Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Ollieda

Thanks AddieH,

I actually got a letter from the SLC today outlining my financial help.

Looks like i'm getting £3000 for my tuition fees, and a maintenance grant of £2700. But i'm also getting a maintenance loan aswell of the basic loan of £3305 plus and extra income assessment loan of £1254 giving me a grand total of a maintenance loan of £3359!?!?!?!?!?

No thats not my dyslexia comming through those are the sums the SLC have done! surely I should be geeting £3305 + £1254 which = £4559 (i did that on a calculator so i know its correct!)

At least wheather i get the £3359 or the £4559 i can cover my accomidation costs and have money left to live on! That way I can put a large amount of my Halifax overdraft (off to see them tomorrow to set up my account) into savings as Martin suggests. :money:

Oh an in responce to the high accomidation costs my weekly fee is £87 (40 weeks and 5 days X £87 = £3542.15) which is mid range for my uni. (It would be around £93 if I actually got accomidation on my campus but because i'm a clearing entrance student i'm in accomidation halls near another campus - in Gloucester, my campus being in Cheltenham, - which is about 30 mins from my campus!)

CrispyUK

Ollieda wrote:

Looks like i'm getting £3000 for my tuition fees, and a maintenance grant of £2700. But i'm also getting a maintenance loan aswell of the basic loan of £3305 plus and extra income assessment loan of £1254 giving me a grand total of a maintenance loan of £3359!?!?!?!?!?

No thats not my dyslexia comming through those are the sums the SLC have done! surely I should be geeting £3305 + £1254 which = £4559 (i did that on a calculator so i know its correct!)

Yep that's correct. As you are receiving the full maintenance grant your loan amount gets reduced by £1,200.

So you've got £3,305 basic loan, you're eligible for another £1,254 based on income, knock off £1,200 based on maintenance grant and that gives you £3,359.

AddieH

CrisyUK wrote:

Yep that's correct. As you are receiving the full maintenance grant your loan amount gets reduced by £1,200.

So you've got £3,305 basic loan, you're eligible for another £1,254 based on income, knock off £1,200 based on maintenance grant and that gives you £3,359.

CrispyUK is correct as I said in my message above that you'd get £1,200 of the maintenance loan as part of the £2,700 maintenance grant.

Also as your fees are £3,000 and you are getting the full £2,700 maintenance grant you should also get at least a £300 bursary from your University so worth talking to them about that!

I guess if your accomodation is for 40 weeks it's yours during the hols as well (or otherwise you're a nursing student) which would explain the cost a bit more.

Ollieda

Im not a nursing student lol, im doing law. I do get it for the holidays its split into 16 weeks, 15 weeks and 9 weeks and a bit so I can leave some stuff in my room during the hols which is handy!

BlondieE

Does anyone know if new student can get loan. Her parents are refusing to pay anything for her accomodation, food, books etc. They are divorced and probable earning around 80K. Don't know how she will manage as she only as part time job.

toepazz

BlondieE wrote:

Does anyone know if new student can get loan. Her parents are refusing to pay anything for her accomodation, food, books etc. They are divorced and probable earning around 80K. Don't know how she will manage as she only as part time job.

Try the link at the top of this messageboard entitled
Best Buy Articles: Student Accounts
takes you to another page where there's lots to read, including info about overdrafts etc that might help

BlondieE

Thanks toepazz,

She just doesn't know where to turn and with parents earning nearly 80K and not paying is dreadful. Just found out her grandparents have paid her first months rent, and all expenses she needs, travel etc

Ms_Chocaholic

My son is starting Uni this month and wonder if you knew how the three payments of his maintenance loan are split ... we are aware these are paid September, early 2007 and just after Easter but do they pay three equal amounts.

toepazz

freebie_junkie wrote:

hi, its all sorted out now but just out of curiosity what exactly is teh thinking behind the 3 year 'self-supporting' rule? why do you have to have been self-suporting for 3 years before you can fill in your own student finance forms if youre under 25, unmarried and childless? thats ridiculous! teh day you move out of your poarents house you become self-supporting- never mind after 2 and a half years? why does teh slc think that people whove lived on their own for two and a half years still live off their parents money? and why do tehy assume taht everyone lives at their parents hoem until theyre 25? and whay would it be easier to fill im ny forms if id eloped or been a young mum? makes no sense! please can you tell me what exactly is teh thinking behind this? if you know? thanks very much

I'm also hoping someone will answer these questions, 'cos they're exactly the ones my 22 year old, unmarried, childless, independently living daughter has been enraging over recently

anewman

Ms_Chocaholic wrote:

My son is starting Uni this month and wonder if you knew how the three payments of his maintenance loan are split ... we are aware these are paid September, early 2007 and just after Easter but do they pay three equal amounts.

When I was a student they were pretty much equal, although I think there was slightly more in the last payment.

toepazz wrote:

I'm also hoping someone will answer these questions, 'cos they're exactly the ones my 22 year old, unmarried, childless, independently living daughter has been enraging over recently

Well they think what they think. I think they're right - yes if your parents earn £60k then they should pay or at least contribute to their son/daughters study if they are unable to fund it themselves and hence seeking state financial support and loans. There's no reason to give loans etc willy nilly to people who have wealthy parents who could easily fund it themselves. On the other hand, the cut off at where parent's have to contribute is perhaps a little low, and most parents will have other financial concerns such as mortgages etc etc.

Basically if your a parent and you have a son/daughter under 25 intending to go to University, whether they live with or without you, and whether they have a job or not they will want to know about parents. You have nothing to be concerned about if your wages are low. If they are average or slightly above average or you have lots of financial commitments be concerned. If you're filfthy rich why are you holding back money from your own kids who want to go to University?!