Help With Student Loans - HERE!

[Deleted User]

drakhan said:

I believe that i can reclaim ALL of my student loan.
I lived in Scotland until 2006 and was at Paisley University (now West of Scotland University) as a mature student after 2001.
I moved to England then started paying my student loan but recently found out that i was exempt from tuition fees as A) I attended Scottish university (Scots born and living in Paisley) and I attended as a mature student but didnt finish the course so i shouldnt have needed to pay ANY fees. This is stated on gov.uk website.
The payments were made to SLC England not SLC Scotland and they shouldnt have.
How can i reclaim the money.

I'm afraid you appear to have grossly misinterpreted whatever you've seen online.

First and foremost, systems and legislation that underpin the award and subsequent repayment of Student Funding NOW has changed mulitple times since you seem to have attended University.

Tuition Fees were reintroduced by the Government (rather unpopularly) in 1997 for the whole of the UK - no such thing as Devolved Administration back then.

Scotland gained it's own Parliament and the same year commissioned a review of the Teaching & Higher Education Act.

After only a few short years, Tuition Fees in Scotland were replaced (2002) with a Scottish Graduate Endowment.

The SGE was a lumpsum payment due at the end of the course upon completion. You either paid the fee yourself, or had the option of applying for a loan from Student Loans Company to pay it.

I'm afraid, then (2001) as now if you started but did not complete your course, you're still liable for and the University you attended is within their rights to charge you for the education you received up until you left the course you studied. Admittedly the system is a little fairer these days, as they used to charge you for the full year even if you only attended for a week - now they can only seek payment upto the end of the term in which you left your study.

That's a sidenote though.

In summary answer of your points:

A) It doesn't matter WHERE you went to University in this case, only WHEN. 

It doesn't matter how old you were at the time. The current guidance and legislation you've read online has no bearing on the type of loans you took when you attended University 20 years ago.

I'm intrigued as to what you're actually reading (link please) as current legislation sets out no upper age limit for eligibility to a Tuition Fee Loan in England or Wales (the domiciles for which Gov.UK covers).

On your final point which, for me, seems to show your lack of understanding of the matter (perhaps it's taught you not to borrow from a lender until you understand the terms and conditions fully), there is no such thing as Student Loans Company Scotland or Student Loans Company England.

Student Loans Company was established by the UK Government in the late 80s, and began paying funds to student in Higher Education from 1990 onwards. It is a Non-Executive Department partly owned by Central Government and the Devolved Administrations.

In Scotland the Student Award Agency Scotland now, and it is responsible for assessing a person's eligibility and entitlement to student loans. It os wholly owned by the Scottish Government, however they only assess an award, and the funding is paid by SLC on behalf of the Scottish Government.

In England  Wales and NI, SLC is responsible for ALL aspects of Student Funding, and awards funding under the branding of Student Finance England, Wales or Northern Ireland respectively. It is still, however, SLC - the one. the only.

SLC is responsible for the collection of all repayments of Student Funding with the sole exception of any overpaid bursaries paid by the Student Award Agency Scotland to eligible students or NHS bursaries paid by the relevant NHS Trust/Business Board.

Simply put, you won't be eligible to reclaim any repayment on the assumed basis as you'd hoped. By all means, you can write to SLC and try your luck though.

I hope you find at least some of the information here enlightening.

Disclaimer: not an expert

spender

Wondering if anyone could reassure me.  I have just signed up to do Law at the Open University.  I am quite advanced in years! (58)  Can I apply for Student Finance to cover the fees?

[Deleted User]

Hi

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/fees-and-funding/loan-england-finance

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/parttime-students

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/fees-and-funding/loan-wales-finance

https://www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/undergraduate-students/part-time-students/new-students/student-finance-available-to-a-part-time-student-starting-a-new-course-in-2019-to-2020.aspx

http://www.open.ac.uk/scotland/study/fees-and-funding

https://www.saas.gov.uk/part-time/undergraduate-funding

http://www.open.ac.uk/northern-ireland/study-us/fees-and-funding

https://www.studentfinanceni.co.uk/types-of-finance/undergraduate/

Links 1 and 2 applicable if you normally live in England.

Links 3 and 4 if you normally live in Wales.

Links 5 and 6 if in Scotland.

And links 7 and 8 applicable if you normally life in NI.

These will provide you with everything you need to know.

Hope you get sorted.

Disclaimer: not an expert

wendyrich

Can I deduct pension contributions from my total household income (£55,000) in the student maintenance  loan calculator, or will the government check that from the gross income and deduct accordingly? Confused about parental contribution and if we can afford it.

