Help With Student Loans - HERE!

clancynet

Can you explain how the student maintenance loan works. WE have filled in the support form and been told that our son will receive a maintenance loan of around £3500. I have calculated the cost of rent, food etc and this will not be enough. Am I expected to make up any shortfall? The support form only covers household income and not expenditure. As a family we would find it very difficult to find the funds to support our son.
I have looked at the maintenance loan table and notice that low income families and high income families receive approximately the same loan. How can this be fair.

Savvy_Sue

kirstyjo11 wrote: »

Could seriously do with some help re student finance. I am 31 years old and currently work part time (23 hours) (only earning 7500) and am a single parent. I have been offered a place at uni to study social work in sept (wahoo) but am soooo confused by what I should and shouldnt be applying for...specifically maintenance loan and/or grant? Parent support? Special Support? Housing Benefit? Am so bloody confused! Also should I be looking at leaving work early before uni or working right up to when i start?

I can't answer most of your questions, but the dept where you're hoping to study might be more useful? However on the subject of giving up work, I'd keep going to the last minute, and not even give notice until you absolutely have to. Obviously have a 'normal' holiday at some point, but there can be delays with various payments and entitlements coming through, so putting yourself into the best possible financial situation would be wise.

Apart from anything else, what would you expect to live on if you gave up work early?

Dunroamin

clancynet wrote: »

Can you explain how the student maintenance loan works. WE have filled in the support form and been told that our son will receive a maintenance loan of around £3500. I have calculated the cost of rent, food etc and this will not be enough. Am I expected to make up any shortfall? The support form only covers household income and not expenditure. As a family we would find it very difficult to find the funds to support our son.
I have looked at the maintenance loan table and notice that low income families and high income families receive approximately the same loan. How can this be fair.

Are you in England or Scotland? What is your household income?

Savvy_Sue

clancynet wrote: »

Can you explain how the student maintenance loan works. WE have filled in the support form and been told that our son will receive a maintenance loan of around £3500. I have calculated the cost of rent, food etc and this will not be enough. Am I expected to make up any shortfall? The support form only covers household income and not expenditure. As a family we would find it very difficult to find the funds to support our son.
I have looked at the maintenance loan table and notice that low income families and high income families receive approximately the same loan. How can this be fair.

It's fair, because as you say, the form does not ask for details of expenditure. A high income family may have very high outgoings, for perfectly valid reasons, and be left with the same disposable income as your own.

You need to discuss this with your son. It's his decision to go to University, so he needs to take some responsibility for his budget. FWIW, I never gave any of mine any extra help beyond them living at home rent free in holidays, running them around, and paying for clothes and shoes if requested.

If he's had a part-time job in 6th form, hopefully he's saved something from that. Is he savvy with food shopping, and can he cook?

silvercar

clancynet wrote: »

Can you explain how the student maintenance loan works. WE have filled in the support form and been told that our son will receive a maintenance loan of around £3500. I have calculated the cost of rent, food etc and this will not be enough. Am I expected to make up any shortfall? The support form only covers household income and not expenditure. As a family we would find it very difficult to find the funds to support our son.
I have looked at the maintenance loan table and notice that low income families and high income families receive approximately the same loan. How can this be fair.

Low income families also get a grant. If you add together the maintenance grant and loan, high income families get only about three-quarters what a student from a low income family would get.

If your child doesn't get the full amount because of your earnings, then the government is relying on you to make up the difference or for the student to be cash strapped and work to earn some more money. How much time the student can afford to work alongside studying depends on the course.

MrShazzyMan

I would love for someone to help me understand how student finance how worked this one out.

My other half and I are in the same university, we're both on courses that are £8000 a year and have the same £7374 in student loans/maintenance. We've received all our instalments for the student loan/maintenance on the dates that we were told we would get the money. No problem.

But the problem now is that apparently her course isn't a full £8000 but it's roughly £500 or more less than £8000 and also have for some strange reason changed all her student finance application for her first year even though she's carried on receiving the right amount from student finance. She's received about 2 more student finance letters telling her of how much her tuition fees are and how much grant she is to get half way through the year although the first original letter that came through her door details how much her true tuition fees are and student loans/maintenance which is the same as mine.

Of course her situation has changed due to the fact her mum and dad have split and she is living with her mum who doesn't work due to cancer etc. so even if the change in circumstances are changed it still means she should still receive the same amount of money as I have.

The steps she has taken have been to have a word with the student finance people within the campus who have on behalf said everything has been sorted but the problem still persists and also when she tries to apply for her second year at university through the online student finance pages, it keeps on saying that she's about to enrol onto a 3rd year of accounting and finance when she has just about finished her 1st year. Any ideas what on earth this stupid student finance is upto? It seemed pretty straight forward but they've just messed everything up on their side I think.

tiddles1

Hi

Can any one offer any advice?

I'm on a 2.5 year undergraduate program. Its a two and a half year course. I do a full years work in half a year (first year) then do two 'normal' years starting in Sept 2013 to complete the degree. The course started in Feb 2013.

When I applied for finance my degree program information was pre-filled with a September start date. I called SFE and they said don't worry it will be amended later when your uni advise us you are attending.

Having nearly completed the first year SFE say the course is not eligible as the first academic year will overlap the second one as they count the academic year as 12 months from when the course started.

SFE's representative told my uni the course was eligible for finance before the course started but has now said the info was wrong and all my finance has been cancelled. :eek::eek::eek:

I'm appealing this but has anyone got any advice on how to deal with this situation?

Many thanks :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Taiko

What's the course? And the university?

Can't help you if we're stabbing in the dark.

tiddles1

Hi Taiko

Its BA Business Accounting (Hons) at Glyndwr in Wrexham.

Thanks

Taiko

Done some research myself, and I think SFE are probably right.

I've not seen anything to the contrary, but the accelerated course in Business Accounting doesn't appear to be designated, which would make you ineligible for the duration.

SFE's internal database might have a Feb start listed, but I've no idea if that's the case. Certainly can't see anything on any of the data I can access.