Advice on social work finance

india

I am going to study a Social work Ba in September.

Someone told me apart from LA funding and a bursary. There are addtional grants you can claim can anyone thing of any? I'm trying to avoid taking out a student loan.

My background is. I'm a single unemployed mother. I haven't been in higher education before.

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Oldernotwiser

india wrote: »

I am going to study a Social work Ba in September.

Someone told me apart from LA funding and a bursary. There are addtional grants you can claim can anyone thing of any? I'm trying to avoid taking out a student loan.

My background is. I'm a single unemployed mother. I haven't been in higher education before.

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Could you explain what you mean by LA funding?

You will be eligible for normal student HE funding and you'll find information on this on www.direct.gov.uk. There is also the NHS bursary for social work training

If you're on benefits then they'll be assessed on the money from the loan even if you choose not to take it and you will also be ineligible for any extra help from the LSF.

Why are you trying to avoid taking out the student loans?

Theboys!

You will get funding in the form of student loans/grants which you apply for via your local authority, these are means tested. You will also get a non means tested bursary of £4500 per year , these were administered via the GSCC but are now handled by the NHS business authority here:

http://www.gscc.org.uk/Training+and+learning/Become+a+social+worker/Bursaries/

Theboys!

Your university will probably offer a means tested bursary of about £1500 per year.
You will be able to apply to the access to learning fund at university if you are suffering hardship. I don't see that they would be willing to help much if you are not accessing all financial help available to you eg student loans. ( i am not clued up on this though, so could be wrong,just seems logical!)

Is there a reason you don't want a student loan? You are aware that unless you have the money for the fees upfront it you will need to a loan to cover these?

india

I didn't want to take out a student loand because I've been tied up in debts before and I'm worried about this happening again.

in terms of LA funding I mean. Childcare grant, parental learning allowance, special support grant.

tabsx

You can get the nhs bursary which is upto you whether you spend it on your fees or to live on someone earlier posted a link but i think you have to have some student finance to do so, give them a ring though they are really helpful, you can apply for chilcare grant but you have to do this through the student loans company who will then will refer you to your local authority and they will only pay 85% of your childcare costs upto a maximum of £2800 (ish), you can also get the parents allowance and special support grant again through the student loans company but I am not sure if these are dependant on your claiming other types of finance I know you can't get a maintenance grant without claiming a maintenance loan first, but again ring them they are really helpful if you can get through

Theboys!

I appreciate what you mean about debt etc I am a discharged bankrupt so know only too well about these things! But as long as you don't go getting student overdrafts and credit cards etc you will be fine.
Student loans aren't paid back until you earn over 15K i think it is and even then it is quite a small amount from your earnings.

Unless you are intending to work as well i am not sure if the special support grant/ learning allowance will be enough for you to live on as they are only worth about £4k.
Although i see you are a single parent so maybe you would be able to claim other benefits?

Oldernotwiser

india wrote: »

I didn't want to take out a student loand because I've been tied up in debts before and I'm worried about this happening again.

in terms of LA funding I mean. Childcare grant, parental learning allowance, special support grant.

Have you looked at what's involved in repaying a student loan? It's a very different proposition from bank loans and credit cards. If you don't take it and then find you can't manage you'll be in trouble. Are you planning to claim benefits as a lone parent?

Oldernotwiser

Theboys! wrote: »

Although i see you are a single parent so maybe you would be able to claim other benefits?

Lone parents' benefits count the student loan as income, whether it's taken out or not. I agree with you that the OP will have difficulty managing without taking out the student loan.

tabsx

also, if your claiming child tax credit (if your not, make sure you do) that remains unaffected by any monies from student finance, benefits are few and far between, dont know if your paying council tax now, but as a full time student and assumably the only adult in your household, you wont have to pay towards that (the uni will issue you an exemption cert to give to your local council) and depending on your housing situation you may get full or part housing benefit, also be aware that as a social work student (as I have discovered recently) that a lot of student bursarys/grants that your university may offer are likely to exclude you on the arguement that as we get an NHS bursary we are in theory better off than students who don't.

I know student loans and debt sounds extremely scary and off putting, I felt very much the same last year, but do remember that they are not going to demand you pay the whole lot back as soon as you graduate, its done in installments depending on your earnings, that the tax man will take at the same time as any PAYE etc, maybe do a little reading into or have a discussion with the student loans company see if that makes things more clear for you

tehone

Ring up the university you're going to and speak to the student support services there. They will be better able to inform you (or at leasst point you in the right direction)