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Let's take a hypothetical scenario. The Browns, from Norwich, have three sons: Robert, 17, Luke, 18, and Johnny, 19. When Johnny started university last year, the government only allowed him a maintenance grant to help with his rent and living costs if Angela Brown and her husband Steve earned less than £38,045. When Luke started his degree this September, a year later, the upper limit for the grants had shot up to £60,000.
Last week it changed again. When Robert starts university next year, Angela and Steve will have to jointly earn £50,020 or less for their youngest son to qualify for the grant.
Unsurprisingly, parents and would-be students are finding it a struggle to keep up with who is entitled to what.
The latest tinkering is down to a £200m hole in the higher education budget, John Denham, the universities secretary, admitted last week. It will affect about 40,000 students intending to study for degrees in England - or 10% of next year's freshers - some of whom have already started to apply to universities.
Borderline problems
It will not penalise students from the poorest homes. In fact, it will mean there is more money to give them in grants. But the change will cause hardship nonetheless. Those who just miss the new threshold could be £538 worse off for each year of their degree.
Tyler, 17, is applying for university next year. His parents together earn £55,000. He now won't qualify for a maintenance grant, although he's one of six children. "This means I and many others will face the prospect of working so many hours to earn money to make up for the grant cuts that my degree will suffer," he says.
And it's by no means a given that a child from a middle-income family will receive financial support from their parents.
Jennifer, 18, will not be eligible for a grant now because her parents earn more than the new threshold. But they have told her they won't give her a penny when she starts university next year. "It's stupid to assume that because someone's parents can help them, they will," she says. "I am expecting to be very, very broke throughout uni."
Alfie, 18, from Cornwall, says: "Some students have already sent off university applications and are now worrying about whether they can afford to go or not."
The University of Leicester's student finance adviser, Julie Boggon, says she often hears from students in middle-income families in financial difficulty.
"They frequently find themselves just outside the funding thresholds that would allow them to receive extra government or university help," she says.
"Their parents have their own essential costs to meet, and struggle to assist. When they are in real financial difficulty, we offer short-term loans and approach external agencies, such as charities and trust funds." In the current financial climate, more are likely to go to their student finance office cap in hand.
Some people's sympathies will be limited: these aren't the poorest students. But this could inadvertently dissuade students from the lowest-income families from applying, says Stephen Sheedy, principal of Queen Mary's college for 16- to 19-year-olds, in Hampshire.
"It's another change, and sends out the message that there is less money to help students get through university," he says. "The poorest students may be psychologically affected by this, even if they aren't financially penalised. The government has to be very careful about how it handles the messages about student financial support."
"Each year the system changes," says Jane Fitzwalter, student funding manager at Bristol University. "It adds to the confusion for parents and students. The overall effect is that students aren't clear what they can get."
Denham has managed to annoy university leaders, too. At the same time as he announced the grant cuts, he delivered a double whammy by revealing that the expected number of university places next year would be reduced. There will be 5,000 fewer places because the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills underestimated the popularity of degree courses and needs to save money.
There will still be 10,000 more places than this year. But factor in the boom in students of university age, and teenagers applying to university now for next year are going to face record competition. Oxford and Cambridge universities, which set the earliest deadlines, have already reported a 12% hike in applications this year.
Missed targets
Dr David Law, pro vice-chancellor of Edge Hill University, says he views this with "serious concern". It throws into doubt the government's drive to give "towards 50%" of the population a university education, he says.
"The restrictions on growth indicate a clear signal that the 50% participation target is no longer government policy," he says. "With the economy entering recession, the country needs a thriving university sector to ensure high levels of productivity and competitiveness."
Professor Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, says he is going to have to scale down plans to recruit students from the most under-represented groups in higher education.
"Now would have been the ideal time to expand student numbers," he says. "We are entering a recession and people are being made redundant. It's a marvellous opportunity to retrain the workforce."
Not everyone is worried. Roderick Smith, director of admissions at the University of Birmingham, says universities at the "top of the pecking order" will have no problem filling their places.
As for student grant cuts, Smith says that when the government brought in £1,000 tuition fees in 1997 and £3,000 fees in 2006, the number of students slightly fell and then quickly recovered.
"Students aren't that worried by the money," he says. But try telling that to the students and their parents under present circumstances.
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