University finance: Alvin Hall's parents guide
Packing off children to university has always meant some kind of payout, but with grants now limited and parents wanting to reduce their offspring's' future debts, education can be expensive.
TV financial expert Alvin Hall is now calling on parents to be strict over cash, to help their children but not to pamper them.
Maintenance grants of £2,835 for students going to university are available for those with a household income under £25,000. Further grants are staggered downwards as incomes grow.
Along with student grants for maintenance, loans are available for living expenses between £4,575 and £3,365. Together loans and grants can provide between £6,200 and £3,685 to help with day-to-day costs.
After that, it is for parents to step in or their children to work.
Bursaries and scholarships could also be available from individual universities to help students.
Tuition fees meanwhile can add up £3,145 a year. This means a student's first-year debt alone can be £9,620.
In total, the NUS estimates a three-year degree with living expenses can cost £32,667.
No wonder research by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) shows 84 per cent of parents are willing to make sacrifices to support their child at university - including 66 per cent foregoing a new car; 54 per cent sacrificing their annual holiday; and 40 per cent even forfeiting an early retirement.
However, parents should not act as money pit, advises Alvin.
With such large costs, students are also making sacrifices, with 27 per cent of people starting university planning to live at home with their parents to save cash, according to research from Lloyds TSB.
A quarter will also work in term time to make ends meet.
But with 62 per cent of those students staying at home admitting they would prefer to fly the nest sooner, it may not be plain sailing and tensions may arise.
To avoid conflict, parents need to set the ground rules early, explains Alvin Hall, host of the BBC's Your Money or Your Life and author of numerous personal finance books.
"If your children are going to stay home, you need to sit down and negotiate what freedoms they have living at home," he says.
"What times they are going to come home, how much laundry they will do, if friends can stay over."
Alvin's advice to students: "You have to negotiate with your parents how late you can come in at night, friends you can have over, what you are going to cook and what chores you are going to help out with."
He also advises parents to set boundaries with money, so children - whether they are away at university or staying at home know their parents are not going to bail them out whenever they run short of cash.
"Setting strict boundaries is really important. If a child or the student goes over the limit and gets into trouble, parents need to say: 'You have created this problem, you need to figure your way out of this problem'," he explains
"Parents should only step in if it is a real threat to their child's ability to continue their education. If it is about not having decent food at the end of the month, then the parents should step in. But if it is about not having a piece of clothing, not being able to go on a trip with friends, tough!"
Alvin urges parents to say to take the line: "We are here to help you with essentials, but just because you want to go to Spain, doesn't mean you get to go to Spain."
"There have to some consequences," he says.
"If there are no consequences, they will return to the bank of mum and dad forever and ever."
Parents also have to be consistent and give out the same message to children.
"I have friends right now who have students at university. They sat down and decided what their message to their two kids was going to be," Alvin explains.
"It was going to be consistent from both parents. Now the children can't go round either parent or work the other one. The message is the same: we will fund you, we will help with books, if you run short of money for food because you went out on a party at the weekend, we will buy you the food but not give you cash.
"It is not being strict, it is being practical!"
The message is children should be allowed to make mistakes, but be given the support and advice to learn from these mistakes. Make sure you support them not just financially but to take responsibilities for their own decisions with money.
Daniel Barnes
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