Bus Pass For Mature Students

Grami

Apologies if there is a thread lurking about on this somewhere though I couldn't see one...

I've found out that my college [Leicester College] only offers a buspass at a reduced rate for those under 19. I'm 20 and am going to be studying an Access course and have already sacrificed a hell of a lot and worked hard to be able to pay the £350 fees and reduce my working hours for when studying starts.

Now I have to somehow figure out how I'm going to travel there everyday as I don't drive and there's nobody that can take me in the car at early times in the morning as they have their own places to be.
My local bus company offer some pretty steep annual bus passes but they're only for university students and the best I could get for a non student one would cost me yet another £355. The 'Day Tickets' are now £3.00 due to the fuel prices rising so that would set me back at like £15 a week.

The finance department at my college have already stated that I won't qualify for hardly any support due to the annual income in my house and not having a child, on benefits etc so I'm pretty much facing the prospect of walking 3 miles odd everyday [which isn't bad occasionally but not twice a day - 5 days a week] unless anybody knows of anyway to help?

melancholly

have you done the walk to see how long it will take? i often walk to work when i don't have any cash for a bus - takes 30/40 mins but is worth the moneysaving. if it's 1.5 miles each way (30 mins ish), then that really isn't all that far - if it's 3 miles each way, then i can see that being a bit more rubbish.

do you have to be in every weekday?
can you walk one way and get the bus home?
can you sacrifice buying lunch to pay for travel and bring a packed lunch?
have you contacted someone at the bus company to double check the bus pass is on age rather than on being a college student?
is there anyone in your area who you would drive and you could pay a petrol contribution?

that's all i can think of right now....!

jackk_2

I applied to the access to learning fund, and recieved £500 which was split into 3 payments throughout the course. This was to cover books, exam fees and a little towards travel expenses, but getting there and back was a 30 mile journey for me, and i was on benefits, and have children, might be worth a try though.

Goodluck

Jackie x

Grami

Thank you both for the advice but I've tried the Access Fund and I am not on benefits or have a child and my income combined with that of my partner is above the requirements.

I need to be in four days a week and I have walked to town before often and it takes roughly an hour or so. A long way but I wouldn't mind doing it - it's just when I have to be there for early in the morning or the weather is terrible.
I'm sure I'll work something out.

Oldernotwiser

Grami wrote: »

Thank you both for the advice but I've tried the Access Fund and I am not on benefits or have a child and my income combined with that of my partner is above the requirements.

I need to be in four days a week and I have walked to town before often and it takes roughly an hour or so. A long way but I wouldn't mind doing it - it's just when I have to be there for early in the morning or the weather is terrible.
I'm sure I'll work something out.

Are you getting ALG?

Grami

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Are you getting ALG?

Again no as I have already got GCSEs and AS Levels so I am not eligable.
I took a lot of time out because I felt like I was doing subjects that I had always been good at but weren't really going to sastisfy me in the future and have just decided what I want to do with my life but there's so many obstacles now because I'm older.

Driving_Soon

Hey

You seem to be in the same situation as me! I am 20 ( well in a week ha ) And starting college in September, I sent off the Application pack for ALG so hopefully i can get atleast the £20 a month, but still that is not going to cover my out goings, I need to pay my parents £15 a week, which is fair enough i guess, but then I need to spend on travel same as you, I need to get a train and a bus! I predict it will cost around £11 a day! times that by 4 days a week and thats a hell of alot! I have looked into some help paying this but found nothing .

Oldernotwiser

Grami wrote: »

Again no as I have already got GCSEs and AS Levels so I am not eligable.
I took a lot of time out because I felt like I was doing subjects that I had always been good at but weren't really going to sastisfy me in the future and have just decided what I want to do with my life but there's so many obstacles now because I'm older.

If you only have AS levels rather than A2s then you WILL be eligible for ALG. You need 2 full A levels (A2s) to count as a full level 3 qualification. Get your application in quickly, it'll more than pay for your travel costs.

Oldernotwiser

Driving_Soon wrote: »

Hey

You seem to be in the same situation as me! I am 20 ( well in a week ha ) And starting college in September, I sent off the Application pack for ALG so hopefully i can get atleast the £20 a month, but still that is not going to cover my out goings, I need to pay my parents £15 a week, which is fair enough i guess, but then I need to spend on travel same as you, I need to get a train and a bus! I predict it will cost around £11 a day! times that by 4 days a week and thats a hell of alot! I have looked into some help paying this but found nothing .

Do you mean £20 per week? You do know that it's not based on your parents' income, don't you? Why do you think that you won't get the full £30 ALG? (Sorry for all the questions.)

Driving_Soon

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Do you mean £20 per week? You do know that it's not based on your parents' income, don't you?

Oops week I mean!

Yeah, because I earnt more than £11,000 last year, they say I am only going to get £20, Even though this year I am earning like nothing! Crazy! I need it for this year, not for last year haha!

Oldernotwiser

Driving_Soon wrote: »

Oops week I mean!

Yeah, because I earnt more than £11,000 last year, they say I am only going to get £20, Even though this year I am earning like nothing! Crazy! I need it for this year, not for last year haha!

Was it you that was trying to prove you have no income so that you can get a current income assessment? If so, how's it going?