Stop assessing how much money I deserve based on my parents’ income

Maintenance loans are too small and the grant system is stupid

| UPDATED fees grant no money northumbria poor skint university

I am skint.

I have watched my spending while at uni but have still managed to max-out 2 overdrafts and now owe the banks £2,500.

Cry

I’m pretty much screwed for the upcoming months and am wondering where I will find the money to feed myself.

The problem is that maintenance loans aren’t bloody big enough. With rents and general living costs increasing, living off £3600 is virtually impossible.

According to MoneySavingExpert.com there’s no sign of the government looking to do anything about this.

Two of my house-mates recently received £3,000+ as a grant from the university. They’re buzzing – and one of their parents owns a flipping horse.

Lucky bastards

I’m not bitter at all.

Because of my parents’ income, I’m not entitled to any financial help from the university, yet what they don’t know is that my parents have to split that between six children and simply can’t afford to give me money left, right and centre.

The university has a huge money-pot to help out those who come from a household of low income, and this is great for those who receive these grants.

The issue is most students are in the same situation in terms of money and don’t get help from their parents. Yet based on what their parents earn, some get help, and others don’t – some need the help and others don’t.

There are so many faults in the way that the university offers bursaries to students. But the main one is to assume that parents will pay for your degree if they earn a salary of more than £16,000.

Some are lucky enough to have their parents pay for their rent, or at least give them a few hundred pounds a month to go towards living costs but for the most part the majority of students with higher household incomes don’t get a bean.

Perhaps, instead of automatically assessed grants, they should be applied for by those students in need in a similar way to their Access to Learning Fund. The distribution of money would then be based on what the students incomings are against their outgoings instead of someone else’s earnings.

Or – as if this is somehow too ridiculous to suggest – give us a bigger fucking loan.

Rent is a killer