Well I would hope they would have saved up the money for a deposit.

Student grants get paid off fairly painlessly.

For anyone who thinks the student loan system is OK. It is set to cost far more than the grants system did-tp://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/tuition-fees-three-quarters-of-students-wont-be-able-to-pay-off-their-debt-9866446.html
Crazy!!!

Yes jings they have saved, but my point is that it has been continually just out of their reach to achieve buying somewhere - and they are not unrealistic in terms of what they want either.

And 're starting a family whilst living with your folks, as I said, what then?

I think the student loan system is fair, It doesn't start getting paid off until they are earning a reasonable salary. Providing they work reasonably hard at uni, they should get a degree that will provide them with an above average salary (some students treat it as a jolly and don;t get a good degree)
Both of our children had large student loans, but I have never heard them complaining of having to pay them off. Their degrees have enabled them to earn above average salaries (much better than mine) which in turn have enabled them to buy homes and raise families in reasonable comfort. They are certainly better of that we were at their age.
I can remember being really hard up when we had our first mortgage and could not afford to start a family.

What gets me is all the "extras" the young ones seem to regard as essential like gap years, smart phones, cars, foreign holidays, going clubbing, buying their lunches instead of taking a packed lunch from home, hair extensions, artificial tanning, gel nails, umpteen new outfits - I could go on!. There is a sense of being entitled to it all with them, which was not as prevalent in years gone by. That's why it's so hard to save up a deposit. Saving takes discipline and frugality and those are not popular attributes for many young folks.

That said, I agree there is a drastic lack of housing stock.

Our young ones material expectations are so much greater than when we were saving to buy our first home. We spent 3 very frugal years when we were engaged saving for a deposit for a house.

My eldest granddaughter was going to have a gap year, but realised that if she did she would have to pay £9000 a year instead of £3000, so took the place that she was offered. She doesn't have artificial tanning, gel nails, hair extensions, etc. She worked all the time she was at university, and still got a first. She now has a zero hours minimum pay contract in the same hotel she worked in for those three years. So not all young one's expectations are greater than ours. She did expect to be able to get a better job when she left, but realises she is not owed a living.
She's no different, really, to her parents and grandparents.
Over 50% of her pay goes on rent. That's the difference. When we were renting our first house less than 20% went on rent.

If you borrow money, you have to pay it back with interest. Whatever you use the money for.
If you are going to go for a degree, you are able to understand that basic principle.

I agree that rent is a biggie. And if you want a job away from home, there are not that many ways around the large rent problem nowadays.

House sharing?

My GD also worked while she was at University. She graduated two years ago and has not been able to get a job in her specialist field - fashion production & technology - so far. She has done bar work and cleaning and is now working full time for a cleaning agency and making enough money to run a car. Admittedly, she is still living with parents, but desperate to find a flat of her own. She has never taken anything for granted.

My granddaughter is sharing a flat with a friend, jingl. It takes 50% of each of their earnings, two people on minimum wage and zero hours contracts, neither of whom, like anno's granddaughter, can get jobs in their chosen field.
Whatever you say, it is much harder for youngsters these days. It is not helped by people lumping them all together as workshy wasters as happens sometimes. We do not like it when we are all criticised as taking all the money and not giving youngsters a chance.

What is the rate of interest on student loans these days? When they were first introduced the interest rate was incredibly low; a few years later [with very little publicity about it] the loans were taken over by another organisation and the interest rate shot up. Some students don't finish their degrees for various reasons so end up with no degree but still a huge debt.

Durhamjen, as your GD got a first (assuming she chose a useful degree, some of the subjects are not attractive to employers) she will eventually get a job that will repay her efforts.
Our son worked as a temp (not even zero hours) for about 2 years, earning enough to pay his way, but little more. Via one of those temp jobs (data entry) he got a job with a software company, he is now the marketing director of that company and earning a salary that makes his studies worthwhile.
Your GD should keep working at anything she can and keep looking for something that demands her talents. I'm sure she will soon be fulfilling her dreams.

