help with living costs.

amber1818

Hi, can anyone give me some advice plz? My 19 year old son lives away from home & at college in London on further education access to music course. Thru the college he gets residential allowance to pay for rent which is fine but is there any help he can get with day to day living costs? He's doing 16 hrs a week roughly, he's doing all he can to find work but not having any luck. If he's at college he cant get anything like JSA can he? I'm a single parent only in part time work, I've been trying to keep him going but getting to the point where i cant afford to send money to him anymore. Are there any benefits or grants out there to help or is it just a case that he might have to give up college. He cant live at home as college is 200 miles away....any advice really appreciated...thnx..

ashcarrot

I know with unis there such a thing as a hardship fund and as colleges have student unions too that *may* also be applicable or the college maybe able to provide one. This would probabily be on a last resort thing though (it could be upto £500) this used to be a grant however that may have changed to a loan basis. Basically he'd need to go to the Student union or the bursar of the college to enquire about this

VickyA_2

Has he tried to get work at his student union? Or part time work through an agency? There are numerous agencies in London that have "bank" staff ready for big sporting events - silver service and things like that? Sorry I don't have exact details, but his students union should have local contacts and agencies that they work with.

David_Brent

My friend got the hardship loan last year, because he spent his student loan to fast and ran out of cash! So its well worth applying for it if he is struggling financially!

amber1818

Hi all...thanx for the help...thing is he cant get student loan as he is only in further education...on access course... and not higher ed. Passed on the messages to him and going to find out about leaner support fund too from college. Are there any ways he can get any JSA or social security etc?...dont think there is myself but worth asking i spose...thanx again....

crana9

he could look into eBay and Amazon to make a bit of cash.

Has he actually asked at his college? They are in a better position to give advice appropriate to his situation.

plus he should look at cutting his living costs to an absolute minimum for the time being, unless he has already. if his entertainment budget might mean he has to abandon his education and go on benefits, scrap the entertainment or at least cut it down. walk more, use public transport less, ahve a cheaper food budget, etc.

ETA: How was he planning to support himself when he started his course?