whats difference between special support grant and maintenace grant

brians_daughter

i am full of questions this afternoon. What is the difference between these 2? Just speaking to a friend of mine who has applied for the special support grant, whilst i have only applied for maintenance grant?

Oldernotwiser

If you're eligible to receive the Special Support Grant then there are no deductions from the Maintenance Loan which is what happens if you receive the Maintenance Grant.

brians_daughter

i am still none the wiser! lol! what do they actually cover etc? as i understand it the special support one is available to say single parents etc (which we both are) but i was told to apply for the maintenance grant - and she was told to apply for the special support grant? Just curious really

MrsManda

You can download information about the differences HERE
but basically Special Support Grants are the same as maintenance grants except unlike maintenance grants, it does not affect how much loan you may receive.
You may be eligible if are a single lone parent. Who told you to just apply for the maintenance grant?

student_advisor

brians_daughter wrote: »

i am still none the wiser! lol! what do they actually cover etc? as i understand it the special support one is available to say single parents etc (which we both are) but i was told to apply for the maintenance grant - and she was told to apply for the special support grant? Just curious really

If you are a lone parent with a child in school or a "qualifying young person" in further education - as described on your tax credit award notice, you are eligible for the special support grant. This is not counted as income for benefit purposes e.g. housing benefit and will not reduce your maintenance loan entitlement. So you end up with more money overall :T.

You should send SFE a letter saying "I think I am eligible for the Special Support Grant because I am lone parent and enclose my XXX as proof." Include either your council tax statement to show single person occupancy or your tax credit award notice which lists all adults & children in the household.

brians_daughter

Thanks,it is a lot clearer now.

I dont get tax credits , housing benefit or anything except child benefit. I work at the moment and i can manage well without anything(to be honest in 2002 i ended up with a huge overpayment for tc so i took a loan, paid it off and have never claimed since!)

I also get £100 pcm from my 1st sons dad and have recently (March/April) split with my 2nd sons dad (god, i sound a right one dont i!)

i have no childcare to pay for as my mum and ex mum have the kids for me and i am still living in my ex's house as we cant sell due to negative equity - so he pays the mortgage instead of maintenance as he cant afford to live in the house and pay towards his son. He is tied in to his mortgage until 2013 so he plans not to sell until then at very least - the mortgage payments are just slightly higher than what he would pay in maintenance so it all works well

I think i will continue my application as it is, just the maintenance grant. My out goings are very small, esp with no mortgage to find and i have secured myself a part time job working 15 hours a week once i start uni so as long as nothing drastic happens i will be fine - i have worked out i need around £9000 per annum to live as i do now, the job is £26k pro rata i am considering just taking the student loan and banking it 'just in case' I have made lots of changes to enable me to go to uni and my money saving is stepping up a gear! lol

I dont know what i would do without you guys sometimes! It all gets so confusing

student_advisor

If you're claiming child benefit for your child(ren) and not living with a partner, you should definitely be claiming the special support grant over the maintenance grant. For the sake of one or two bits of paper, it's got to be worth it right?

Doing a degree is tough (don't want to sound patronising, but it is). Why make it more difficult by depriving yourself of income?

£2906 Special Support Grant (non-repayable)
£4590 Maintenance Loan
£1508 Parent's Learning Allowance (non-repayable)

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£9004 total