Confused about student finances

kittycatsam

Hi

I would really appreciate soem guidance as I'm getting abit confused!

I'm hoping to start BA Social Work from 2010 from which I will receive a NHS bursary, probably around 5k at the time which is not income based as far as I can tell and has automatic entitlement. I still have to pay tuition fees for my course.

I will be almost 30 when I start the course so I assume I will be classed as independent finance wise. However I will be newly married so will my husbands income ie the household income not affect my entitlement to other finance?

My husbands income around then will be 28k ish. I will have worked up until starting my course but then obviously I'll have to stop at least full time work so it will drop drastically but when I've looked at figures they seem to be based on your previous years earnings.

We don't have a mortgage but we split the household bills equally at the moment.

Does anyone know what I might be entitled to receive when the time comes?

Much appreaciated,
Sam

cymrubaby

I'm by no means an expert but yes they will take your husband's income into account and student finance providers usually want to see P60's from the past two tax years. They wanted my husband's 07/08 P60 which I gave them but as he was made redundant in March I had to fill in another form stating that our income would be considerably less for 09/10 and I applied for an Adult Dependant's Grant because he is now dependant on me.

Student finances are very thorough and they will certainly include every source of taxable income that your household receives regardless of who receives it.

I'm about to start a course myself in September and I've just received my entitlement notice. My mother and my auntie both did NHS degrees - one in General Nursing and the other in Mental Health Nursing and both has bursaries worth roughly £500 a month plus they didn't have to pay tuition fees. We live in Wales so it could very well be different here.

kittycatsam

Thank you. Just to add, I only started living with my partner mid April, during this new financial year.

So if they wanted details of the last two years I'm also not sure if household income from the past couple of years would mean just mine as I was living alone elsewhere or if they would still take his income in to consideration.

The nursing degrees seem to have fees paid by NHS but apparently the NHS social work one doesn't which I think sucks!

MrsManda

If you are applying for student finance your husband's income will be taken into account when assessing you for income based grants/loans. For 09/10 the SLC are asking for income details for 07/08. This is not what your household income was in 07/08 but what your husband's income was 07/08.

student_advisor

You will be assessed on your husband's 08/09 tax year income (even though you weren't living together at that point).

For Social Work, you are entitled to the normal undergraduate funding plus the social work bursary. Based on what you've said your husband's income is, you'll be entitled to just short of the maximum £2906 maintenance grant & £3497 maintenance loan plus the bursary (not set yet) and the tuition fee loan.

The social wok bursary is there so that you don't need to borrow as much as other students, but in reality, many students will take the full loans and not work. Remember, you're embarking on a very intensive course are you won't have the capacity for part-time work that other students have.

kittycatsam

Thank you, that's much better than I thought. I was expecting only the bursary and the fees loan. It's nice to know there is extra available if I need it as we may be buying a new house and taking on a small mortgage before then.