In many cases student loans are – by design – not big enough to cover the cost of getting a degree, Martin Lewis has warned.

The government fully expects that gap to be covered by parents, but parents themselves are frequently left in the dark.

Martin said: “Parents often angrily complain to me: ‘It’s a disgrace that the living loan isn’t enough to cover my kid’s rent.’

"Many are then gobsmacked when I explain to them that is because their child’s loan is thousands smaller due to their income, and they are expected to plug the gap."

So the MoneysavingExpert.com founder decided to take matters into his own hands, putting together an online calculator to let you work out how much you'll need to save to cover the gap between loans and costs.

“Of course, there’s no legal obligation on parents to contribute, and student offspring can’t force them," Martin said.

"Indeed, these amounts may be unaffordable to some . . . yet at least by providing prior warning of the scale of contribution expected of them, we hope it will enable people to better plan, and students and their parents to better understand their responsibilities.”

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The problem is nothing to do with tuition fees, but rather the maintenance part of the loan.

This is designed to cover the cost of living while you study – but has a hidden parental contribution baked in.

That means, whether they help out or not, a student with petter off parents gets a smaller loan than one whose parents earn less cash.

But at no point are parents told that their child's loan is dependent on their earnings.

In fact, parents are expected to put as much as £17,700 aside to cover the living costs of their adult children at university.

Reductions start when the student's "family income" hits just £25,000 a year, and loans reduce rapidly after that.

For example, a child starting university in 2020, living away from home outside London, parents earning £35,000 between them are expected to top up loans by £3,900 over a three years, parents earning £50,000 are expected to add £9,750, and parents making £75,000 are expected to add £14,400 to cover costs.

“If the Government wants a means-tested system, at least come clean about it. Their failure to do so causes stress between parents and their children," Martin said.

"One – unable to find work outside course hours, desperately struggling on the minimum loan – told me his parents’ view was that now he was at uni he should stand on his own two feet.

"They may well think that, but the system doesn’t. After I explained how it worked, his surprised parents started to contribute."

Martin thinks more needs to be done to make it clear.

“The Government needs to make this more transparent," he said.

"The only official guidance I’ve seen is buried in a Student Finance England guide, which says ‘depending on their income, parents may have to contribute towards your living costs while you’re studying’.

"Student loan letters don’t mention this, they simply note the amount a student will receive."

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