Help With Student Loans - HERE!

kyusho

Thanks Taiko, I thought that was the case. I have always worked since leaving school albeit earning differing amounts each tax year. I have two tax years where I have earnt over £7500 and one year that comes very close at £7420 which would have made me "eligible" had I earnt £80 more- student finance said because it wasn't over £7500 I wasn't eligible for a maintenance grant (which in turn means I didn't get a bursary at my university and left me very hard up- I had to borrow to pay for my accommodation and also get a hardship grant from Uni)!

I thought this was very unfair (especially if you consider inflation, in real term my £7420 earnt 5 years ago was well over £7500 in todays money!) as I don't receive any support from my parents, (rightly so too, how can they be expected to contribute when i'm a fully grown adult- 24 at the time) but they took their earnings into account and so I got nothing. I had to borrow some money to pay for my uni accomodation, but i'm hoping I can get student finance to back date my grant if I can prove independence for the year I was 24 (I'm 25 now so automatically get classifed as independent for the next academic year, so get my bursary which covers my accommodation cost).

What do you think is the best way of going about this? I already have to write them a letter stating I want to be means tested for next years finance and they say I will then be an independent student for the next academic year as I am over 25 (so will get my bursary from Uni and the maintenance grant), but regarding last year should I question where this rule about having to earn over £7500 is?

Taiko wrote: »

£7500, despite what they say, is false. Schedule 4 of the regulations merely states that you must have been supporting yourself from your earnings for a period of no less than 3 years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course.

If you want to get technical with SFE, ask them to provide quotations of the exact regulation stating £7500. They can't.

Taiko

If you do an FOI request to them for the bit of the regulations and see what they come back with, I'll plot a course of action.

kyusho

Thanks for the help Taiko, greatly appreciated. To keep you updated, I've just sent them this letter- I hope it sounds Ok.

Dear Student finance,
Further to my telephone conversation with one of your representatives, please accept this letter as a formal request to means test my student loan entitlement for the forthcoming academic year, 2011-2012. I am 25 years of age, and thus I am automatically classified as an independent student.

Furthermore, I applied for independent student status for the last academic year in which I was 24 years old. You wrote to me stating that because I did not have earnings exceeding £7500 in the three consecutive years prior to commencing my studies at University I was not eligible for independent student status, despite having supported myself fully since aged 18 and provided a detailed earnings breakdown (in which I earned over £7500, in real terms, for 3 years!).

This decision has left me in great financial difficulty as I have not been able to receive the bursary from my University which I am entitled to. It has come to my attention that schedule 4 of the regulations merely states that you must have been supporting yourself from your earnings for a period of no less than 3 years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course, which I have done. Nowhere in your regulations is a figure of £7500 stated, nor is a requirement for earnings to have been for consecutive years. I am therefore formally requesting that you provide me with the exact regulation that states I must have earned a minimum £7500 for the three consecutive years prior to the commencement of my course, or I will be forced to take further action.

Sincerely,
Mike

Taiko wrote: »

If you do an FOI request to them for the bit of the regulations and see what they come back with, I'll plot a course of action.

Taiko

Would've detailed in the letter that it is an FOI request, but other than that along the right lines. Let me know the comeback.

kyusho

Sorry, I should have asked what that meant before sending the letter- having googled it I presume it is the Freedom of Information Act? I will let you know their response any how.

Many thanks

Taiko wrote: »

Would've detailed in the letter that it is an FOI request, but other than that along the right lines. Let me know the comeback.

student89

Hi,
I'm currently waiting to start my second year at university in september. Having applied for my student loan this year it became evident that last year i should have recieved much more and suposedly I chose to not apply for income assessed loan etc (what i should have done due to my parents income).
My question is are loans, grants or either backdatable. i.e. so i would recieve the grant I could have recieved last year, this year?

Thankyou in advance for any help offered/given.
Tom

Taiko

I would've assessed for it, but the actual regulations state 9 months from the 1st day of the academic year, which would be the 1st June 2011 for a reassessment.

You can ask, but it's not a given.

Joe_Cramer

What is the maximum maintenance grant for an 18 year old uni student who lives on his own, in a council flat and is estranged from parents? The uni is based in London.

MrsManda

Joe_Cramer wrote: »

What is the maximum maintenance grant for an 18 year old uni student who lives on his own, in a council flat and is estranged from parents? The uni is based in London.

The maximum grant available in 2010/11 and 2011/12 is £2906

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Applyingforthefirsttime/DG_171557

Taiko

Provided you can prove estrangement. Otherwise, you'll get nothing.