Help With Student Loans - HERE!

sheashea1

Hey, my partner is a mature student starting studying this year. to prove his entitlement to student support he needs p60s etc for the past 3 years. but he only has proof of activities for the past 2 years as he dossed about in 2003 and neither worked nor signed on. What proof can he use to show that he lived here and so entitled?

jago25_98

Is it still best to invest money in an ISA instead of paying it off?

Is the APR the same calculated as a ISA APR?

ktsblui

Hi there

I have a morgage and serveral store card, credit card debts. i rent one room out which helps with my morgage. my income is very low over term time, what benefits can i apply for?

ktsblui

oh forgot to mention im 25 and have supported myself for 5 years at least ... i think...?

elisebutt65

IT depends whether you are a mature student and whether you have kids.

I get IS during the holidays and full housing benefit.

During termtime I get partial housing benefit, plus the CTC and also a grant for being a lone parent and a grant to pay for 85% of my childcare. I've also had £750 from the Access to Learning fund from my college, this year.

I don't think you get very much if you're married with no kids or just a single person but you should get your Council Tax stopped whilst you're studying - uni or clooege will give you a certificate or at least a 25% discount if you live with someone.

You should also get the usual student loan as you have been self supporting for at least 3 years.

Katrina-trying_to_save!?!

I didnt realise that this needed to be renewed every year. Was then looking through letters and pack sent from student loans and realised i should have had this submitted in May!!! i am only doing it now- reg on 27/07/06. eeeeeek what is going to happen?? What is the situation with me and my course from 2005/06 to 06/07 regarding fees and loans. i am really starting to panic now!!

please help with my general enquiry but obvisouly not with me as an individual as i see your not allowed to do this.

any help would be appreciated!

Thanks
Katrina x

AddieH

Katrina, as you are continuing an existing course in 2006/07 (presuming you started in 2005/06), as a full-time student your tuition fees will be £1,200 and you will be entitled to apply for a maintenance loan as before and also be able to apply for a loan for your fees.

Depending on your household income you might also receive:
- some grant towards the cost of your fees
- up to £1,000 of grant for maintenance
- more than 75% of the full maintenance loan.

Note that arrangements for students starting in 2006/07 are different.

I'd get your application in as soon as possible to ensure you get your support at the start of your course.

toepazz

"Note that arrangements for students starting in 2006/07 are different."

My daughter (22) is giving up her full-time job to study at Bournemouth Uni (3 years Advanced Diploma Mental Health Nursing) in October. She currently shares a rented house with a friend who is in full-time work. Can anyone please advise what (if any benefits) she is entitled to as the £5k bursary will only just cover her living expenses and the Uni is a 80 mile round trip, which she will have to make by car. So far all we have established is that she will not be liable for her share of Council Tax; but how will that affect her house-mate's contribution? I did notice in one of the previous messages something about proving she had been "self-sufficient" for 3 years - presumably this means bills, etc?

We are complete novices in the Uni world and any help (loans, benefits) would be most welcome - many thanks in advance

Savvy_Sue

freebie_junkie wrote:

hi, its all sorted out now but just out of curiosity what exactly is teh thinking behind the 3 year 'self-supporting' rule? why do you have to have been self-suporting for 3 years before you can fill in your own student finance forms if youre under 25, unmarried and childless? thats ridiculous! teh day you move out of your poarents house you become self-supporting- never mind after 2 and a half years? why does teh slc think that people whove lived on their own for two and a half years still live off their parents money? and why do tehy assume taht everyone lives at their parents hoem until theyre 25? and whay would it be easier to fill im ny forms if id eloped or been a young mum? makes no sense! please can you tell me what exactly is teh thinking behind this? if you know? thanks very much

I think it's a throwback to the days when we had things called 'grants', assessed on parental income. If you could have got a full grant just by leaving home, then that's what we'd all have done, or been encouraged to do. Don't know why 3 years was decided on however, rather than 1 or 2, presumably to make it a real test of independence. It may not feel fair, or even rational, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

amscss

My wife has student loans from the old system where you repay them over 5 years once you earn over about £2000 a month gross. She has just got a pay rise at work which will push her over the limit so a pay rise of about £50 a month will force her to start paying about £140 a month in slc payments so in actual fact it would be a substantial pay cut. If she was to get her employer to give her a pay rise by way of an employer contribution to her pension is that likely to get round the problem as her pay will still be the same, it would just be that the company pays money into her pension as well (and she can stop paying money herself into her pension) - or would the slc take into account pension payments when calculating your gross income?

Also, the limit on the slc website for the earnings threshhold next year looks to be 2035 compared to 2011 last year - an increase of only 1% whereas in the past few years the limit has gone up by about 6% a year - does anyone know if this is just an estimated limit or will this be fixed and the actual limit in force next year? Thanks