Student Maintenance Loan Overpayment

pinkshoes

Hanniebis wrote: »

I was told by my University that the SLC would be contacted regarding the suspension of my studies. I was never advised that I needed to contact them myself.

Why should they need to advise you to contact them?

You were borrowing THOUSANDS of pounds from a company to study (i.e. a loan with a condition). It's basic common sense to realise that you were given a payment of several thousand pounds to study, which you were no longer doing, so therefore you should phone them immediately to pay back this overpayment.

Oldernotwiser wasn't being bitter, merely wise!

I dropped out of my course to do a gap year, as I wasn't well during my exams, and the first thing I did was phone the student loan company to prevent the September payment arriving!

Hanniebis

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I really can't see why you should expect the SLC to be interested in your reasons for leaving university; they're a provider of funding, not a charity.

I don't think you they need to be a charity to be interested in a person's reasons for leaving. Besides, they knew why I needed to leave 8 months ago; my University informed them that I was suspending my studies due to illness. After all, I am paying back this loan - with interest, and I am annoyed that 8 months have gone by with no contact from them, and no effort has now been made to explain why it has taken so long to contact me. Surely other students must go through similar things - even if I do have to repay the money, which I certainly believe will be the likely end result - why are there not better policies in place to contact students who they know have suspended their studies due to illness but have not personally contacted them regarding loan payments? Why would they not put 2 and 2 together and work out why a person may not be able to contact them personally? I could understand a wait of a few weeks, a couple of months, but 8?

Apologies Oldernotwiser if I mistook the tone of your posts, and thank you for your advice. Please remember, pinkshoes, I was extremely unwell and unable to do anything for myself, let alone call people and try to sort this out at the time. I'm saddened by the tone of your post, and the fact that you didn't take the time to read mine properly. I have had some fabulous advice from people in these forums, and it's a shame that this has turned into the thread it has. Sorry for any inconvenience, I'll take my questions elsewhere.

pinkshoes

Hanniebis wrote: »

my University informed them that I was suspending my studies due to illness.

But it wasn't the university's loan. It was you that took the loan out, therefore your responsibility to tell them too!!

It's taking responsibility for your own finances. Like if you're on benefits and then get a job; it's also up to you to let the benefits people know you're now working. Ditto for child tax credits etc...

Hanniebis

pinkshoes wrote: »

But it wasn't the university's loan. It was you that took the loan out, therefore your responsibility to tell them too!!

It's taking responsibility for your own finances. Like if you're on benefits and then get a job; it's also up to you to let the benefits people know you're now working. Ditto for child tax credits etc...

I have claimed benefits, worked, and various other relevant things whilst moving addresses and so on many times in my life and have always informed everyone of my personal and financial situation. But this is also another thing that I mentioned in an earlier post.

I believe you're missing the point I've been stressing about my illness at that specific time. But I don't want to keep repeating myself, so I'll leave it here, thank you.

Fire_Fox

Hanniebis wrote: »

Oldernotwiser:

I could hardly talk to family about my situation and how I was feeling without completely crumbling, was almost unable to get out of bed and unable to do anything. I have a very proactive approach to life and this is completely unike me, but months of post-viral fatigue along with repeated infections and generally feeling like I had the flu had got me pretty much ready to give up on life. If you've ever suffered from severe clinical depression or know someone who has, you'll know that this isn't an exaggeration. Believe me, my eyes are open.

Just because something is right, doesn't make it fair; I'm not going in 'guns blazing', I'm simply speaking up for a girl who, 8 months ago, was having severe panic attacks at the thought of calling someone, let alone arranging her finances. I'm sorry if that sounds extreme or pathetic - but it is the truth. I'm just sad that no attempt was made to discover my situation. Surely this must happen to other people diagnosed with depression and anxiety?

I completely understand how ill you were at the time, at that you were in no fit state to do any more than exist. But you have no idea what information was conveyed by the university to the Student Loans Company, and so you have to assume that they had no idea of the severity of your illness.

It was your responsibility to keep them fully informed, but you were much too ill to do so. Now is the time to rectify that omission and to make the Student Loans Company an offer in writing. Get a letter from your GP detailing the extent of your illness, both the acute (hospitalisation) and chronic (concurrent mental AND physical conditions) aspects. I am sure he or she will be willing to stress that you were struggling to perform the most basic functions such as get out of bed.

In terms of making an offer to pay, assure the SLC that you are actively seeking work and that you will contact them immediately you have a start date. Also advise them that you are anxious about the current situation, and you are very keen to keep stress to a minimum during your continued recovery.

I did not work for 18 months with stress, insomnia, depression and immune dysfunction. I too had to leave my course and was frightened of returning to work. My first job was part-time in a bar just to show employers that I was capable; now I am studying lifestyle medicine and simultaneously held down two jobs until a month ago!

