What&#x27;s it like growing up poor/on benefits/underprivileged?

i know how it is like growing up poor as my parents are old and they dont work so the only money i get is for going to sixth form which is £80.00 and sometimes it is less and i get it termly and sometimes my dad gives me £5.00 on the weekend and the things i want like an ipad i cant have but what annoys me is that my friends get everything what they want and they tell me what they got and they turn round to me and say what did you get today and if i say nothing they laugh if i tell them i got something they say where you got that from and most of my clothes are from charity shops as i havent got the money to buy new clothes and they say we get all our clothes from proper shops not like you :mad:

Reply 62

Original post by kwassa

Always been poor but neither of my parents have ever been on benefits, although, I was on benefits from 17 to 19 when I was emancipated from my parents. I'm at university now, which is why I was on them, in order to study. I get the maximum based on my mum's income, but I get asked to lend my mum money regularly, which I can't afford. Hence now in despair at having to find £700 pounds for my rent within three weeks, as the amount's just gone up. My dad is currently saving for his funeral plot as he's terminally ill and I'll have to find money for the things afterwards before I'll have access to inheritance. I think I'm currently the poorest I've been in my life, very tempted to just drop out of uni but nearly in third year.

That was ramble about rubbish. Basically, I'm very jealous of people at uni who don't have to worry about things like that. I've had enough. :frown:

i always wanted to go to uni but i cant go as i havent got the money and it made me nearly cry hearing about your dad its so sad when you know your parents are on there last legs my dad is the same as your dad but probalby different illness

Reply 63

foxes-are-ginger

9

To be honest - I never even noticed until I started secondary school.
I'm lucky to be poor in the poor area of a really nice little town - so there isn't much crime or anything like that.
As I said, as I live in a nice town it was pretty crap when all my friends were going on two holidays per year, going to the cinema, going bowling and going shopping with wads of cash in their wallet when I couldn't afford to. Some people in my year were mean about it, laughing at the fact I didn't go on holiday and I lived in the rubbish area - but my friends were cool about it and never really rubbed it in my face.

Luckily, I managed to get a job when I was about 15 and since then it hasn't really been a problem!

Reply 64

hmon93

10

When I was growing up I was a bit resentful as nobody understood that I couldn't just ask my parents for money for school trips/days out with friends etc.

Reply 65

Original post by sarahw17

i always wanted to go to uni but i cant go as i havent got the money and it made me nearly cry hearing about your dad its so sad when you know your parents are on there last legs my dad is the same as your dad but probalby different illness

In this country, there are no financial barriers to going to university, particularly if you're not well-off and can get the full loans, grants and university bursaries.

Reply 66

TheCurlyHairedDude

3

It's fine. Don't know my dad, he's dead. So my mum raised me and 3 others, completely fine. I mean, I share a room with my sister, but I really don't have time to be complaining about trivial ****, some people don't have homes at all. I eat well, go to the gym, all is good!

Reply 67

joefoxon

9

Original post by sarahw17

i know how it is like growing up poor ... the things i want like an ipad i cant have

First world problems. I'm so poor I can't even afford an iPad.

Reply 68

RibenaRockstar

14

Original post by OU Student

I think the rules have / will changed. Something about not being able to claim if your income is around £60k per year.

That's a future thing, my household income is above that and we still claim it.

I'm at a grammar school in a posh area and I'm lucky to have stuff and so on, but I'm always aware that not everyone is and I cringe so much when people are talking about their yah-yah lifestyles, and so on.
From about year 8 to the start of sixth form, I didn't have nearly as much money to myself as some others did (though I know it's a lot more than some get, and I was grateful for it), and I ended up feigning hatred and contempt for Jack Wills, Abercrombie etc because I couldn't afford them.

Also someone mentioned lack of educational aspirations - that's not just a low-income thing. It annoys me so much when I see people in my year with so many advantages and they just don't care.
tl;dr I'm fairly privileged, but being surrounded by people who are even more so isn't easy.

Reply 69

Original post by joefoxon

First world problems. I'm so poor I can't even afford an iPad.

Indeed.

Reply 70

Original post by GdotL

In this country, there are no financial barriers to going to university, particularly if you're not well-off and can get the full loans, grants and university bursaries.

so if i want to go i can and wont have to pay for anything

Reply 71

Original post by sarahw17

so if i want to go i can and wont have to pay for anything

Yes, you won't have to pay for anything upfront. You'll get grants and bursaries which are 'free' essentially. You will have to pay back any loans but they're at brilliant rates and only need to paid back very gradually from when you start a good job at over £21,000 per year. :smile:

Reply 72

Original post by GdotL

Yes, you won't have to pay for anything upfront. You'll get grants and bursaries which are 'free' essentially. You will have to pay back any loans but they're at brilliant rates and only need to paid back very gradually from when you start a good job at over £21,000 per year. :smile:

thats good i might look into it as i am at sixth form atm and i sent i email to a teacher from my friends account saying that she was going out with me and another teacher asked me if it was me i said no but it was shall i tell them or not i emailed the teacher saying i'm sorry

Reply 73

abc:)

22

Original post by Herr

We have plenty of threads on TSR asking what's it like to have rich parents or to come from a privileged background.

Now am sure there are plenty on here who aren't from such backgrounds,

We all sometimes do wonder what's it like growing up underprivileged and minus the huge arsenal of wealth our parents provide us with. Am pretty sure it isn't really as bleak as many make it sound. What does it really feel like?

Does it feel anything for example when in school people talk about what their parents do for a living and you have to say they are on benefits or living on the dole?

Admittedly my exposure to people who are from such backgrounds is limited at best and tbh the only people I know on benefits are those I speak to on TSR.

Please share your experience.

* Only those who are from under-privileged backgrounds from OECD countries only please.

As a young child, nothing as I wasn't aware of it.

As an older child, I can't say I thought about it much (does any child think about class and wealth much?) except for the odd month when we would run out of funds and then have no food to eat, or get the gas or electricity cut off, which if it was the gas also meant washing in the kitchen with boiled water as our water was heated by gas. Then it was a little frustrating or worrying.

Anyway luckily we're no longer in that situation and as a household we definitely have a higher income than average in the UK.

Reply 74

Original post by sarahw17

thats good i might look into it as i am at sixth form atm and i sent i email to a teacher from my friends account saying that she was going out with me and another teacher asked me if it was me i said no but it was shall i tell them or not i emailed the teacher saying i'm sorry

I think you have mental health issues.

Reply 75

Original post by GdotL

I think you have mental health issues.

why do you think i got mental health issues for :confused:

Reply 76

Original post by sarahw17

why do you think i got mental health issues for :confused:

You're talking about weird irrelevant things like going out with your friend and emailing teachers which is nothing to do with the thread or conversation.

Reply 77

abc:)

22

Original post by GdotL

In this country, there are no financial barriers to going to university, particularly if you're not well-off and can get the full loans, grants and university bursaries.

This is so untrue - I go to uni in the north, living costs are cheap, I have almost the full loan and a grant, and I end up with around 300 pounds each term left over. When you take into consideration books [which amount to around 150 pounds commonly] food, socialising, and generally living your life, there is no way you can go to university for free, it's IMPOSSIBLE.

Reply 78