Help With Student Loans - HERE!

reb511

Hi,

Im new on here so if this has been covered before I apologise!

Can anyone help me, last year I completed a foundation course and took out student finance, in September I start my degree and I have applied for finance again in May online, when I checked the status of my app it had disapeared from the website, I contacted then and they told me that because I was a returning student my app was sent to my local council but because I was starting a new course I'm classed as a new student so the council sent my app back to student finance who deleted it, and they told me if I applied online again the same thing would happen and I had to complete a paper form, which I have done, only now I've checked my new paper app online it has details of last years college and course, everytime I try to contact them I get a message telling me there busy and to try again, I start in 3 weeks and really need to get this sorted, can anyone help me (if this post makes sense!)

Thanks Rebecca

ms12

Please help, I am at the end of my wits with worry. I sent in my online application form in feb, after recieving my notification I realsied something was wrong. I sent in a change of circumstances form, and when i did not here from them after 6 weeks I sent in another (as they said nothing was registered on thier system) but this time i sent in a letter from my university confirming that my year abroad was a study only period. I have now started my course and still nothing, I have no money, and I am a single parent, who stupidly thought it would be ok to bring my son here, and put myself and my little boy in a situation where, I cannot survive here anymore if student finance do not help me. I have called over 25x, I have sent in everything they have asked, I informed them of my start date, they said they would change they payment dates, I do not know what to do anymore, evertime i try to call it says they are busy and to go online. PLease help I do not know what to do now. I have paid the rent and now we have nothing and I was costantly reassured it would be sorted out in time. I even asked my uni to send an offical letter again, what should I do now??

littlemissmoney

ms12 wrote: »

Please help, I am at the end of my wits with worry. I sent in my online application form in feb, after recieving my notification I realsied something was wrong. I sent in a change of circumstances form, and when i did not here from them after 6 weeks I sent in another (as they said nothing was registered on thier system) but this time i sent in a letter from my university confirming that my year abroad was a study only period. I have now started my course and still nothing, I have no money, and I am a single parent, who stupidly thought it would be ok to bring my son here, and put myself and my little boy in a situation where, I cannot survive here anymore if student finance do not help me. I have called over 25x, I have sent in everything they have asked, I informed them of my start date, they said they would change they payment dates, I do not know what to do anymore, evertime i try to call it says they are busy and to go online. PLease help I do not know what to do now. I have paid the rent and now we have nothing and I was costantly reassured it would be sorted out in time. I even asked my uni to send an offical letter again, what should I do now??

Go and visit your student finance / welfare / services people at your university. Take all you loan documentation, bank statements, etc with you. They will not let you or your son starve. They will be able to give you a hardship grant (if not, loan) to tide you over until it is all sorted out. Failing that, talk to your personal tutor who may well also have access to short term student hardship loans. There might also be a student parent advisor or someone similar who should be able to help. Which uni is it? There might be info on the web.

Oldernotwiser

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Go and visit your student finance / welfare / services people at your university. Take all you loan documentation, bank statements, etc with you. They will not let you or your son starve. They will be able to give you a hardship grant (if not, loan) to tide you over until it is all sorted out. Failing that, talk to your personal tutor who may well also have access to short term student hardship loans. There might also be a student parent advisor or someone similar who should be able to help. Which uni is it? There might be info on the web.

This could be a bit difficult if the OP isn't in the country!

ms12

Thank you for your reply, but yes the problem is I am in another country, and I have exhausted all my resources to get this far. I contacted student finance on the 25th of aug, telling them the urgency and that It has been 15 weeks since my application, I was sent an email saying they would change this and send me confirmation...nothing. I will email my course leader in London, but she is away util monday, and I really am low on cash. I rang so many times and they kept telling me that I was not special and that I had to wait, that they couldn't speed my application up ( I understand I am not special, but particulalry anxious because I have a young child)....they kep reassuring me they would sort it out but now they do not reply to my emails. I saved everything I could before arriving, before putting down the deposit, i called and said i didn't want to pay all this money and my application not processed yet, again, kept re-assuring me that it would be ok. so I went ahead, because without an address I could not secure my son a place at nursery. now Im so lost, cannot get hold of them. I cannot believe I am in this position, its my 3rd year, never had problems, I ticked the wrong box on application, and they said to send in change of circumstances form and it would be fixed. I had put 'placement' on the app, when in fact I am doing a full year of study. surely it should not take since the 13th of may to process a change of circumstances form?? I felt I had done everything in good time. feel so bad now.

littlemissmoney

ms12 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, but yes the problem is I am in another country, and I have exhausted all my resources to get this far. I contacted student finance on the 25th of aug, telling them the urgency and that It has been 15 weeks since my application, I was sent an email saying they would change this and send me confirmation...nothing. I will email my course leader in London, but she is away util monday, and I really am low on cash. I rang so many times and they kept telling me that I was not special and that I had to wait, that they couldn't speed my application up ( I understand I am not special, but particulalry anxious because I have a young child)....they kep reassuring me they would sort it out but now they do not reply to my emails. I saved everything I could before arriving, before putting down the deposit, i called and said i didn't want to pay all this money and my application not processed yet, again, kept re-assuring me that it would be ok. so I went ahead, because without an address I could not secure my son a place at nursery. now Im so lost, cannot get hold of them. I cannot believe I am in this position, its my 3rd year, never had problems, I ticked the wrong box on application, and they said to send in change of circumstances form and it would be fixed. I had put 'placement' on the app, when in fact I am doing a full year of study. surely it should not take since the 13th of may to process a change of circumstances form?? I felt I had done everything in good time. feel so bad now.

I would ring the finance / welfare people at your uni and say you can't afford to feed yourself and your son and are going to have to drop out of the course and come home if you don't receive some money in next few days. Maybe start crying down the phone? I assume you have asked your bank to extend your overdraft?

Oldernotwiser

Is there anyone in the UK who could take it on for you in person - someone confident who's good at dealing with things? Have you been in touch with the NUS and got them acting on your behalf?

jtwjtw

Have not had a chance to read all of this thread but is anyone else getting totally fed up with the student finance lot . No final figures even though we started applying in April. No way to talk to a human. No sensible reply to email. Daughter assessed on different year to son etc etc
Is the system in collapse?
Sob sob sob

Lokolo

jtwjtw wrote: »

Have not had a chance to read all of this thread but is anyone else getting totally fed up with the student finance lot . No final figures even though we started applying in April. No way to talk to a human. No sensible reply to email. Daughter assessed on different year to son etc etc
Is the system in collapse?
Sob sob sob

Simple answer? Yes.

keycode

As a parent earning £64K in 2009 but £57K in 2007/08 my son won't get a maintenance grant. However I have 3 dependent kids and a wife who doesn't work so in effect including my son going to uni I have 5 dependnants. My son has been assessed at a rate of 75% of the maintenance loan and will get a full tuition fee loan. SFE are requesting my P60 for 2007/8 because my son applied for 100% of the maintenance loan.So my question is: Will my residual income be such that the 75% of the maintenance loan will be reduced once they see my 2007/8 P60?