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

student_advisor

inter_loc wrote: »

Hi all,
I've just applied and I'm a bit concerned what's gonna happen now.
My situation is rather critical and dnt really know what to do if won't get it. Do you think they will give it to me?
About a week ago lost my job, my bf is about to be made redundant (without right to redundancy pay), travelling to mu uni 4 times p/week, spending approx. 40 quid (and it got to the point when can't afford it!).
Other than that my basic kitchen appliances got broken, our house is literally falling appart (high humidity) and we both got loans to pay.
Dnt know what else can I do; I'm not eligible to get an overdraft on my student account, dnt want to take anymore loans and have more and more bills to pay:eek:
Anyone can have any idea whether, and if so, how much would i be able to get from learning fund???

You should apply to your uni for help from the Access to Learning Fund. If you were at our institution, we would be able to offer you some financial help (based on the info you have provided). Different institutions have different allocations and different maximum awards, so it's impossible to say how much would be available to you.

inter_loc

student_advisor wrote: »

You should apply to your uni for help from the Access to Learning Fund. If you were at our institution, we would be able to offer you some financial help (based on the info you have provided). Different institutions have different allocations and different maximum awards, so it's impossible to say how much would be available to you.

Thanx for your post...got my letter today. They gave me £200...not complaining, at least one bill paid + some change for food, but, to be honest, was hoping for a little bit more understanding taking into account my circumstances. So many ppl apply just to top up their budget for clothes, nights out, etc.......Guess no happy ending for me.........well, bought a lottery ticket....saturday miracle...fingers crossed!;)

marywooyeah

rb6k wrote: »

I have been waiting for my student grant to come through for a while now and things are getting a bit desperate. My loan arrived and went straight back out on bills owed, it basically lasted about 4 days :eek::eek::eek: as it just literally went on everything that we had held off on till it arrived.

Will I be eligible to claim for something on this? We are slightly over on our outgoings to our income and have overdrafts, loans and credit cards already so they aren't options as they are maxed.

I am a bit concerned that they might say something like get a job as my course is 2 days a week, but the other 5 I am looking after my daughter as the childcare would cost more than I would earn :mad:

I haven't heard of this before so that would be amazing if I could fill in a form and get some help!

I am doing a full time law degree and I work part time aswell, my son is 17 months old and I get some tax credits to cover the cost of his childcare as I work at least 16 hours a week. If you feel that you are unable to manage to work 16 hours over the five days a week you have off you could apply for the childcare grant, I am not sure if there is a minimum number of hours you have to work to get it. the money you earn from work could top up your student loan and you dont have to pay back the money from tax credits or the grant. hope this helps you

glennplant

i just thought id throw my 2 cents into this discussion...

i am a 25 year old mature student. before university starting i moved from my home town to the university city (not mentioning any names!) so that i could get set up before uni began. I had a job secured and they informed me that when uni began i could switch to fixed hours to be worked around uni - great!

the day before uni enrolment they informed me that this was no longer possible due to the recession and so therefore i have no job now.

i have maxed my overdraft at £2700, i have 3000 of a personal loan outstanding (i had this before i knew i was going to uni) and also £1400 on my platinum card (again costs incurred from moving citys but i assumed having a job and so therefore being able to repay it). I also broke my hand and fractured it in 3 places so it was in a cast until 2 days ago meaning i was unable to work. (however i have still been applying for every job under the sun!)

after receiving a full loan and a full grant from SLC i am now broke and dont have enough money to pay my rent due by the 1st of this month. I applied for ATL fund 2 weeks ago (last week they sent me a letter just for me to confirm my rent)....so i am expecting a decision any day now. I will let you know the result as and when i get it. If its not enough then i will have to drop out after xmas as otherwise with all this debt mounting up i would have no choice but to return to full tim work. This fund when used right should help people like myself who have genuine reasons why they are having problems. I must say that i find it sad that so many people seem to claim when all they have done is blown their student loans away drinking as its their first taste of freedom without mum and dad watching over them. Fingers crossed for me please

dmg24

glennplant, how have you managed to spend your student finance plus your overdraft in such a short space of time?

Oldernotwiser

I don't really feel that people should expect the ALF to cover the shortfall caused by spending your loan and grant on debts repayments, particularly debts that were in existence before starting university.

glennplant

well like i said in my post, i had a job here before uni began and they also said that i could switch part time when uni began, this meant that i would have been fine financially as i wouldnt have needed to touch my loan really as the money i made would have covered my outgoings. After they decided i couldnt switch to part time or keep me full time but switch my working days around i could no longer work there, coupled with the fact that i fractured my hand in 3 places and also broke it in one place meant that i couldnt work as it was literally out of use. I have also been looking for jobs however due to the nature of my course it means its near impossible to find a job as my days at uni vary from week to week and also there are some times when i literally need to be in uni for the whole week solid at short notice, inc at weekends. This time last year i had no debts and i was £9000k in credit in my bank account, i am not frivolous with money and never waste it however all im expecting the ATL fund to do is support me in a small way short term through to the end of this calendar year until my next SL money comes in January. Based on this reasons i can hardly think anyone can knock me for applying, especially as the creator of this post basically advised students to do it just for the extra cash even if they arent having any problems!

Oldernotwiser

Some of would have taken issue with the original post even at the time it was made but it is now 3 years further on and there have been some pretty drastic cuts in funding of the ALF.

glennplant

well my claim has been assessed - £130 payout....i actually thought i had misread the email but then realised it did actually say £130. Suffice to say i have emailed them back asking if it was a typo as i cant see how it can only be £130!

cardiffforthefacup

I think you are probably lucky to get that
In my second year I was a lone parent unable to work and got £100 for the year, the next year I managed to earn £10 in two months for two mystery shops and got no access funds despite being worse off than the previous year. So I expect it is right and you should be grateful and put it to good use.