University Fees: Is dad liable to pay?

Mr Luvpants,

Perhaps you are away of some change to student financing that has passed me by??

I have applied for a maintenance grant for my daughter but afaik this will, at most, only cover the tuition fees of over £3k a year. She will have to pay £4k rent for her room in Halls and buy food, books etc. I estimate the annual cost will be circa £10k pa - around 7k of which we don't get help with.
And just as she starts to get more expensive, child benefit and child tax credit for her cease:( .
All this and STBX has got away with contributing nothing - on the grounds he is suffering from a degree of disability and his priority has to be himself (his words).
Oh and there are another 2 heading for Uni after her.
Hmmm.

Haden

Support for kids in full time education is their right. (Even after age 18)

My son works part-time in a pub; (minimum wage) and will continue to live at home whilst doing University (locally)

The judge said I could come back for Education fees; so far his dad has paid 50% but is stumbling at the last hurdle. (Probably because his internet downloaded lovely has demanded a new house at £550k cash!)
Ex has cashed in his pensions to provide this for her; but has another house he's not bothered to sell - yet he argues about paying out a couple of grand on our sons education.

Obviously he's got his priorities wrong.

Read Fionas links above; because it may shed some light for your own case.

hadenoughnow wrote:

Mr Luvpants,

Perhaps you are away of some change to student financing that has passed me by??

I have applied for a maintenance grant for my daughter but afaik this will, at most, only cover the tuition fees of over £3k a year. She will have to pay £4k rent for her room in Halls and buy food, books etc. I estimate the annual cost will be circa £10k pa - around 7k of which we don't get help with.
And just as she starts to get more expensive, child benefit and child tax credit for her cease:( .
All this and STBX has got away with contributing nothing - on the grounds he is suffering from a degree of disability and his priority has to be himself (his words).
Oh and there are another 2 heading for Uni after her.
Hmmm.

Haden

As I said before I am not out to have an arguement but would enjoy a healthy discussion.

My case is different. The financial details of our divorce was sorted out in the matrimonial home. I gave in to my x. She had 80% (40K) of the house sale for her and my 13 yr old son and I had the rest. She also had the family car and I took on the loan which was for my for my car and 2K of hers. I have paid her maintenance every month from the outset and have never varied it despite my circumstances changing i.e. getting married and taking on 2 step children and a big mortgage.

I am not sure what she earns but she is not qualified in anything and so I assume that she earns less than 25K pa.So my son is entitled to his tuition fees paid, and a grant and a maintenance loan of £6200. If she earns between £25K and £30K he is entitled to £5300.If we take out his living expeneses, food and bills he is left with £1600 per school year to party on. He intends on transferring his PT job to Uni so will be bringing in another £60-£80 per week. I have a few mates who went to uni and all of them said that their parents helped them out a bit but it was not a regular payment, just when they needed it.

The bottom line is that he wont be living at home so why does she need me to give her money?

JOHN

I guess the problem is, uni terms are barely 50% of the year, so students have accommodation at uni for only @50% of the time. The rest of the year they have to live somewhere and most go home.

My kids did. Unfortunately my ex stopped paying maintenance at end of secondary education - he didn't see why I needed the money; unfortunately, having only come onto the job market for the first time at 40 after a long marriage I don't, and will probably never, earn large amounts of money, so when his money stopped I had to downsize and move into a small flat with my youngest daughter.

So this year when uni term finished and son couldn't come home to live with me he had to move in with his dad and his new wife and her three kids - my son tells me the new wife was less than thrilled by this, so all have had a very miserable summer...and all because the ex stopped paying me the few hundred pounds he could afford but didn't want to pay because he didn't see why he should continue to help me provide a home for our son while he was at uni and unable to get a proper job to pay for a place of his own...

students are entitled in their own right for tution fees and an allowance for accommodation if they are not living at home.Most students manage with a part time job.I am not saying that the parents should not help ,it all depends on their financial status.It should be a voluntary contribution and I am sure this can be agreed by both and shared ,after all neither of you will want to see your child suffer unnecessary.The child will need to know the regular contributions so can budget.
I have a daughter going to uni this september too,her support has never come into the discussion even though fighting over finance now.

just got back from court today and signed an agreement as part of new court order that he will continue to pay maintenance for his 4 daughters to complete a first degree!! The judge asked us both to investigate whether it was a better option that the money would be paid into their accounts because if that happened they would not be eligible for maintence grants etc , if this is the case the maintenance will be paid to them via me. She said that if a NRP can afford to pay some cost, in the way of maintenance, then they should do so and if they don't want to it can be ordered as part of a variation of an existing order before that order expires

That is a good result spooky.

My STBX could afford to contribute - maybe not much but some - but he claimed in court he needed all his money to support himself and the judge would not order maintenance thru uni for the eldest .
I hope he chokes on all the beer that money will be buying .

Hadenoughnow