Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Mrs_Mum99

If a student receives the full maintenance grant, does this mean that parents are not expected to be able to contribute financially to their upkeep at university ie. loan plus grant is supposed to be enough to live on?

student_advisor

Mrs_Mum99 wrote: »

If a student receives the full maintenance grant, does this mean that parents are not expected to be able to contribute financially to their upkeep at university ie. loan plus grant is supposed to be enough to live on?

Depends on the student & the area they are living in. Some will be able to manage and others will need topping up, though this doesn't have to come from you, it could come from a part-time job.

Encourage your child to look at the costs of moving to uni (most uni websites detail the average living costs in the area including accommodation, food shop, socialising etc), this way they will get an appreciation of the costs associated with moving away and ensure they are prepared.

Don't provide financial support yourself unless you can definitely afford it.

babyminx1

Help, This is my 1st time using the forum...so sorry for the long post.

I recently received a letter from Student Finance England REFUSING to pay my tuition fees. I can't believe it!I was told this by a SLC advisor on the phone. Once I knew, I quickly appealed the decision in a letter via the formal appeal stage 1. However, I received a letter on the 2nd March saying that SLC will not pay my Tuition fees - except the final 3rd year of my course.

I am a mature student, mum of 2 children aged 1.5 & 2.5 yrs, and I am on a full-time degree programme at UEL. I am due to finish my 1st semester in about 6 weeks time. I have worked really hard during this 1st year, juggling uni, working part-time, and being a mum to get thru this 1st year. It has come as a total blow to find out that my fees won't be paid. There is no way I can afford to pay it myself as i only take home #660 a month from my job. And to make matters worse, I am now going thru personal difficulties at home (marital)....i really don't want anything to distract me from completing this degree, like it did when i was younger.

Apparently, 'cos I went to univeristy before (on 3 different occasions) when I was 18 years, this is why I cannot get funding now.

At the time, when I went to uni at 18 yrs, I was unhappy at the uni I was at 'cos i was very homesick so changed uni's the following year. It seems/I believe that the mistake i made was applying all over again to a new uni (therfore seen as a new course) whereas 'I should have transferred uni's' or deferred as the case may have been.

But i was totally unaware of all this process when I went to university back then. I mean, I had been kicked out of home by my mum (i was not on benefits, i was working and paying rent for a room) and so was just happy to go to any uni that accepted me so I could get away from the situation. I had no-one to advise me, and I was pretty naive at that age to say the least. All I wanted to do was go to uni, get a good education and make my family proud. But it didn't turn out that way.

Is there anything I can do against this decision? I am planning to appeal again. If it's possible, Can you tell me where I stand??

Thank you in advance for ur help.

Oldernotwiser

The normal rule of funding is that you can have the length of your course +1. If you have previously done 2 years (or part of 2 years) then you will only have another 2 years funding left for a 3 year degree course. There can be exceptions made in the case of verifiable ill health but, unfortunately, this isn't the case for you.

I fear you have been advised correctly.

pinkie2012

Hello,

I am new here and a bit confused, on the student finance website it says when calculating housing benefits, the tuition fee is not counted as income. I was assessed on Friday by a housing benefit officer and he counted the 3225 tuition fee as part of my income. Is this right?
Thanks

Taiko

babyminx1 wrote: »

Help, This is my 1st time using the forum...so sorry for the long post.

I recently received a letter from Student Finance England REFUSING to pay my tuition fees. I can't believe it!I was told this by a SLC advisor on the phone. Once I knew, I quickly appealed the decision in a letter via the formal appeal stage 1. However, I received a letter on the 2nd March saying that SLC will not pay my Tuition fees - except the final 3rd year of my course.

I am a mature student, mum of 2 children aged 1.5 & 2.5 yrs, and I am on a full-time degree programme at UEL. I am due to finish my 1st semester in about 6 weeks time. I have worked really hard during this 1st year, juggling uni, working part-time, and being a mum to get thru this 1st year. It has come as a total blow to find out that my fees won't be paid. There is no way I can afford to pay it myself as i only take home #660 a month from my job. And to make matters worse, I am now going thru personal difficulties at home (marital)....i really don't want anything to distract me from completing this degree, like it did when i was younger.

