Parental burden ‘stealthily increased’ as student loans flatline

Some parents in the UK are sending more than £1,000 a month to their children to help cover the cost of university, new research has found.

The National Union of Students (NUS) said the burden on the “bank of mum and dad” had been “stealthily increased” by years of rising living costs while parental income thresholds, used to determine maintenance loans, remained frozen.

The Price of Ambition, its report published on 19 January, found that 86 per cent of parents provide financial support to their children while at university, with the majority spending more than £200 a month.

The largest proportion of parents (18 per cent) sent between £100 and £199 per month, followed by 13.3 per cent who gave between £200 and £299 per month. Just under one in 10 (9.1 per cent) provided their child with more than £1,000 each month.

Household income thresholds, which determine whether a student qualifies for a higher maintenance loan, have been frozen at £25,000 since 2008, and the NUS called on the government to increase them in line with inflation annually, alongside a one-off “re-adjustment” to reflect the years of freezes.

If the threshold had increased with inflation, the NUS said, it would currently stand at around £41,000. It added that in 2008 the median annual wage was below the threshold for maximum support at £24,908 but in 2025 the median salary stood at £39,039 – significantly above the current threshold.

“The burden on parents has been gradually allowed to increase over 18 years. Consecutive governments have enabled this shift by leaving a system, designed to support independence, to decay and thereby dragging students into poverty unless their parents step in to support them,” the report says.

Although the NUS acknowledged that the government has committed to annually increasing maintenance loans in line with inflation, it added that “over a decade of stagnation means that the deficit between a student’s living costs and the loan they receive has meant that consecutive governments have stealthily increased the burden on parents, and an inflationary rise will not correct this course”.

Some 84 per cent of parents said supporting their child’s living costs was having an impact on their finances, and 11 per cent said they had not been aware they would need to financially support their child through university.

It also found that 48 per cent of parents expected their child to work while at university, meaning many students are now relying on three income streams – loans, work and parental support – “each of which alone is not enough for survival”.

Alex Stanley, NUS vice-president for higher education, said: “The notion of students not having much money is nothing new but, considering the alarming levels of debt facing those studying, a maintenance system that works should not be too much to expect. But decades of neglect mean that isn’t the case.”

He added that the rising cost of living means a student attending university can have a “a negative financial ripple effect” across their entire family. 

“Each year, I speak to thousands of university students. I know they can barely make rent. They are accessing food banks. Reliance is greater than ever on university bursaries and financial support at a time where the sector is facing real-terms funding cuts. This research looks at the other side of that coin – the parents expected to fill in the gaps, regardless of their own income,” Stanley said.

The government and Student Loans Company “must” bring in reforms, he said, adding that “without change, the view of higher education as a tool for expanding opportunity feels more and more tokenistic”.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com