MSE News: Students promised loans and grants on time this year

my_definition

Taiko wrote: »

Ok, to clear up:

- If you have a schedule letter, you should receive payments on time, be these an interim one or full assessment.

- SFE are issuing non-income assessed loans to the majority, despite having full evidence. This in my personal view is a bad idea, as it effectively doubles the work load. Again, I know from experience that this doesn't work, hence why where I'm based refuses to do. We will consider it if it gets to a stage where there are about 2 weeks before term, but we won't just apply it to every single student.

- Local authorities are still processing some continuers. They do so on budget cuts, staff reductions, and the knowledge that, come March, their jobs are gone for good. Yet local authorities are all reasonably up to date in their processing.

- Documents are disappearing, and this can't be denied. In error, I have been sent several peoples documents that I shouldn't have, and even an SFE employees overtime claimsheet, which was for a large number of hours in a single month, before any of the deadlines! Imagine if that had been sent to a student in error, the media would have a field day due to the carelessness!

There's no easy way to say this, but most people are doomed yet again. This will be due to failing to learn the lessons from last year, and failure to act on things quick enough.

It just mad they dont learn from their mistakes! what other company would do this? This is my fourth year of study and im having problems so its not even just the new students. They have a full year to work out funding and confirm amounts why try to do it all during the summer?

Taiko

my_definition wrote: »

It just mad they dont learn from their mistakes! what other company would do this? This is my fourth year of study and im having problems so its not even just the new students. They have a full year to work out funding and confirm amounts why try to do it all during the summer?

Becuase it's a loan agreement, the student needs to complete the form before they can be assessed. Applications for this year were available from December 2009, and the majority of student's did delay.

Unfortunately, this is the result. While things could've happened better with SFE, it's ultimately a student thing as well in another way.

I actually dealt with a mailshot of about 10,000 students back in January, and we're still receiving late apps. No real excuse at all.

lily89

Taiko wrote: »

Becuase it's a loan agreement, the student needs to complete the form before they can be assessed. Applications for this year were available from December 2009, and the majority of student's did delay.

Unfortunately, this is the result. While things could've happened better with SFE, it's ultimately a student thing as well in another way.

I actually dealt with a mailshot of about 10,000 students back in January, and we're still receiving late apps. No real excuse at all.

if you send in the loan form late then there is nothing they can do other than process it asap but will be back of the Queue.

i was lucky to basically send my loans form asap and get it abput on time, some of my mates kept doing it late and wondered why the money was 'late'

contribute_good_news

Students life is already demanding if you really focus on your studies and they,especially if from poorer financial background should be well taken care of and protected by the law.It is very good to know that above mentioned aid are avaliable on wide scale,but this info in my opinion should be more spread out and known to every puppil as sometimes this kind of so very well collected information are essential in planing of furthering of education.Thus,country is having more qualified workers and specialist and scientists which in turn repay their student loans or other kind of non repayable help with their work achievements.

Carnaby_lamb

Ill believe it when I see it!

There was the same guarantee last year when i started. Safe to say, I applied 2 months early so paid 2 months late. And only finally finished after 13 months.

At least they're now saying they'll at least pay something for interim. It was a !!!!!! when they didnt last year.

lucylollipop

Well, they've already failed - I started my course yesterday, and I've heard a grand total of nothing, despite pestering the call centre at least once a week.

It's a bit of a long story, but I'm rather p*ssed off with the way this year has worked. I've just started a PGCE, so officially my 4th year of study, but on a different course to the previous 3. When I applied online for this years finance, I was over the moon to find that most of my information was there, and, when I got through the the evidence catergory, all the system claimed to want was financial information from 2008-09, because, according to SFE, they already had everything else the needed. Turns out, that was complete rubbish. They knew it existed. They didn't have it. In 2007 when I started my BA, I applied via my LEA, because that was how the system worked then. I sent all my evidence to them, not SFE. So even though SFE said they'd got everything, they hadn't - meaning that the application I thought was dealt with, and spent the best part of 3 months being told it was "in progress and being processed right now", was nowhere near being sorted with - and I only found out around 3 weeks ago, when someone in the call centre finally explained. I've sent everything in now, but of course, I now have to wait another 4 or so weeks for it all to be processed and to recieve paperwork.

No offence to anyone who works for them, but the call centre is worse than useless - no 2 employees say the same thing, everyone of them appears to have a different opinion on where in the system something is. Some of them will go out of their way to find out what is going on, some are incredibly rude and all they want to do is get you off the phone and answer the next call. My online account hasn't had evidence that I've sent and had returned to me updated onto it since June - how on earth am I *supposed* to know what's going on then?!

I'm lucky, in that my landlady knows that the money is coming (because my PGCE is in a shortage subject, I have a bursary due to begin payment at the start of October), but I still have bills to pay - and no, people like BT and EDF don't give a damn that I don't have my student loan yet. Living on an already stretched overdraft and having to beg off the parents is not fun, especially when I should have been in a position to support myself by now!

One very, very disappointed student

Taiko

You're not alone. A lot of our students who carried on to new courses have had similar problems, that I'm trying to resolve.

lucylollipop

Oh, I was never assuming it was just me - it's just very frustrating, especially after I've spent the last 3 years looking confused when everyone else was having problems, as I've never had any issues with the system, up until now. Like I said, just lucky that parents/landlady/uni admissions are all being helpful with it!

Renya

I'm very worried I'm not going to get my money, I completed my application somewhere between march and april, sent off all evidence well before the deadline and heard nothing, eventually I got a letter saying I was only going to be paid the non-means tested amount, rung up SFE and they said they were still processing evidence from months back!

Eventually I got the correct amount through, but I've had to change my tuition fee amount and for once SFE have done alright, they processed it and changed it pretty quickly but said they were waiting for the uni to authorise it, tried to register online today and it won't let me unless I pay them at least £195! Going to ring them tomorrow and hopefully get it sorted as it seems that it's the university that's not authorised it or changed it. :mad:

Taiko

I've evidence to show that their staff were doing excessive amounts of overtime back in May, so I'd like to see them try and claim that this was due to a surge of late applications. You don't do 50+ hours overtime in a month back then if you're sailing through.