I walked a lot.

and my rent 300 per month. I worked part time, but 40 quid/week also only goes so far.

I've not been to uni yet, but I've never had any money off my parents.

I've had a job since I was thirteen and I've paid £200 a month digs money to my mum since I left school at sixteen.

When I go to uni next year I'll do the same as I have the past two years at college, live off my loan and part time job.

my dad's given me nought since i was about 10 though, so i think it was pity money.

I started working at 15 and i'm starting to regret it now. Sadly my mum was never in the position to be able to support the household on just her income.

which is nice. I somehow get less than the minimum loan per year though (minimum is £810, i get £570) but i couldn't be bothered contesting it so now i recieve £50 a month. Pretty shit. I work two days a week which helps me survive, but just not i'm languishing at the end of my overdraft and waiting for my mum to get an insurance payout after which i get 2 grand, woohoo!

i get most of it covered by my student loan. i've been really stupid and spent all my money though, so borrowing off my parents at the moment.

which makes me feel a bit bad that the degree was such a waste of time, but it was basically their idea in the first place.

I'm constantly morally conflicted about it.

I'm lucky enough to come from a very stable family with parents who are most definitely towards the upper middle class. They worked their way up there from really crushing poverty (my dad lived in a two-bedroom council house in Wolverhampton with his parents and five siblings, and dropped out of school, but now is some high-earning accountant) and as such they have this whole obsession with making sure that my brother and I have as many opportunities as possible, because they didn't have any.

So when I brought home the student loan/grant form at the end of school, they threw it away. "Don't deal with banks at your age," they said, "we don't want you getting into that trap so young."

So basically, they give me, per month, the same as I'd get from a student loan. But I owe them instead of a bank, and I do have to pay them back.

It's because I know I'm not really getting a free ride I can feel less like a free-loading layabout, and means I can still look down on the people who complain that daddy won't let them use the villa in Cyprus this summer. But still, I've got it easier than most, because I've got a safety net.

In this case, my rent and tuition fees.

Basically, if I'm about to max out my overdraft, they give me a cash injection.

my parents paid for everything for my sisters and are going to for me.

as I didn't go to uni, but I'd just like to back up dark_truffles above and say that I had to pay rent to my parents as soon as I turned 16. It wasn't so much that they needed or wanted the cash, it was more for teaching a sense of responsibility to me when I actually had money for the first time. I left school earning £10,000 16 year ago, so I think they were perfectly within their rights to do so.

with rent and tuition fees. I work during the holidays though to earn money for living expenses etc and so I don't feel like I'm not contributing. I hope I'll be able to do the same if I have kids.

But I get the maximum loan and well as a hefty grant which covers all my expenses. Saying that, I'm nearing my overdraft limit and I've only been living off of 40 quid a week this past year. I shouldn't complain about not being able to afford to go out/go shopping etc though coz that's my own fault for not getting a part time job. I had a fair amount of leisure money last year but that's coz I saved up by working full time in the summer. My parents do subsidise my travel fare to go home at holidays though (But I do get the coach..)

It's all means tested though isn't it? It's true that those in the 'lower middle class' bracket tend to get completely screwed over though.