student finance, wrong calculation?

puddy

My sort of step daughter is starting a uni course in september and she hasnt yet had her actual calculation through but did get informed that she gets a maintenance loan of the full amount but no maintenance grant.

when we do the calculation on the directgov website, it shows she is entitled to maximum loan and grant, plus fees loan.

she phoned them to query this but was told it had to go back to reassessment and this could take 8 or 9 weeks.

is this likely to be some sort of oversight and sorted out, or has there been some change to maintanence grant this year?

Lokolo

They are putting her through this process to make sure she gets some money. They did it last year too. The income assessments take longer, so she could go to uni and not get any money until it was done. The way they've done it at the moment ensures that she gets some money.

I assume your household income is quite low then? To get maximum grant household income has to be under £15-20k or something...

lucylollipop

If she logs onto her online account, there is a letter from SFE explaining what is going on - I can't find a link to it outside of there, but it's on the page that comes up after logging in, and right near the top

puddy

income is 22k, although oh hasnt had the evidence sent back yet, but when i say maximum i dont actually know what the absolute maximum is, but it seems a lot to me, however, if they had said that, then that makes sense (about not doing the income assessments yet)

arent the loans income assessed then??

Lokolo

puddy wrote: »

income is 22k, although oh hasnt had the evidence sent back yet, but when i say maximum i dont actually know what the absolute maximum is, but it seems a lot to me, however, if they had said that, then that makes sense (about not doing the income assessments yet)

arent the loans income assessed then??

Not always!

Mine aren't. I would only get mine if household income was less than £30k (it changed the year after). So I get the non income assessed loan, which is what your daughter is currently getting. Just keep ringing them every couple of weeks to see how it's going.

puddy

i call her step daughter for short hand, ive only known her as an adult! shes 23!

so, seems that theyve done an automatic loan based on the income but then are going to properly assessment the grant section ?

puddy

Lokolo wrote: »

Not always!

Mine aren't. I would only get mine if household income was less than £30k (it changed the year after). So I get the non income assessed loan, which is what your daughter is currently getting. Just keep ringing them every couple of weeks to see how it's going.

i texted her this, she has no internet access where she lives. she told me that what happened when she phoned up, was that the bloke told her that she was not entitled to a grant and that she had to appeal???

MrsManda

Did she apply for an income assessed loan (i.e. did your OH and you provide the SLC with your income details) or a non-income assessed loan?

puddy

income assessed, but income is 22k, which is why she cant understand the calculation (if that is true)

lucylollipop

puddy wrote: »

so, seems that theyve done an automatic loan based on the income but then are going to properly assessment the grant section ?

I'd assume this is what they've done, yes. However, she really needs to call them and double check if she's not sure