Apparently, 'cos I went to univeristy before (on 3 different occasions) when I was 18 years, this is why I cannot get funding now.

At the time, when I went to uni at 18 yrs, I was unhappy at the uni I was at 'cos i was very homesick so changed uni's the following year. It seems/I believe that the mistake i made was applying all over again to a new uni (therfore seen as a new course) whereas 'I should have transferred uni's' or deferred as the case may have been.

But i was totally unaware of all this process when I went to university back then. I mean, I had been kicked out of home by my mum (i was not on benefits, i was working and paying rent for a room) and so was just happy to go to any uni that accepted me so I could get away from the situation. I had no-one to advise me, and I was pretty naive at that age to say the least. All I wanted to do was go to uni, get a good education and make my family proud. But it didn't turn out that way.

Is there anything I can do against this decision? I am planning to appeal again. If it's possible, Can you tell me where I stand??

Thank you in advance for ur help.

Can you just clarify for me a few things:

- Did you just do year one 3 times, or did you do a year 1, 2 and 3? Did you repeat any years?

- Were there any other reasons that stopped you completing the previous courses?

student_advisor

pinkie2012 wrote: »

Hello,

I am new here and a bit confused, on the student finance website it says when calculating housing benefits, the tuition fee is not counted as income. I was assessed on Friday by a housing benefit officer and he counted the 3225 tuition fee as part of my income. Is this right?
Thanks

No, this is wrong wrong wrong (although not very surprising).

Get down to either your local CAB or your student advice centre of your uni to get a professional to help you sort it out. If they've taken your tuition fee loan into account, they've probably taken other things they shouldn't have, so you would benefit from someone to go through your assessment with you.

Jacks_mum

slcworker wrote: »

Hey, i have alot of Knowledge of how the student loans procedure works. If anyone needs any help, i can advise as much general info.
Obviously i cant divulge into specifics due to Data Protection and the fact that i'd get fired, but anything i can help with, just let me know.

Hi,
My son is starting uni in Sept, my husband and I are helping out by paying his fees. Is it better for him to get a student loan and we pay it off monthly each year rather than adding it to our mortgage and paying a much higher rate?? I know I have probably answered my own question but are you allowed to pay off a student loan whilst the student is still studying?

Oldernotwiser

Jacks_mum wrote: »

Hi,
My son is starting uni in Sept, my husband and I are helping out by paying his fees. Is it better for him to get a student loan and we pay it off monthly each year rather than adding it to our mortgage and paying a much higher rate?? I know I have probably answered my own question but are you allowed to pay off a student loan whilst the student is still studying?

You would be mad to take out a loan to pay for his fees when the tuition and student loans are fixed at the rate of inflation so, to all intents and purposes, interest free. It even makes no sense to pay it off any earlier than necessary because of this.

Read Martin'sarticle on the subject and see whether you still think it's a good idea!

MrsManda

Jacks_mum wrote: »

Hi,
My son is starting uni in Sept, my husband and I are helping out by paying his fees. Is it better for him to get a student loan and we pay it off monthly each year rather than adding it to our mortgage and paying a much higher rate?? I know I have probably answered my own question but are you allowed to pay off a student loan whilst the student is still studying?

As ONW said it's not worth you taking out your own loan to pay for fees. However in answer to your question about paying it off you can repay student loans at any time though it's not necessary to start paying it off until the April after graduation and only then after the student is earning over £15,000 a year.
I wouldn't pay it off each monthly each year, if you have the money to do so (Don't take out a loan to do this) it'd be better to put the money into an ISA at a higher interest than the student loan interest rate (which at the moment stands about 0% I think), let it accrue then pay off the loans once your son graduates as you're likely to also have money left over to help him towards a house, car, whatever...