Student in a dilemma

peterkay

hey i am a 25yo from london. I was diagnosed with depression in May this year and had to quit my job as it was getting on top of me and had some very bad years with some very bad personal experiances.

Anyway i was advised in june to get into education as they felt i needed a goal and also its a little bit more flexible as i have alot of medication and physcriatic tests and alot of counselling. I have never been so happy in my life that i am when im at college its a speciallised college which specialises in horticulture and i am studying a diploma! I really enjoy it as it gets my up in the morning and have found some friends which i lacked before. The only down side is i have to travel 3 hours each way to the college. I thought that i could move nearby and get funding from my incapacity benefit (60.50 a week), student loan (£4,000 pa) and Local housing allowance (upto £175 pwk).

Things in my life were slowly getting back on track when last week my loan got turned down as they said they dont fund my qualification. So that was a big hit and now I have been told that i cant claim LHA as i am a full time student. So therefore cant afford to move. I am having to move out of where im living with my aunt as she has alot of personal problems so i am really stuck according to what i understand I have to basically quit my college course to be able to get any financial help.

But my dilema is me and my GP and my psychologist are worried if i dont have focus in my life then i will just end up at square one again. However me and my GP agree i am far to depressed to be able to hold down a job yet! I know it all seems so complicated but I just dont understand why people want me to be out of education (which is benefitting me emotionally) to be just on incapacity benefit and doing nothing before they will help me (which will help me financially but not emotionally)

Any advice or tips would be great thanks!

Sorry i went on a bit

Oldernotwiser

I'm afraid that you can only get student loans if your course is at degree level. I'm not sure why you've been told that you can't get LHA when you're studying unless you've given them the idea that you'll be getting a loan for a degree. I would've thought that you'd be able to carry on claiming IB, apply for LHA and possibly even get DLA, but others may know more.

Education is often an excellent thing when you're suffering from depression but don't be too optimistic about the money you'll get when studying and on benefits. Your original estimate would've given you an income of well over £300 per week, which I'm sure you can see is unrealistic for a single person! Good luck with your studies.

peterkay

i am not too hooked on the income as i would only want to get a small studio flat so wouldnt claim the full £175 lha but atm all i seem to be entitled too is £60.50 plus £30 adult learners grant which £90 a week to pay for everything is obv not enough!

Oldernotwiser

I've taught full time college students who've been able to claim HB so I think that there may have been some misunderstanding about it. I'd go back and make sure they understand that you're in FE rather than HE, and that you also get IB.

peterkay

thank you so much haha really have been worrying me so much! haha really cheered me up today lol!