changing uni and course

jelemica

Can anyone give a mum some help as her daughter has presented her with a situation which she did not see coming.She spent 2 years at college studying interior design and got top grades for it.Started applying for uni but to study her other love of photography.
Was very proud and relieved when she got in.Moved in September and loved her room, the place etc,so not homesick.
But her thoughts are turning back to the creative aspect of interior design which she was good at and does miss.She has now started the ucas process for next year and has lost all enthusiam for her current work.She does not even want to stay beyond xmas as anything she does will not count for the future.
What I would like to know is how she would stand with student finance as she received the maximum loan and maintenance grant.
Would they want anything back and also if she returned home and managed to get into uni next Sept,would we be eligible to claim anything.Because I fear she would not be in education so nothing there and to get job seekers allowance she would be called in to show how many jobs she had applied for etc,when hopefully it would only be for a short time.
If anyone has done this it would be really helpful to know.

Lokolo

If she does not finish her year she will have to give back the whole of her grant.

Her loan will just be added to her total debt which will be paid back in the usual (9% over £15,000).

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If she moves university she will have no spare loan year. So if she decides to drop out again, or repeat a year, she will lose a year of finance and have to pay the tuition fees herself.

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If she doesn't like the course but loves the place, why doesn't she transfer to a different course at the same university? It will be easier finding out information about the course from current students for starters. And if the courses are similar enough, she will be able to continue on rather than start again.

If she finds a course at her current uni she should go and see admissions ASAP

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Benefits - no idea.

jelemica

Unfortunately her uni does not do that course which would have made her life and mine easier.
Sorry to be a bit thick but say she did finish at xmas and take it as 12 weeks tuition and the same for accomodation,thenare you saying the tuition part would be carried over to any future loan and added on and the housing would have been paid from part of the maintenance loan.So how could that be paid back if she had no money to do so.Hope that made sense!

Lokolo

jelemica wrote: »

Unfortunately her uni does not do that course which would have made her life and mine easier.
Sorry to be a bit thick but say she did finish at xmas and take it as 12 weeks tuition and the same for accomodation,thenare you saying the tuition part would be carried over to any future loan and added on and the housing would have been paid from part of the maintenance loan.So how could that be paid back if she had no money to do so.Hope that made sense!

The grant is given as a provisional that the student will be completing the whole of the year. If its not, it has to be paid back.

Can't pay it back? Get a job or borrow from you (bank of Mum and Dad).

Not sure what would happen if she didn't pay it back, wait for someone else for that (I just imagine they might not supply finance for future years, take some money away, or not do anything!)

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If she does drop out she must make it FULLY clear to the university as if not they will still take the tuition fees for the whole year. She should also inform student finance so no more money will be paid to her.

And also be careful about accomondation as contracts could be for 48/52/X weeks, so she would either need to find someone to replace her, or have to cough up the rest of the money (just like a normal tenancy agreement).