PDF Parents' Guide To Student Finance 2009/10 Discussion

jillymit

I hope someone on here can help.
My son has applied for his second year student finance loan. He has applied for fees and maintenance to be 'means tested'.
I have just done my bit online to support his application giving details of income, dependants etc. but at the end it said no evidence required!
I had to send everything in last year P60s etc.
Is this the norm?
I will call them as soon as they open in the morning but though someone on here may know the answer before then.:D
Thanks. ( I like to worry about something )

MrsManda

jillymit wrote: »

I hope someone on here can help.
My son has applied for his second year student finance loan. He has applied for fees and maintenance to be 'means tested'.
I have just done my bit online to support his application giving details of income, dependants etc. but at the end it said no evidence required!
I had to send everything in last year P60s etc.
Is this the norm?
I will call them as soon as they open in the morning but though someone on here may know the answer before then.:D
Thanks. ( I like to worry about something )

I think they only request evidence from a sample of applicants after the first year unless your details have changed considerably from the last time the information was given. My husband didn't have to provide evidence for the 09/10 (my 2nd year), nor did he have to send anything this time (10/11) Taiko or Student_Advisor will be able to give more details if needed

jillymit

Thank you MrsManda, I was hoping that would be the answer, nothing much has changed since last year.
I'll give them a call in the morning anyway but you've eased my mind for the time being:)

jillymit

Quick update.
I rang student finance and they confirmed that they do not always require evidence after seeing it the first year. I suppose if earnings/ circumstances had greatly changed it might be different.:D

Taiko

Isn't needed first year. The assessment will be done on a self-certified basis, and you may be asked to send in the documents later on in the yaer, usually NOvember/December.

poppie123

OK so i am now totally confused.

My Daughter will be going into her 3rd year this September
Previous years i have been a lone parent on tax credits but as from this July my boyfriend will be moving in and we will be a couple so to speak.

I rang student finance and explained and they said that when my Daughter did her application for this year he would need to go on it with his income etc.

So she did that, i then had to sponsor her and at the end it said no evidence is required.
My boyfriend then registered and sponsored my Daughter and at the end it said no evidence was required from him either (he has no savings, pensions etc just wages)

Both of our status say Awaiting assessment but my Daughters has now changed to Assessed :huh:

Does that mean that he won't be required to send in his P60? that her application has been assessed and is now just waiting for approval or can it change from assessed to something else other than approved?

maryb

I think I know the answer to this but I would be very grateful if someone could confirm. We were older parents when our youngest was born and we will both be retired when she goes to university. However, in order to make sure we have enough income in retirement we want to wait until 65 before drawing our pensions from occupational pension schemes as there is a big discount applied if you take it a couple of years early and it would leave us very short of the full amount we would otherwise get. In order to bridge the gap until we are 65 we have built up some savings and will live on the capital in the intervening period. This means our actual income will be minimal.

Am I right in thinking that it is only our interest income that will be taken into account in determining how much maintenance loan and grant she will get and that we don't have to declare the capital we are using up as income, (even though it is being used to replace income)?

many thanks to anyone who can give me a definite answer

Lokolo

maryb wrote: »

I think I know the answer to this but I would be very grateful if someone could confirm. We were older parents when our youngest was born and we will both be retired when she goes to university. However, in order to make sure we have enough income in retirement we want to wait until 65 before drawing our pensions from occupational pension schemes as there is a big discount applied if you take it a couple of years early and it would leave us very short of the full amount we would otherwise get. In order to bridge the gap until we are 65 we have built up some savings and will live on the capital in the intervening period. This means our actual income will be minimal.

Am I right in thinking that it is only our interest income that will be taken into account in determining how much maintenance loan and grant she will get and that we don't have to declare the capital we are using up as income, (even though it is being used to replace income)?

many thanks to anyone who can give me a definite answer

Yes. The capital will not count against your I believe. Wait for Taiko or student_advisor to confirm though.

Any benefits you may recieve maybe taken into account also though.

When is she planning on going to university?

Lokolo

poppie123 wrote: »

OK so i am now totally confused.

My Daughter will be going into her 3rd year this September
Previous years i have been a lone parent on tax credits but as from this July my boyfriend will be moving in and we will be a couple so to speak.

I rang student finance and explained and they said that when my Daughter did her application for this year he would need to go on it with his income etc.

So she did that, i then had to sponsor her and at the end it said no evidence is required.
My boyfriend then registered and sponsored my Daughter and at the end it said no evidence was required from him either (he has no savings, pensions etc just wages)

Both of our status say Awaiting assessment but my Daughters has now changed to Assessed :huh:

Does that mean that he won't be required to send in his P60? that her application has been assessed and is now just waiting for approval or can it change from assessed to something else other than approved?

Has your daughter recieved final notification? i.e. the form you have to sign and send back to confirm?

If not, I would ring them up and check, usually you would need to change cirumstances. Bit of a pain though.

Taiko

Lokolo is right about the bank interest one. Capital isn't brought into it. Just from experience though, expect queries from SFE about how you live.

They should be asking for evidence for the boyfriend moving in, so it would be best to send this straight away. Copies of the 08/09 P60 should do the trick.