Pompa, what you have said is so often true. Our DSs both have degrees, in different subjects, but subjects that at transferable to many businesses.

DS1 got his first job by putting on a suit and going to large businesses, getting in when employees were entering the pass locked doors and presenting himself at HR! He was politely thrown out of some, but eventually taken on (for a trial) by a well known company. He stayed there for 3 years.

The other DS more or less had the same experience as Pompa's son.

Every employment opportunity could lead to a job. x

One of our children did bar work, temped etc after leaving university because for the first time, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Like pomp's son she was offered permanent work by one big company and is now in a management role there. Working hard and turning your hand to anything remain as important as they were for our generation.

I do get fed up with people moaning about the younger generation wanting/expecting more stuff, holidays, a higher standard of living that we had at that age. They are living in their own time zone, just as we did, our parents and grandparents before us. I'm a northern lass, so of course when growing up I heard my grandparents talking about dads who worked in the pit getting the boiled egg, with the children sharing the top with their bread. Mum just got a cup of tea. Luxury! I hear you all shout

My DS and DD do not fritter money away on tannings, gel nails, foreign holidays, my son works as a labourer in the holidays, DS works while at school taking her IB. Neither of them have an issue with student loans, they just see them as a graduate tax. But, I think we are getting away from the point of this thread....the cost of housing. I know that we cannot keep comparing to previous generations, but I was able to buy my first flat, in a nice area, and pay my fares to commute, on one salary. I earned £9000 and borrowed £24,000. When DD graduates as a teacher, she will earn in current terms, around £22,00 a fair salary, but it is going to be a struggle to even pay rent on that, let alone buy anything with a mortgage of around £60,000.

Iam64

It's all very well us (and graduates) thinking of their student loan as more of a tax than a debt, but the fact is that student loans are now taken into account when applying for a mortgage. This is going to make it even harder for graduates on low earnings to ever buy a property.

If they're self employed, or freelance workers like my DS, even if they have been paying rent of £1000+ a month for four years and never missed a payment, they can forget ever owning a house. And DS graduated before the £9000 tuition fees came into force. So I think young people today are in a much more difficult situation than we were at their age.

I can on ly speak for our own family, but our children are much better off than when we were their age. They both have houses far bigger thanwe have ever had, new cars etc etc.
When we bought our first house we could not afford to buy where we lived and worked, so had to move to a much cheaper area and change jobs. In hindsight, that was a very good move, love it where we are.
Those on low incomes will struggle, but wasn't that always the case, we rented a two room with shared bathroom flat first.

Pompa, like you and probably many others, we also started in two rooms and shared bathroom.

Today's rented accommodation is, quite rightly, a higher spec. Than in the old days. Unfortunately, with the higher specs. and safety controls come higher rents.

It is impossible for many young people to rent near jobs and save at the same time. X

Isn't the point of this post that there isn't the affordable housing there once was. Of course there are some families where children are better off than their parents, but even they walk a slippery slope and there is no longer a safety net to catch them if they fall. Denise gives instances of when people have come a cropper and the way that there was once provision for this. The boomerang generation have difficulties but these are nothing compared with those who are homeless and homelessness is on the increase.http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/Homelessness%20briefing%202015%20EXTERNAL.pdf

www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/Homelessness%20briefing%202015%20EXTERNAL.pdf

Thanks Ana!

I didnt know that the rules had changed on that nightowl, as regards student loans being taken into account re mortgages.
I do think that it is unfair that rules change, after a person has committed to something.
On the other hand, I was surprised that they were not taken into account in the first place. But even so..

My story, is that my youngest nearly got the £9000 fees instead of £3000. And even though she was top of her year, myself especially, was being very hesitant indeed about her going to uni at those prices.
But then DD found out that it wasnt her year that the new fees were going to start, it was the next one.
I knew, from her siblings going to uni at the lower amounts, that it takes a long time to pay student loans back, so didnt want her to have that amount around her neck.