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

naz_ali_khan

hello

i will be starting a postgraduate course this sept 2011 and want to apply the alf. i live at home, i come from a low income family and have my parents depending on me. My father has disabililty and is over 65 and my mum dont work at all. i have to do all the running around for the house e.g. buying food.

my only income is £70 a wk by cash which £40 a wk goes towards board money which i have £30 a wk remaining. as my parents depend on me, as i have already mentioned i do all the running around for them as well as buying food and put money towards gas and electric bill, hardly leaves me with anything. as i start uni i will need money for my personal expense as well as food, clothes, stationary, books, travel expense etc etc and in the other hand have to look after parents and contribute towards gas and electric which are usally high as my father is old and mosltly stays at home.

How much do you think i will get. Thank You

Oldernotwiser

ALF isn't intended to cover regular living expenses and there is far less money around than there used to be.

£30 for general spending isn't bad, after paying for your board isn't bad; perhaps you could work more hours.

poppyskye

Hi, I have been through this strand religiously and firstly thank you so much for all the information on the access to learning fund and congrats to those that have recieved money that has helped them with their studies. My situation is not good and I am overwhelmed at the moment as to how I am going to be able to continue my studies. I am year 3 of a 4 year teacher training degree and a mature student (hitting the big 3-0 in a month eek). Every year has been a huge financial struggle, so bad that I often skip meals. there is simply not enough money coming in that is going out. My family are not ina position where they can help financially although they are of course extremly supportive in my decision to go to university and change my life for the better. I get the full grant and loan from sf and then a 1000 bursery from the uni. we dont however get th bursery until next year and it is always these 3 months which i cannot survive. Out of my loan and grant i have to pay all my rent and bills and there is basically nthing left to live on. The main problem being pre debts i bought with me to university. I cannot get a student account or a student overdraft, and therefore have to pay interest on the overdraft i have lived in every month as well as paying other debts off. I cannot even afford the next 2 months rent until the next loan payment comes through jan 9th and i am out of answers. I havent been on holiday for 5 years, do not buy myself any clothes and rarely go out. i am so dedicated to making to graduation day, but unfortunatly am living with the constand stres and worry that this will all be for nothing and I wont make it. The doctor has even given me some anxiety tablets and sleeping tablets to help as I feel i have the world on my shoulders. I applied for the access to learning fund and had a little bit of hope after reading some success stories on here. I was declined within 24 hours. How someone can evaluate my whole situation in 24 hours is beyond me...its so dishearting. I assume they just put some numbers in a calculator and have looked at me as a 'normal' student without taking into account my previous debts coming into university. I just wondered if anyone had any advice for the appeal process...i have no more evidence to show it was all in the application. I just feel so frustrated and cant believe the uni will not even offer me anything, Im group rep for my cohort and looking at grauating with a first, but at this rate im not going to make it. Any suggestions/help would be hugely appreciated as im at a bit of a loss right now:( Thanks in advance and apologies if this thread was closed!

poppyskye

I should also put I work full time through all the summer holidays and nanny and babysit for 2 families during term time. I just cannot get on my feet, I am constantly playing catch up. I worked full time at pizza hut in the summer as well as babysitting and all the money i made was just about enough to pay my rent and bills through the holidays. Term time, teacher training is pretty full on so I do as many shifts babysitting as i can but again the money i receive isn't enough to stabilise my situation. Argh do I need a miracle?!

amiehall

I have made a recent application to ALF and, although each university is entitled to set its own criteria, I was not required to prove my actual earnings as part of my application. The university presumed you to have a part-time job and allocated a fixed income from this (well below my actual earnings) they said they didn't want to create a disincentive to work.

My university would count serious pre-existing debts as part of your outgoings. However, things like credit cards would only be allowed to be included if you stopped using them and wrote them a note about how you were paying X amount towards the debt each month to reduce it.

There's also a capacity as part of ALF to get some emergency support or crisis funding although I haven't got any experience with this personally. Have you spoken to someone at your student services centre for some advice on financial support? I'd suggest you make an appointment as soon as possible. I'm sure they'll try their best to help you.

amiehall

Tombo wrote: »

Is this included in the inital application for Student Finance? I am receing a grant as well as a loan. I know the first post states otherwise but things may have changed since the post was made. I am struggling with money a bit at the moment (i.e. using up overdrafts and credit cards while waiting for my student loan (which still hasn't been deposited into my account )). This is getting annoying as I need to buy a printer so I can print stuff when I'm at home. I know that there are printers in the library at uni but this isn't practical when I'm working at night or at weekends. My parents are on a very low income and I am living in halls at the moment. Is it worth me applying for this or will the loan and grant cover me throughout the year? It it still the start of the year so it is hard for me to judge at present. I am also looking for a part-time job but I need to update my CV. (Google Docs likes to crash a lot and my computer can't handle Microsoft Office)

Anyway, any help will be much appreciated.

Also, if I get a part-time job, what sort of hours would be appropriate to work per week? The course I'm taking is Psychology.

The application for ALF is completely seperate from your student loan application. No-one can tell you how likely you are to receive a payment or otherwise. You have to fill in a big form detailing your income and expenses and they work out whether there's a shortfall or not. If your income is enough to cover your expenses, you won't receive a payment. You also have to write a statement explaining why you should receive a payment. I'd suggest saying you're too lazy to go to the library to print things out is something to skim over in this section....

The fund has priority groups and if you're of school leaving age in normal circumstances, having received a student loan etc. you're unlikely to receive money from ALF. The purpose of the fund is to support those who may have to terminate their studies without increased financial support.

Also to add is that whether you actually work or not, your ALF application will presume you have part-time earnings and add this to your income. You won't be able to decide to receive ALF instead of getting a job.

amiehall

Just noticed the year on that post. My bad lol.

KatieShopstoomuch

I applied to the support fund last year, I stupidly had an overdraft, credit card and a few other debts. I cleared those when I first started the year. I pay the other 15% towards my daughters childcare and I found it difficult to get part time work that will work around my uni timetable and her school / nursery hours. By March I was really struggling so I applied to the fund and I was awarded £2000 - Which shocked me I was only expected a few hundred to tie me over until April for me last loan payment. Anyway I'm trying to be more careful this year, separating money for bills etc and got the bank to remove my overdraft and have no debt (as yet! - Early days!). I know money will start to get tight now but my next payment is in Jan so I am wondering should I apply now or wait until towards the end of my academic year when I had difficulty last year? Suppose I am wondering if it is better to apply to student fund early to avoid accumulating debt or is it better to wait towards the end of the year.
And NO I don't want them to fund a fancy lifestyle I just find it difficult to keep up with everything sometimes and I don't want to whip out the credit card again and i'm glad I have no overdraft this year ))))))) (Although I miss it!)

amiehall

You don't need to wait until you run out of money to apply to the fund. It works on assessing income and expenses for the year and adding up whether 1 is more than the other so it shouldn't make a difference when you apply. On the other hand it's a fixed amount of money provided by the government for this kind of funding and once it's gone it's gone... If it were me, I'd get my application sorted soon so you can budget properly knowing how much money you have to play with.

KatieShopstoomuch

Ok Thank you I think I will apply