Earn upto £3,500 for 30 minutes work!!! 'Access to Learning Fund'

si1503

silaslang wrote:

Can ALF only be applied for once? Or can you apply for it every year?

The support will be for that academic year only. Each academic year you will have to reapply as they will need to reassess eligibility for support based on current circumstances.

Sam_41

Great thread, I read this when it was first posted and I've looked it up again seeing as I'm not totally skint. I'm in my 3rd (final) year at Sheff Hallam uni. Its entirely my own fault I've ended up in this position - pretty embarrassing 'cos I'm studying accounting and am meant to be good at budgeting!

I worked FT throughout the Summer, had a mental 2 week holiday to Tenerife which I spent not far off £1,500 in total - no prizes for guessing what the bulk of that money went on. I thought I'd be OK for money with my loan coming in September, and a mad last minute decision I ended up going on holiday again for a week just before uni. I ended up spending more on that again than I hoped, and had to borrow a bit of cash till my loan came in.

Now its November and I've managed to go through the loan already. I got in to a habit of going out most nights drinking stupid amounts, and now all of a sudden its hit me I'm totally broke. I've got a £1,750 overdraft student account at Halifax, and a current a/c with them too. I'm having to constantly juggle funds between them every day so I can pay off bills. My bro used my paypal a/c to receive some cash which has gone in to my bank now, and as soon as I withdraw that (£200) thats everything gone. I owe my parents £150 as well. I've tried increasing my overdraft to the max (£2,750) but they refused to increase it any more.

When my next loan installment comes in I'll be fine, it will be more than enough to last me. Its just these next couple of months where I'm really going to struggle.

Do I stand any chance with the ALF - considering its entirely my own fault I'm in this mess?

newmum1

Zziggi wrote:

can part-time students get this?

Is it only "traditional" universities have this or does the OU have ti too?


Thanks

:j yes the OU do it too:j

Ebany

Whilst I know you cannot say for sure what a particular person may get, could you take a look over the basic details of hte claim I put in and say what you would have thought? I am awaiting the outcome with baited breath, and its driving me potty!

My husband is a student at a Cambridge college, and I work full time. It is usual at most Cambridge colleges to be housed at fairly subsidised rates for the duration of your course, however, they have a shortage of couples accommodation and have said we must rent privately, and they will assist - on the proviso that we claim from the ALF first, and if we don't get at least an agreed minimum then they will top it up.

Now, the college got a figure of about £550 /month (INCLUDING blls) to get a place to live (every letting agent I have told this to laughed). The flat we are renting is...well...a wee bit more than this. Not quite double, but not far off. We are able to afford it at the moment as his parents help and we have heavily economised, though debt is slowly growing. I included with the application the reasons why we have chosen this flat, rather than one that would be cheaper. This is mostly related to the fact that my husband has Aspergers Syndrome, which means he can't stand getting buses as there are too many people, needs to be able to get away from people fairly regularly, and needs order. As such, we have a fairly large flat (to enable me to keep it ordered, rented flats never seem to have any provision for decent storage) close enough to the centre of the city for him to walk within about 15 mins. The location is by far the main factor in the price, and the main thing I don't want to compromise on, as he would just not go to college if we were further away, which would rather defeat the point.

Do you think this is a fair basis to request assistance? I find it hard to guess at anything here, as Cambridge seems to run things so differently to my uni (UMIST). Here, we filled out a fairly basic form, he took it along to his tutor who signs it off if he belives it, and thats it, no proof required, no bank statements, nothing. I find it very odd.

If you would need more detail, just ask. I'm really curious to know what would be made of it.

elisebutt65

Ebany wrote:

This is mostly related to the fact that my husband has Aspergers Syndrome, which means he can't stand getting buses as there are too many people, needs to be able to get away from people fairly regularly, and needs order. As such, we have a fairly large flat (to enable me to keep it ordered, rented flats never seem to have any provision for decent storage) close enough to the centre of the city for him to walk within about 15 mins. The location is by far the main factor in the price, and the main thing I don't want to compromise on, as he would just not go to college if we were further away, which would rather defeat the point.

Just a thought - but have you applied for the disabled student's allowance/grant as well from your LEA - thisis meant to cover things to help support u in your stdies and if your location is vital to your husband then perhaps some could be allocated to you for rent???

I',m in the process of applying as I get DLA for carpal tunnel so I can hopeful;y get anergonomic keypad and some proper wrist supports as the NHS ones are so naff and uncompfortable that I hardly wear then - too sweaty!!!

Also just spent most of the day gathering up all the info to claim ALF for this year - so much to put together when you have kids - lol. And then aaages writing out the begging bit - why are you in financial difficulties etc

Cos the effing council c*cked up my housing benefit and I'm on full rent until they sort it out - that's why!!!!!

Ebany

We applied for the DSA but I don't think the considerations of housing came into it, he has a load of nice kit (that he never uses) and allowances ofr books and things, but at the point when he was assessed we didn't think about the fact that where we live would be so affected by it.

As his award was for the duration of his course I am not sure how we would go about trying to get it altered now.

Fitzperro

As an ALF assessor I must reiterate to people - please, please be honest. We actually ran out of funds during the 05/06 academic year and were therefore unable to provide awards to students who were in deep trouble and in the most terrible of situations.

(p.s Although the institutions differ in their methods, we all have set guidelines from the government regarding what we can and cannot allow for certain things)

elisebutt65

Fitzperro wrote:

As an ALF assessor I must reiterate to people - please, please be honest. We actually ran out of funds during the 05/06 academic year and were therefore unable to provide awards to students who were in deep trouble and in the most terrible of situations.

(p.s Although the institutions differ in their methods, we all have set guidelines from the government regarding what we can and cannot allow for certain things)

Yeah- this is why I get sooo mad when I read about people putting their loans and grants in high savings accounts and then claiming ALF:mad: The find is there to help students who may have to give up their studies due to lack of money!!! Not to enable you to get extra interest on your savings!!!

lewt

some1's 12 grand plus in debt in their second year? they need to came to this site more... or not go out so much....

newmum1

Thanks to the op, i now applied to the open uni, hopefully i will hera soon, fingers crossed.