mrs Bradley’s eldest child, 24, went to university and received the minimum loan, which was around £4,000 a year. Her annual rent was £6,000, so her mother contributed the extra £2,000 needed and a weekly allowance of £50.

Mrs Bradley’s 14-year-old daughter is planning to go to university, so she has to start putting money aside now, as she expects the weekly allowance to be as much as £100. She says: ‘I still think university is worth it, if you need a degree for the job you want. But if you don’t need a degree, think carefully about whether it’s worth getting £60,000 in debt.’

money@mailonsunday.co.uk