Help With Student Loans - HERE!

devildog

Taiko wrote: »

Do you have a copy of their reply? Any chance of either posting up the exact wording/PMing me it?

I'd be interested in taking this on if needbe.

Will be watching this one with particular interest as will need to go through the same thing in a couple of months although student not required to attend for interview but is required to attend in person to submit paperwork

Lokolo

George_S wrote: »

Good morning everyone,

I do hope I have the correct forum thread for my enquiry. This is my first posting so please be lenient.

My daughter is due to start university next year and I am having a slight personal debate on how to fund her. On one hand I completely detest the idea of her graduating with thousands of pounds of debt and as such I am tempted to offer to pay all of her tuition fees and costs myself. On the other hand I worry that if I do this she will not learn the true value of money by never experiencing the concerns of having debts.

I would thoroughly welcome your thoughts on this matter and am eager to hear from as many parents and students as possible.

Many thanks

Student loans aren't your typical debt, so it's not really going to teach her anything. If she loses her job, the debt doesn't hurt her and such.

The thing she has to realise is that taking on student loan could mean 9% of over £21k that she earns will be paid back for 30 years.

If she is happy with this then the money you would give her, could be used elsewhere (house deposit, car etc.).

Debrac

Taiko wrote: »

Do you have a copy of their reply? Any chance of either posting up the exact wording/PMing me it?

I'd be interested in taking this on if needbe.

Hi, thanks. It would be great if you could have a look at it as it seems so unfair, especially as we were initially told over the phone that we could claim for the train fares. Here is their reply:

I have discussed your account with our Practitioners Support team who deal
with interpreting the Student Support Regulations and applying these to
Student Finance England assessments. I can confirm that your travel to
London to obtain your Visa is not eligible to be included in your Travel
Grant claim. The Student Support Regulations refer to refunding the cost of
the Visa, they do not refer to refunding the cost of obtaining the Visa.

devildog

But surely they can see that without being in attendance no visa will be issued, sounds like a play of words -refunding the cost of and refunding the cost of obtaining!

Debrac

Yes it does seem like a play on words. I totally agree. It's so annoying though, cos train fares from up here in the northeast down to London and back cost me at least £100 and that's a lot of money to a student...

Taiko

I'm unlikely to have time to draft anything up this week (financial year end coming up, and auditing some work by others has thrown up a few concerns), however I can potentially help with a formal appeal within the next few weeks. Alternatively, if you wish to draw one up yourself, I'm happy to review it. It can then be passed up for independant review if rejected.

Savvy_Sue

George_S wrote: »

On one hand I completely detest the idea of her graduating with thousands of pounds of debt and as such I am tempted to offer to pay all of her tuition fees and costs myself. On the other hand I worry that if I do this she will not learn the true value of money by never experiencing the concerns of having debts.

I have several thoughts ... but have you thought of discussing the matter with her?

With my boys, I did not wait until 6th form to start teaching them the value of money! IMO it doesn't matter whether you have a lot of money or a little, you need to learn what things cost! (Cue DS3 at the end of his first term at Uni: "Do you KNOW how much MEAT costs?" :rotfl:)

None of mine got EMA, but in 6th form I started giving them an allowance into their bank accounts. This covered travel to school, plus a modest amount for school lunches. DS1 used the bus and made his own sandwiches; DS2 walked to and from school and made his own sandwiches; DS3 borrowed money to buy a bike and stayed hungry until he got home each night, at which point he'd have two portions of couscous, 4 slices of cheese on toast, and whatever I was cooking for DH and I!

The key thing was that they had to withdraw whatever cash they needed BEFORE they'd run out, I wasn't giving them cash any more! DS1 and DS2 were OK with this, DS3 just never had any cash (and still doesn't, from what I can work out!)

Oh, and clothes ... DS1 and DS2 were happy with basics from Asda and Tesco: DS3 was extremely fussy, so had far less to wear.

A few supermarket shops (painful but necessary) and they can pick out the Value ranges, read the £/kg labels, and understand what's good VFM and what's not.

I'm waffling on, but you get the point? Mine have learned the value of money.

What Lokolo says is very true:

Lokolo wrote: »

Student loans aren't your typical debt, so it's not really going to teach her anything. If she loses her job, the debt doesn't hurt her and such.

The thing she has to realise is that taking on student loan could mean 9% of over £21k that she earns will be paid back for 30 years.

If she is happy with this then the money you would give her, could be used elsewhere (house deposit, car etc.).

But the other thing a student loan gives you is independence from your parents. Now you, George, might be a brilliant parent with an excellent relationship with your DD, however I personally think I'd find it quite hard to be THAT generous without continuing to control my child. "I'm paying out all this money, the least you can do to repay me is get a darned good degree instead of going out drinking every night" kind of thing.

And at this age, independence is possibly the best thing you can give to your children ...

which is why I suggested talking!

Debrac

Taiko wrote: »

I'm unlikely to have time to draft anything up this week (financial year end coming up, and auditing some work by others has thrown up a few concerns), however I can potentially help with a formal appeal within the next few weeks. Alternatively, if you wish to draw one up yourself, I'm happy to review it. It can then be passed up for independant review if rejected.

Thank you so much. I'll attempt to write a formal complaint sometime in the next week or so and will PM you if that's ok. Really appreciate it.

susiebann

help. live in northern ireland. daughter currently studying in england at uni on a part time course. she is not entitled to any student loans. currently out of work. has applied for jobseekers and help with rent but she has now been told she will have to pay council tax if claiming these benefits which is much the same as the benefits she is getting. no money left to live on. any advice would help. thanks:(

Oldernotwiser

susiebann wrote: »

help. live in northern ireland. daughter currently studying in england at uni on a part time course. she is not entitled to any student loans. currently out of work. has applied for jobseekers and help with rent but she has now been told she will have to pay council tax if claiming these benefits which is much the same as the benefits she is getting. no money left to live on. any advice would help. thanks:(

She should apply for council tax benefit which is separate from LHA/HB.