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

Lady_K

All of the items have been christmas presents from over the last few years apart from the laptop which she bought herself but I wasnt at all thinking about them helping her to replace things like the camera, tom tom and external hardrive etc I just mentioned that they had gone. The laptop is her main concern and essential for her studying. She has a lot of work all year round and with uni and placements on hospital shifts including nights so she couldnt do all her work in the library they close at about 5 each night and earlier on sats and no sundays but she works weekends anyway on placements. She has to replace her laptop to do the work on, this is what I wondered that they may consider helping her with as its an unexpected expense and she hasnt got the money to buy a new one.

The tom tom I bought her last christmas as she had a car accident and I was worried about her travelling to different placements all over, I just thought it might help

There is only me too and I am on disability benefit so I guess we are non traditional background

Crispy_Ambulance

Lady_K wrote:

All of the items have been christmas presents from over the last few years apart from the laptop which she bought herself but I wasnt at all thinking about them helping her to replace things like the camera, tom tom and external hardrive etc I just mentioned that they had gone. The laptop is her main concern and essential for her studying. She has a lot of work all year round and with uni and placements on hospital shifts including nights so she couldnt do all her work in the library they close at about 5 each night and earlier on sats and no sundays but she works weekends anyway on placements. She has to replace her laptop to do the work on, this is what I wondered that they may consider helping her with as its an unexpected expense and she hasnt got the money to buy a new one.

The tom tom I bought her last christmas as she had a car accident and I was worried about her travelling to different placements all over, I just thought it might help

There is only me too and I am on disability benefit so I guess we are non traditional background

It will depend entirely on how her uni interprets the guidance. I would be surprised if they would fund a replacement laptop - the only students who usually receive help with computer equipment are those who get a Disabled Students Allowance.

I think it is unlikely that ALF will consider a laptop to be an essential but you never know. She should certainly apply - the form takes very little time to fill in and she has nothing to lose - but getting a payment from ALF should never be relied on. But who knows - it really does depend on the uni and how much is left in the budget.

But most importantly, she needs to make sure her department are aware so that they can take it into account. They need to know officially - i.e. a form or a letter, rather than her just telling one of her tutors.

Lots of students now carry USB sticks around with them on keyrings etc.

DrFluffy

Not a dig at your daughter, Lady_K, but this generally goes to highlight the importance of insurance - it's really not a luxury as a student...

Friends of mine were burgled a few months back, one did not have insurance, as 'absolutely couldn't afford it'... Funny that they seemed to spend at least £50 a week on booze in the Union...

Lady_K - I guess it might be a little late now, if she has already replaced her laptop, but a lot of uni's will hae a little advertised laptop pool or term hire scheme, and she would probably would have qualified...

If I were her though I would definitely invest in a few USBs (as crispy suggests) and get herself a free google email account. I back up all my university work to 2 USBs and have an online filestore courtesy of Googlemail (I email myself a copy of everything) that I can access no matter what hospital I'm sent to, and doens't rely on me having remembered my USBs.

Stu_Dent

Crispy_Ambulance wrote:

You can put a covering letter with the form and explain the sums in your bank account. As for the matched betting stuff - I can't say what is the best thing to do. But if you have large sums going in and out, be prepared to have to justify them.

ok thank you very much for your replies. I think im going to put it off until april and apply then..

Do you know whether it is ok to get print out statements as i dont receive paper ones anymore?

thanks,

Stu

Lady_K

DrFluffy

Thankyou no she hasnt replaced the laptop yet still trying to sort the finances out for that but she had already planned to go and ask at the uni about that on Monday to see if they loan them out or anything

My daughter wouldnt have the money or the time to spend £50 on booze a week and in fact rarely goes out but shes met many students that do.

Shes opened a gmail account today and will get usbs when she gets a laptop

I'm going to enquire about getting contents insurance added to my buildings and see what cover I can get for her on that... all too late for this I know and she will move out of there in June or July when her contract ends. She was going to stay till the end of her course but its been quite a nightmare with one thing and another since she moved in that place so she will prob move back into halls or maybe home for her last year. Its just a problem commuting to uni every day and they don't give parking spaces unless you are disabled

dalumsden1

Hey. DO they take into account ISAs and shares (which are totally worthless) when considering an ALF?

hebangsthedrums

dalumsden1 wrote:

Hey. DO they take into account ISAs and shares (which are totally worthless) when considering an ALF?

I imagine they would ISA's as if you have a sum of money you can afford not to touch you cant be that badly off. Shares on the other hand i have no idea but i think they would need to be declare don the form as savings

robhammond

Lady_K

I'm sorry to hear about your daughters trauma with the robbery, I hope she's ok. As for the fund, I think it would be very unlikely that she recieved anything additional from them unless what was stolen had a direct impact on her studies and no other alternative was possible. I think if she did recieve anything it would be at the ALF committees discretion - I personally (although a while since I was on a board) have never heard of such a case being approved.

greendale9061

Yes part time students can apply. They will of course take into consideration what you do during the days that you are not studying and the impact of that on your finances. other than that it is just a regular application.

Mr Crafty

I'm sorry to hear about the fact your wife looks to be ineligible for a loan. I would recommend speaking to your local student finance advisor and look into the feasibility of recieving the ALF and other funds before you start and then try to plan your finances the best you can. Good luck.

Stu_Dent

You can print statements off at most banks at one of thier self-service stations. These would be accepted.

dalumsden1

Yes they would consider ISAs and shares and any other financial assets you may have. However if you can clearly justify why you have chosen not to use them to support yourself then you may be ok. Its a discretionary grey area again!

guerillasaver

Hi Rob, thanks again for all the advice that you're offering here, you've certainly been a wealth of information to all us lowly students.

At the moment I'm considering applying for the ALF as my current finances are in dire straits! I'm in a bit of a limbo as I'm studying in Scotland and have only been living here for the past 3 years this February (orig from Ireland). My problem is that when I was applying to SAAS, I called up the offices and was told that I had to be living here 3 years before I'd be eligible to apply for the loan/grant (i do get my fees paid thankfully), so as I have not applied for these, have I shot myself in the foot with the ALF (as I believe you need to have applied for your full loan).
Thanks for any advice

Torby

Think it was asked somewhere earlier in the thread, but what is the turnaround time on applications for ALF....my daughter applied before Christmas but still has heard nothing.....not even an acknowledgement (do people still do this?)...are there more applications at this time of year? Is there more of a backlog?