Positive experiences of student finance?

divastrop

Being somewhat inclined to anxiety, I am getting concerned about finances for when I start my foundation degree (hopefully) in September. My SF has been assessed after almost 4 months and should all be OK, but I am worried now as I keep reading horror stories about students not getting any money until November or even February. I am aware that people don't generally post on forums to say that everything went smoothly and there was no hassle, rather that they post to get advice/support with problems. What I would really like is some positive stories about people getting their SF at the time they expected, if there are any out there?

Oldernotwiser

Hopefully you will find this article reassuring; apparently 5 out of 6 students last year ( a bad year) received their funding on time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/09/student-loans-grants-late-delayed

scottishblondie

Last year was exceptionally bad, I wouldn't worry yet! When I was an undergrad I didn't have any dealings with them, but all my mates got their funding on time each year. Hopefully you'll be one of the majority that things go (pretty) smoothly for

suffolkb

Mixed experience at the moment. I am a mature student and have 2 daughters. We are all about to start our second years at different unis. My finance has been fine, but my neither daughter has had theirs confirmed. Their forms say that they are waiting for my decree absolute. On the next line it gives the date that they received it.
We all got our grants on time last year though.
My form actually gives the dates of payment for this year.

Helix

The people that got it late last year hadn't been assessed at that point. If you have already been assessed then you should be fine as long as there isn't some meltdown with the payment systems.

Catbag

Helix wrote: »

The people that got it late last year hadn't been assessed at that point. If you have already been assessed then you should be fine as long as there isn't some meltdown with the payment systems.

That isn't strictly true - i applied as soon as i received written notification of my unconditional offer (February last year) and they still managed to !!!! mine up

Helix

Catbag wrote: »

That isn't strictly true - i applied as soon as i received written notification of my unconditional offer (February last year) and they still managed to !!!! mine up

I wasn't talking about people applying late. I was talking about people not being assessed in time, I know last year that people that applied on time still didn't get assessed on time.

Once you are assessed there is very little left for them to screw up, only not being able to verify your NI number or the Uni not being able to notify them of your attendance.

Catbag

Ah, fair enough.

bestpud

I wish I could say all is well but I'm still waiting for my 09/10 finance...

It does go smoothly for most though, I think.

The worst part is being unable to speak to anyone who knows what they are doing!! When it was dealt with by LEAs you could talk with the person assessing the claim and it all felt much easier.

Saying that, there was still horror stories then!

Don't worry - it will all happen and unis are well used to student finance now so make 'allowances' for them!

dll

I have had issues in the past when applying - my status changed from dependent to independent student when I got married one August, so as you can imagne, it was before academic year so they had to honour it, but was probably the busiest month to be submitting the revised forms!

Student Finance dealt with it really well and gave me the basic amount immediately, and then did the income assessed part a couple of months later, and re-calculated what was owing to me and paid the difference.

It didn't leave me with no money at the beginning, just not the full amount, and it all resolved relatively quickly.

stephyt23

I was assessed on time but it was still 4 days late (ok may not seem a massive delay but when I had no money it was)

Unfortunately the reason you see so many horror stories on here is simply because that's how it's been since they changed the process 2 years ago. My brother who studied prior to the change had no problems what so ever. I hope things will be smoother this year, but the amount of time they are still taking over applications leads me to think people will still get delays.