Taiko Student finance desperation

scotti

Taiko, I can see that you have been invaluable to a number of OP’s and am hoping you could point me in the right direction.

After countless calls to SF my daughter’s application has still not been processed. She should be, according to our calculations full tuition and maintenance.

She applied in May and unfortunately forgot to enclose proof of i.d. and since then it’s been a catalogue of delays and errors. (obviously due to overwhelming numbers and a disparate system of verification and assessment)

We are now really at the end of our tether. She starts uni at end of the month and her application has not even been passed to an assessor yet.

Spoke to a Chris O’Donnell this morning (2/9) he states the application has been flagged as awaiting id confirmation but we have already submitted her passport details so this really shouldn’t be a problem.

He suggests calling back in 2 weeks time!!!!!!!!!!! But I am starting to lose the will to live as there seems to be no system in place to investigate applications which are clearly falling into some SF black hole.

Could you PLEASE advise on how we should proceed, it would seem that our only option is to call them every day until someone/anyone helps us out.

With many thanks for any advice given,

Scotti

Lokolo

Do you mean Taiko? lol.

johnswife

Scotti, I know exactly how you feel.

my husband has been on the phone a number of times this week. We have two daughters, 1st year and second year. It is a nightmare but don't give up.

Is your daughter in student accommodation as they don't appear to take this until about november unless it differs from university. The course fee for my daughter won't be taken out until February so if it is the same for you don't panic.

I have two friends also going through this and a young man told my friend to go to the University finance department and if you have urgent bills they can sometimes help, apparently that was what he did.

We knew they had received our paperwork and when yesterday someone told him they had lost it he said he would drive up and hand it to them personally but apparently they don't deal with the public. After a search the found it!!
I swear if we ever get through this we will all need a holiday.

stephyt23

I agree with the poster above speak to the uni as they do offer urgent financial help in some cases. They know themselves what student finance are like so are to used to people having late payments.

If she is in uni accommodation check when the payments due. I know some people last year who ended up quite far in their overdrafts because the first rent payment came out before their delayed SF payment arrived.

ThinkingOfLinking

Student Finance are absolutely doing my head in too....your daughter is one of many thousands I suspect. They've even ignored the complaint I sent in about a fortnight ago; I have proof they've received the letter and received an online acknowledgement that the email had been received but no answer as yet, which means I'm going to have to involve an MP. Still trying to get them to reassess me on income as at the moment I am only receiving the basic loan which barely covers my rent (thank goodness I chose the cheaper halls or else I really would be in trouble!!)

johnswife

even though we sent the information they require for both daughters in the same envelope, my 1st year daughter got a payment timetable date 26th July and my 2nd year daughter had nothing approved until Tuesday this week when she logged on her account. nothing in writing though so she is very unhappy at the moment.

Neither have them have any maintenance grant agreed at this time.

zpacey

I had the same problems when I first applied in 07, keep chasing them everyday if poss, after the first year, once they have all the things they require, she only needs to apply online for the remaining years but make sure you do it earliest possible as they take 6-8weeks to process, it's a nightmare but hope they'll hurry it up for her, if she has a provisional letter from them regarding her fees, she can take this with her to uni and they might let her register. good luck.

scotti

With many thanks to everyone who has replied.

I suppose the moral of the story is DON'T forget to send all relevant info at time of application.

Will just have to keep struggling on (gonna need a wig soon at this rate!!!) phone them again tomorrow.

All the best to others in same situation.

cheers, scotti

ciderwithrosie_2

Still waiting to hear about my son's 2nd year finance. We were told 3 times since beginning of May that no extra evidence was needed, then 2 weeks ago I phoned again cos we'd heard nothing and was told yes we do need your P60s after all. Never had a problem last year.

I was told he'll only get the non assessed loan to start with but that's only going to cover his rent, nothing else, he can't afford to live unless they get a move on and do the means tested bit as well. He's working away from home all summer to pay his rent and never has a signal on his phone so it's really hard to get hold of him and get him to keep ringing them.

I feel like crying tbh. It's so frustrating! We can't afford to subsidise him anymore than we already do (£50 tesco shop every month) and he's nearly up to the limit on his overdraft because of having to find rent money and deposit for his 2nd year shared house before the end of last term.

regards CWR

Carnaby_lamb

This sounds like me last year. Unfortunately, mine took 13 months to finalise, and i nearly lost 2k of bursary because of it.

My only suggestion is to

1. ring SLC constantly, and use 0870 buster when you do. Your more likely to get onto someone competent, and thats the only way you do solve anything
2. For uni halls, find the email contact for payment office. Notify them of situation and they can usually highlight you in the system and delay the rent until you get SLC sorted.
3. Find out the hardship fund, you may well need it before SLC is sorted.

Sorry I cant provide any more help, but unfortunately SLC are shockingly awful and the only solution I had was because my Mum cried down the phone to them in March, and the head of team personally had to oversee of it after 13 months and the fact they had 2 weeks before i lost 2k.

ciderwithrosie_2

Carnaby_lamb wrote: »

1. ring SLC constantly, and use 0870 buster when you do. Your more likely to get onto someone competent, and thats the only way you do solve anything

Please could you tell me more about this 0870 buster, I've not heard of it before.

thanks CWR