Parents work harder to meet university costs
Hetty ter Haar
Paul Willis
Wednesday October 3, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A third of parents say they have considered taking on an extra job or
working longer hours in their current one in order to finance their
child through university, new research showed today.
As undergraduates prepare for the start of the new university term,
the survey from Halifax reveals the heavy financial burden of sending
your offspring to university.
According to the research, nearly 60% of parents say their child has
either already taken out a student loan, or will need to get one in
the future to fund their university education.
But most parents said they would be happy to shoulder the financial
burden. As well as working more hours, 10% of parents said they would
even think about remortgaging their home to pay for their child's
studies.
Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of parents said they would use their
salary or wages and nearly three-fifths claimed they would dip into
their savings if needed.
Over the last few years, student loans have become an essential part
of the support package for undergraduates with around 90% of students
taking one out, according to the National Union of Students (NUS).
Wes Streeting, NUS vice-president, said although student loans were
far preferable to commercial debt, there was still a significant
shortfall in funding.
"There is always more that could be done to help support students," he
said. "We welcome the government's recent announcements about
extending the grants threshold so that more students will be able to
access some degree of student support, however, we are still concerned
that there is a significant shortfall in funding to cover living and
other costs."
The cost of a university education has gone up dramatically in recent
years as a result of rising housing and living costs and a gradual
increase in tuition fees - undergraduates must pay £3,070 in fees for
the coming academic year.
Student loans now stand at £5,085 for those studying in London, but
not living at home, or £3,280 for other students in the UK not living
with their parents. Interest on these loans is payable at 4.8% per
year.
Lisa Taylor, from financial comparison website Moneyfacts.co.uk, said
that while it was right for parents to want to help out their
children, they should avoid getting themselves into financial problems
in the process.
"For most young people university is likely to be the first time
they've had to manage their own finances. So it's not necessarily such
a bad idea for them to learn how to deal with debt," she said.
"Obviously, the instincts of most parents are to rescue their child if
they get themselves into money troubles. But they shouldn't change
their whole lifestyle to do this. I certainly wouldn't advise
remortgaging, for instance."
EducationGuardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007