Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Jo_King

andyrules wrote: »

I'm in a similar position and cannot find information on this. We were told that loans taken out before the age of 40 not paid off by the time you reach 50 were written off. This was confirmed over the phone by slc during a query a few years back. Age 50 for me has been and gone and suddenly the magic age has changed to 60!

Is there any advisor on here that remembers this?

Jo, why do you want to pay anything off your loan if you don't meet the criteria?

Thanks for your reply. I'm fairly sure I was told it was 40 when I was 21 (I'd a friend training for priesthood, who reassured me of this with some glee!).

I don't want to pay off, except that, given my last loan was when I was 20, I still have a long way to go, and insurance is beginning to mount. I just can't manage to pay at the moment. My take home pay is £800, if which £120 goes into a pension, £400 goes into savings (high interest account), and the rest is meeting bills. The £400 is the beginnings of a deposit for a flat (might be able to do that in, oh, 10 years, if prices don't go up!). I could just pay off the loan in full from those savings, but I'm not sure if there's any point, if I'm still not going to be earning enough by the time I'm 50 to meet the minimum threshold.

Tetsuko

What happens if you start studying and then find out that your LEA won't fund you? I haven't heard back from my LEA and my course starts on the 24th. I've studied before so I don't know if or how much funding I will get.

Can you get a career development loan to cover degree tuition fees and living expenses?

Edit: I just had a look for some cdl info which said they loan up to £8000. That doesn't sound as if it would be enough to fund a whole degree (or is it?) Does anyone know if you can take out more than one cdl at a time if one doesn't cover all the fees?

student_advisor

You can't always get a CDL for a degree as they are for vocational courses, so it depends on which degree you're doing.

You are not allowed to apply for more than one CDL at the same time (you can't even apply to more than one bank at the same time).

If you haven't heard back from your LA, then give them a ring. Your funding will normally be allocated in the following way: years of course + 1 year - any years of funding already taken. You cannot normally get funding if you already hold a degree.

Although there is this formula to follow, your LA has a little discretion and if you do not agree with their decision, you can challenge it.

Tetsuko

Thanks muchly. I'm doing Business Information Systems. I did two years of chemistry previously (with a foundation year) and haven't had any luck in finding work in the area I live. I've been unemployed now for twelve months

I think I might still be eligible for a years worth of funding then.
I've just got to live in hope that if they give me funding they will see it through to the end or I'll end up with another half a degree >.<

MediaStudent100

student_advisor wrote: »

You can only get what you have been awarded and that will only ever be paid out in 3 instalments - one at the beginning of each term. If you need additional financial help, you need to apply to the Access to Learning Fund at your institution.

Contact your student services or check out some of the other forum threads if you need help budgeting.

Thanks for your reply.
The first payment received is the largest amount for the year then i'll get a payment every month instead of the 3 installments you mentioned, do you think it would possible to get this changed?

Cheers

student_advisor

Mediastudent100

Despite the name, are you an NHS funded student or a trainee teacher? (trying to work out why you're paid monthly)

I can't see you being able to get your payments changed I'm afraid. Please contact your student services for an application to the Access to Learning Fund.

richiep87

Hi,
I applied for a loan this year which will be my 2nd year at uni. I thought I had applied for the full amount but my uni is telling me that the SLC has only paid £3000 and so they want me to pay the extra £70.

Is this a common problem and how do I go about asking the SLC to fund the extra £70?

Thanks.

rose28454

Help!!
My daughter started uni in Sept 2005 and left in Feb 2006 due to a breakdown. She has had continuing mental health problems since then but has been working. She has applied and been awarded a place on a Fashion Degree course which is delivered online and she will be living at home ( Somerset) although the uni is in London. She is late filling in her loan forms although I have spoken to our LEA and they say it should all be ok. When she got the forms she asked if an online course was eligible for a fees loan and Maintenance grant and was told yes. However just about to send off forms and when I checked them for her it says that online courses are not eligible unless you are disabled.
So the questions are
1. Are online courses eligible?
2. Would she be able to get one as disabled with her health problems?
3. Would she get one anyway as she already had some loan for the earlier course?
Help would be appreciated.
Thanks

student_advisor

richiep87 wrote: »

Hi,
I applied for a loan this year which will be my 2nd year at uni. I thought I had applied for the full amount but my uni is telling me that the SLC has only paid £3000 and so they want me to pay the extra £70.

Is this a common problem and how do I go about asking the SLC to fund the extra £70?

Thanks.

You need to ring up the SLC and they'll probably send you out a form or two! I'm not sure you can change your loan amount over the phone alone.

student_advisor

rose28454 wrote: »

Help!!
My daughter started uni in Sept 2005 and left in Feb 2006 due to a breakdown. She has had continuing mental health problems since then but has been working. She has applied and been awarded a place on a Fashion Degree course which is delivered online and she will be living at home ( Somerset) although the uni is in London. She is late filling in her loan forms although I have spoken to our LEA and they say it should all be ok. When she got the forms she asked if an online course was eligible for a fees loan and Maintenance grant and was told yes. However just about to send off forms and when I checked them for her it says that online courses are not eligible unless you are disabled.
So the questions are
1. Are online courses eligible?
2. Would she be able to get one as disabled with her health problems?
3. Would she get one anyway as she already had some loan for the earlier course?
Help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Mental health problems are specifically mentioned as a disability eligible for disabled student's allowance, but for your daughter it would depend whether she is currently experiencing mental health difficulties and receiving treatment.

As far as I'm aware, she would only qualify for help with fees etc if she was studying by distance learning because of her disability, though I do not profess to be an expert with online/distance learning. If this were the case she may be able to get a fees grant and a course grant and a disabled student's allowance.

You should contact the institution she is studying through as they should be able to help.