Savvy_Sue

wendyrich said:

Can I deduct pension contributions from my total household income (£55,000) in the student maintenance  loan calculator, or will the government check that from the gross income and deduct accordingly? Confused about parental contribution and if we can afford it.

I cannot remember, but I am fairly sure that the accompanying notes made it clear what could be deducted. If pension contributions aren't specifically mentioned, then I think you'll find they can't be. 

[Deleted User]

wendyrich said:

Can I deduct pension contributions from my total household income (£55,000) in the student maintenance  loan calculator, or will the government check that from the gross income and deduct accordingly? Confused about parental contribution and if we can afford it.

You CANNOT deduct anything from your income. You MUST declare your income from all sources.

What you CAN do, is declare all Private Pension Contributions and Additional Voluntary Contributions you made in the applicable tax year.

They will then consider these when it comes to assessing the Household Residual Income which will then be used to determine entitlement to the means tested portion of Student Finance.

Pleade remember that any reference tool is for illustrative purposes and should NEVER be taken as a quote on entitlement.

Hope this helps.

Disclaimer: not an expert

ssh321

Hi everyone. My best friend has applied for student finance this year, but as an EU citizen, they have to submit residency evidence for the last 5 years. This is a bit of a complex situation. After going through the papers, it turns out they have a gap of approx 6-7 months where the bank statements show little activity due to unemployment. They lived off savings for a while and then gradually ran out of cash. This corresponds with the period when they went through a mental health breakdown as a result of bullying in their previous workplace, and as we were flat sharing, I agreed to pay full rent for a couple of months (we’re joint tenants so I was liable anyway), by standing order into their account and they would then pay the landlord. These are the only monthly transactions showing for that period. Will Student Finance reject their application based on this reduced activity? I’ve read you can request UK entry and exit data from the Home Office under GDPR. Would that be valid evidence my friend could use to prove they never left the UK in that time?

Please note they don’t have any other bills than the monthly rent payment (all bills are included, so no council tax, gas etc.). They were over 18 for the entire time.

Would anyone be able to advise how to make sure SFE doesn’t reject the application? My friend has been through so much and finally got their life together and got into uni for the first time, so it would be such a shame if this didn’t work.

Thanks in advance for your time.

ssh321

It seems I can’t edit the post above, but I wanted to add that during this bank statement “gap” my friend traveled abroad on holiday for a few days and has two way tickets that clearly show they went somewhere and then returned to the UK. Home Office data would obviously confirm this. During this gap, they were also studying a module at the Open University, but unfortunately no letter communications were sent during the statement “gap” (only before and after it), and the mode of study was remote.

[Deleted User]

Hi

It's not answer you're going to like, but basically trying to pre-empt evidence requirements for something like this is like trying to pin the tail on the donkey with a blade of grass from 100 yards away.

It simply isn't possible.

The fact of the matter is that student finance applications are assessed, and entitlement awarded in line with strict legislation set by the Government.

Please don't mistake this for crassness, but a sob story, whether true or not, won't have any impact on the company's ability to award funding to someone. Only their ability to prove their eligibility matters.

The one thing I need you take away from this though is that their initial decision is not binding! If the application is rejected, then you MUST appeal. Outline the circumstances. Do not be afraid to ask the Appeals Team what possible evidence your friend can provide to prove their eligibility for full funding.

They can only supply the evidence they have at the end of the day. If, after exhausting the appeals procedure the decision is unchanged, all is not lost.

As an EU National, they can still at least apply for a Tuition Fee Loan that will still help to cover the exhorbitant expense of attending university these days. The Tuition Fee Loan is not subject to the same strict eligibility criteria.

Sorry, I know it isn't the assurance you'd like but it is the best assurance that you can receive outside of the application process with the company.

Best of luck to your friend!

ssh321

Hello, thanks for taking the time to reply! I realise at the end of the day SLC don’t care about the story, only the papers that can be supplied to them.

Unfortunately, the bank statement “gap” happened in the last 3 years, so I’m worried even the tuition fee loan could be at risk here even though nothing suggests my friend left the UK and/or the EU at any point. I worry that the Home Office can only confirm that my friend didn’t move out of the UK, but my understanding is that SLC wants evidence that confirms their presence in the UK rather than a lack of absence.

My friend hasn’t sent anything yet since they want to build a solid case first. The evidence request email from SLC asked for evidence to have no gaps of more than 6 months, but an internet search shows that in some cases they requested to cover periods as short as a week - is that correct, and the email they sent contains an error?