A NEW WAY OUT FOR STUDENTS

NATIONAL HOMEBUYERS: Over a quarter of students agree with the statement: "I am seriously worried about the debts I am going to incur as a result of going to university." according to a survey conducted by student accommodation company ‘Unite’.

We have now entered an age where universities in England and Northern Ireland can charge tuition fees of up to £3000 per year and students are sure to feel the chill of the already notorious ‘top-up fees’. Two-thirds of students are currently in debt at an average of £5,267, which is expected to rise to £9,692 by the time they complete their studies. For the majority, this debt takes the form of a student loan, though a third of students have an overdraft and one in eight owe money on a credit card.

A report from the National Union of Students and the TUC revealed that students from poorer backgrounds are more likely to have to work to support themselves than those from affluent backgrounds. About 55% of young people whose parents work in managerial and professional jobs work part-time, but the figure rises to 61% for students whose parents are involved in more manual labour.

The general secretary of the TUC, Brendon Barber said; “More and more students are being forced to look for paid work not only because they need the cash to survive each term at university, but also because they want to avoid running up massive debts by the time they graduate. This is especially the case among young people from poorer backgrounds who can’t rely on regular financial support from their parents.”

A full-time student studies approximately 14+ hours a week and the report showed that paid employment might be having a damaging impact on their studies. According to the survey, nearly 40% of full-time students who worked felt that having a job meant they were unable to spend as much time reading and studying, as they would like. A quarter of full-time students reported that they miss many lectures.

All of this talk of debt is of course, a huge worry for parents who are watching their young ones fly the nest for the first time. It can be a huge strain on parents to see their child struggle into large amounts of debts.

Almost half of all parents (43%) admit to being stressed out, with a whopping 80% believing it will be harder for their children to find gainful employment than it was for them. 

If parents find themselves receiving phone calls from starving, cold and depressed offspring whilst they are at university, they may want to release some equity to ease the pressure off themselves and the studious student.

One way they can do this is to sell their house quickly through leading home buying company, National Homebuyers. By doing this, not only will they be able to free-up some money but they will also have the option of renting back the house afterwards meaning they don’t even have to move anywhere.

Mrs Connerty (61) and her husband (66) took the decision to sell their house to help their daughter set up her own home. Their daughter had just returned from travelling and had a student loan to repay, but wanted the opportunity to invest in her own home. Due to her student debts this just wasn’t practical. Since both their daughter (23) and son (27) had left home, Mr and Mrs Connerty felt that they had the option of downsizing their home to buy a second property. Their daughter currently rents this second home from them at a price she can afford, until she is in a better financial situation.

The family had experienced previous disappointment when their house sale fell through at the eleventh hour – just 15 minutes before they were due to move out. Since they had found two properties to buy, one for themselves and one for their daughter, the Connerty’s felt they needed a secure sale that would proceed quickly. Having read about National Homebuyers in a Sunday paper, the couple decided that the service offered by the company was the answer to their dilemma.

They contacted National Homebuyers and decided that this option would give them the peace of mind they needed to ensure that the sale and two purchases went smoothly. The Connerty’s opted to rent back their house for a few months so that they could help settle their daughter before thinking about moving themselves.

Mrs Connerty, a parish Administrator, said, “Using National Homebuyers ensured that we were able to take our time, safe in the knowledge that the sale wouldn’t fall through with the removal van in the drive, as had been our previous experience. We knew we wouldn’t get the full market value but National Homebuyers gave us a fair price. The peace of mind it gave us as a family made it the right decision. It gave us the opportunity to help provide our daughter gain her independence without crippling her financially.”

Julian King, Director of National Homebuyers says, “Student debt is a huge issue now. Everybody is aware, if they want to be a student they will almost defiantly be in a huge amount of debt. It is obvious that parents worry about this as many of our customers are selling their homes to release equity and fund student family members.