Help With Student Loans - HERE!

purplegrape

Hello all

Question on behalf of my father, who is looking to do his first ever degree at the age of 65. (He's not been in HE before.) Can he apply for a student loan and maintenance grant? Both my parents are retired with really only the state pension to survive on.


I'm finding it very difficult to source an answer from studentfinancedirect.co.uk or the SLC online!

Any guidance gratefully received! Many thanks!

s4mmy

Sorry if this has already been covered but my daughter has informed us that she wants to do another degree when her course finishes in June 08. We have tried to help out financially with her first degree [rent, phone, course fees etc] but are horrified at the thought of another 3 years. Will she be able to get any financial help at all?
Thanks

mayb_2

Hi roxana Thanks for your response.

My son left uni after a 4 year couse 2 years ago - which means he was first at uni in 2001. The university changed its policy on the fees after the first year and it was paid by direct debit over the year. My son got about £3000 per year as a student loan - that did not give him enough change to live on after fees so we paid them and a lot more besides. I don't recall a loan being offered for fees at that time. They were about £1000 per year for us if I recall, and based on parents income.

The course he was on required a film to be produced as the final 'exam' or whatever they called it. The uni had only poor equipment which was difficult to borrow and often faulty or not available when needed (they had some very good equipment which they didn't loan to the students). We, therefore, bought a professional camera and an apple mac computer and editing softwear and other equipment to give him the best chance of success in this course. The camera alone was over £2000 at the time. Some of it we ebayed and would highly recommend it to students.

He made high quality films with this equipment and got a good degree. He is now working in film editing and graphics - which is great but not as well paid as you might expect. I don't think anyone was bothered whether he actually had a degree but they liked his films - so we felt the effort had paid off.

We don't regret helping him in this way but do resent the fact that we had to spend so much on things he should have been able to have provided - such as his education and the equipment needed.

I know of students taking Architect courses at Uni and the equipment they have to provide for themselves is also very expensive.

Nobody looked at out outgoings when calculating the fees - only our incomes. If our incomes are considered high enough to pay full fees then by definition we are paying tax on that income. If your outgoings are also high, mortgages etc then you are not necessarily a rich person with a lot of disposable income.

I am so glad he finished before the £3000 fees kicked in because we just would not have been able to support him.

roxalana

purplegrape wrote: »

Hello all

Question on behalf of my father, who is looking to do his first ever degree at the age of 65. (He's not been in HE before.) Can he apply for a student loan and maintenance grant? Both my parents are retired with really only the state pension to survive on.


I'm finding it very difficult to source an answer from studentfinancedirect.co.uk or the SLC online!

Any guidance gratefully received! Many thanks!

I can't remember and I'm currently working away from student support so I can't check at the mo! I'm 99% sure there is a limit which might be 60 for taking out a student loan (but I don't know how this fits in with age discrimation leglislation). I think non-loan funding is the same regardless of age though.

Call your Dad's LEA (put his postcode in on the SLC website in the 'find my LEA' section to find the contact details) and they should be able to tell you for sure.

roxalana

s4mmy wrote: »

Sorry if this has already been covered but my daughter has informed us that she wants to do another degree when her course finishes in June 08. We have tried to help out financially with her first degree [rent, phone, course fees etc] but are horrified at the thought of another 3 years. Will she be able to get any financial help at all?
Thanks

If she has an honours degree she can't have LEA funding for another undergrad degree (I think there are some exceptions such as architecture, and some medical ones - but it is specific course and limited funding not full funding).

The LEA doesn't fund post grad courses except PGCEs either, so it doesn't look promising for LEA funding.

Google search the education grants advisory service (EGAS) who should be able to give you more info (they don't provide funding themselves).

roxalana

Hi Mayb,

Yes fee loans weren't around when he was on his course but as you say, the fees were a lot less!

It sounds to me like you are more annoyed at the Universities lack of equipment - I do think students need to be more prepared to check out what equipment is available for students to use for coursework when they choose their University if they are choosing an equipment intensive course.

I was lucky as I just needed a computer and software so I didn't have a lot to check when I visited the University when I was choosing and luckily (despite the long queues) I was able to use the Universities computers!

mayb_2

The choices of Uni doing this particular course was limited and the uni made much of the wonderful equipment they had. They didn't say that it would not be made freely available to the students though. Also you have to weigh up the costs of going to one university as opposed to another on grounds of accomodation etc. My son could attend this university and live at home which we hoped would prove a cheaper option. He had left school many years before so we had not budgeted for this expense.

No, my main beef remains the fact that paying your taxes does not pay for an education to degree standard if this is what you want. The first year of the course was a level 0 - so A level standard - and delivered at a local sixth form college. This still attracted fees of over £1000 - why? If he had gone straight to 6th form he would not have had to pay and I would have got child benefit for that year too.

Paying out benefits to those on lower income has a high cost implication for the government, under current benefit arrangements, so long term - the more free education the better. You reap what you sow. More high income earners the more tax revenue and less benefit costs.

roxalana

I think another problem is that a good degree does not equal good earnings too...

ZaZa_3

My daughter plans to study for a BA at uni from Sept 08. I know about grants/student loans from our various visits to the unis, but am well aware that the grants/bursaries/maximum student loan will not cover all her expenses whilst at uni for 3 years. Because of our joint incomes, she won't qualify for the full loans etc., but we can't afford to pay out for what is in effect a 2nd home for the next 3 years. How/where does she go to get extra bank loans to cover the full cost of her uni education - any pointers would be gratefully received.

roxalana

Zaza - i don't know about what other loans will be there for your daughter but my advice would be to encourage your daughter to work during university and perhaps even start now to save up.

Assuming she is taking out a fees loan for approx £3000 and another £3000 for living costs from the SLC each year that's £18,000 of debt for 3 years not including any overdraft (can take out approx £2,500 by year 3), or credit cards or the loan you are planning.

That is a scary amount of debt!

I think working prior to Uni and/or during the course and/or in the holidays is helpful because as well as reducing the eventual amount of debt it makes you appreciate money and be more careful with it, it forces you to develop time management skills and can help you gain experience for employment after Uni (even if it is not directly related to the chosen career).