I have been asked in interviews about the gap on my CV, just hold your nerve, admit that you were very unwell and explain exactly what you have learned from it and how your experience can benefit the organisation. For my part I have a much broader understanding of health, and the affect lifestyle can have on your mental and physical wellbeing. You can also stress the communication aspects to your recovery, prudent financial decisions, problem solving, flexibility in accepting change, proactivity to seek work ..... basically anything you know the prospective employer will value.

Good luck!!

Hanniebis

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I completely understand how ill you were at the time, at that you were in no fit state to do any more than exist. But you have no idea what information was conveyed by the university to the Student Loans Company, and so you have to assume that they had no idea of the severity of your illness.

It was your responsibility to keep them fully informed, but you were much too ill to do so. Now is the time to rectify that omission and to make the Student Loans Company an offer in writing. Get a letter from your GP detailing the extent of your illness, both the acute (hospitalisation) and chronic (concurrent mental AND physical conditions) aspects. I am sure he or she will be willing to stress that you were struggling to perform the most basic functions such as get out of bed.

In terms of making an offer to pay, assure the SLC that you are actively seeking work and that you will contact them immediately you have a start date. Also advise them that you are anxious about the current situation, and you are very keen to keep stress to a minimum during your continued recovery.

I did not work for 18 months with stress, insomnia, depression and immune dysfunction. I too had to leave my course and was frightened of returning to work. My first job was part-time in a bar just to show employers that I was capable; now I am studying lifestyle medicine and simultaneously held down two jobs until a month ago!

I have been asked in interviews about the gap on my CV, just hold your nerve, admit that you were very unwell and explain exactly what you have learned from it and how your experience can benefit the organisation. For my part I have a much broader understanding of health, and the affect lifestyle can have on your mental and physical wellbeing. You can also stress the communication aspects to your recovery, prudent financial decisions, problem solving, flexibility in accepting change, proactivity to seek work ..... basically anything you know the prospective employer will value.

Good luck!!

Thank you, Fire Fox, for understanding the point I was attempting to stress about the illness complicating my responsibilities (which I don't deny) at the time I left my studies. I'm truly sorry that you had to go through a similar experience, but my congratulations to you for handling it all so well. It really does give you a new perspective on life.

This is just the advice I was looking for. I think I shall request a detailed letter with information from my doctor and proof that I'm looking for work to send to the SLC for review. As for interviews, although I've not been successful yet, I've only been searching for 2 months but have had 4 interviews. Fingers crossed; I've been honest about my illness but tried to show what I've learnt from it. Some of the things you've suggested hadn't occured to me however, so I'll take those into account. Thanks again.

digitalife

mellymeep wrote: »

Are you going to go back to studying anytime? I had an overpayment of my maintenance loan because I had to leave uni half way through the year due to depression too then transfer onto a new course in 2008. Basically what the SLC did was take off the grant money I got from my grants I was getting this year, and the maintenance loan is added to what I will owe at the end of my time at uni.

Sorry to hijack the post..... I'm in exactly the same position as the OP. It's so distressing to receive a letter at this time of the year I'm not working etc and will find it extremely difficult to make repayments.

mellymeep: I'm returning to my studies next year..... please can you explain how you came to this arrangement? Thanks

EDIT: Just to add some more info about my situation: I actually attended the entire year - 2007/08 but at the very end it was decided due to medical complications throughout the year - the year would be annulled. So technically I didn't withdraw from the course but at the same time no course fees were paid to the University. Does anyone know if this makes any difference?

scat

What do they mean by 'annulled?' I fluffed up my third year for medical reasons and all it meant was I failed it.. I wasn't asked to repay anything as I had attended as normal. I then re-took it several years later and at that time had to prove that my reasons for re-taking warranted them refinancing me. Which they did.

Fire_Fox

The Student Loans Company are not ogres. But they are an organisation that does get taken for a ride by some the many students who just drop out and deliberately keep accepting payments. You just need to get yourself taken off this 'hit list'.

The main thing is to communicate with them in full at this stage - a letter from your doctor and/ or tutor stressing that you had a genuine illness will usually have a positive result. I would take bets that most Uni's just send standard notification to the SLC advising of students that do not continue, so the SLC send standard letters to the students after an apparently reasonable period has elapsed.

It's VERY difficult for anyone to understand how ill you can be - I went through a phase of finding just answering the phone impossible, yet I had no-one chasing me for money. Try not to stress now, you may well find writing a clear letter quite therapeutic. PM me if you have anything you don't want to say in public.

digitalife

scat wrote: »

What do they mean by 'annulled?'

Well due to medical reasons and personal circumstance it was decided it be best to annul the year (as I would most likely have failed the year) and to restart it next year. It was basically annulled after I had completed some of my end of semester exams - so right at the end of the year, after I had attended all lectures and had completed all pieces of coursework.

Just to reiterate - I didn't drop out half way through and keep accepting payments.... I was actually on the course for the entire year and was using the Student Loan. I'm just not sure how to proceed... or what to say to the SLC