Student MoneySaving: Funding, Borrowing & Living as a student Article Discussion Area

shiver2k9

Hi all!

I started a HE course last year and drop after 2-3 weeks, because it wasnt what i had expected. I recieved the first payment of my maintenance grant and spent it on a laptop, as this would help me with my studys. I sent a letter to student loans, explaining my status and they said i would have to pay it back immediately. Since last year i have only paid £20 of the £751, they said i have to pay back.:eek:

The question i would like to ask is that:
1. Do i have to pay the amount back or are they trying it on?;)
2. If "yes" do they have the right to ask me to pay it before i earn 15kpa?:cool:


Any advice/guidence would be greatly appreciated :j, as i have to resolve this problem before 18th august.

Hope you can help!

Thanks in advance!

Ashley

HopeAndDriftWood

shiver2k9 wrote: »

Hi all!

I started a HE course last year and drop after 2-3 weeks, because it wasnt what i had expected. I recieved the first payment of my maintenance grant and spent it on a laptop, as this would help me with my studys. I sent a letter to student loans, explaining my status and they said i would have to pay it back immediately. Since last year i have only paid £20 of the £751, they said i have to pay back.:eek:

The question i would like to ask is that:
1. Do i have to pay the amount back or are they trying it on?;)
2. If "yes" do they have the right to ask me to pay it before i earn 15kpa?:cool:


Any advice/guidence would be greatly appreciated :j, as i have to resolve this problem before 18th august.

Hope you can help!

Thanks in advance!

Ashley

You do have to pay it back, and you have to pay it back before you earn 15k. It'll be in the contract you agreed too...the money was too support you through HE, and you didn't finish it, so you aren't entitled to it. I'd set up a payment plan with them, because they'll get quite nasty if you don't pay it back, and there is no getting out of it. Treat it like any other debt, and repay it.

gibbo9

Hope this is posted in the right place. If not please point me in the right direction,thanks.
My son is at uni and taking a couple of resits. One today and he is not confident of the outcome. If he fails it looks like that may be the end of the road. I read in the article that any loans already received will be repayable if he does drop out. My question is will this still be on the existing terms ie payments only commence when earning over 15K, or do the terms change. Thanks for any advice anyone can give

Lokolo

gibbo9 wrote: »

Hope this is posted in the right place. If not please point me in the right direction,thanks.
My son is at uni and taking a couple of resits. One today and he is not confident of the outcome. If he fails it looks like that may be the end of the road. I read in the article that any loans already received will be repayable if he does drop out. My question is will this still be on the existing terms ie payments only commence when earning over 15K, or do the terms change. Thanks for any advice anyone can give

He will need to pay back straight away any grants or bursaries recieved if dropped out, not loans. Loans will be taken the normal route of £15k+.

glimr

How, exactly, does one get the maintenance grant? My son starts at Uni next month, after taking a gap year, and we've been trying to sort out the finance for most of this year. Not once has Student Finance Ltd mentioned a grant, and their latest letter, a confirmation of the loan, is still quoting the full loan amount even though my earnings qualify him for a full grant.
Trying to get through to these people on phone is hopeless, and they take about ten weeks to answer mail so there's little chance of me sorting this out in time. What do I do now?

windward_2

Really desperate for some help. Hubby got made redundant in March was told to tell son and daughter to apply for finance as usual then in June ask for an reassessment form. We did everything they have said, posted document after document and now it looks like my daughter is not going to have her finance in place when she goes to Newcastle. Phoned the finance line got through after 8 hours! Told they have to ring a Darlington number which I cant have and that basically her funding will not come through in time. There attitude was TOUGH how can I do something about this - this is a disgrace.

seminolas

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone could tell me how much of that financial help is available to an EU national? I'm getting the tuition fee loan, but that's all at the moment. I'm self-supporting, and have been so ever since I came. It seems to me like the only thing applicable to immigrants is the maintenance loan, which can be given to migrant workers (that is, three years in england NOT for studying - not my case, I came 3 months before the start of my course). is that right? can i apply for income-based support? i'm earning little, and my parents probably earn even less back at home (I don't really take anything from them anyways). i'm just confused with all those rules.
as a related question - what's the definition of a UK student? UK national? anyone who studies in UK? or something in between?

thanks a lot guys, this place is great!

Oldernotwiser

windward wrote: »

Really desperate for some help. Hubby got made redundant in March was told to tell son and daughter to apply for finance as usual then in June ask for an reassessment form. We did everything they have said, posted document after document and now it looks like my daughter is not going to have her finance in place when she goes to Newcastle. Phoned the finance line got through after 8 hours! Told they have to ring a Darlington number which I cant have and that basically her funding will not come through in time. There attitude was TOUGH how can I do something about this - this is a disgrace.

Any late applications or late change of details always runs the risk of funding not being available at the start of the year;this is particularly true this year when things seem to be rather delayed.

I don't really think you can do anything about it, I'm afraid.

Oldernotwiser

seminolas wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone could tell me how much of that financial help is available to an EU national? I'm getting the tuition fee loan, but that's all at the moment. I'm self-supporting, and have been so ever since I came. It seems to me like the only thing applicable to immigrants is the maintenance loan, which can be given to migrant workers (that is, three years in england NOT for studying - not my case, I came 3 months before the start of my course). is that right? can i apply for income-based support? i'm earning little, and my parents probably earn even less back at home (I don't really take anything from them anyways). i'm just confused with all those rules.
as a related question - what's the definition of a UK student? UK national? anyone who studies in UK? or something in between?

thanks a lot guys, this place is great!

As a EU national who hasn't been in the UK for more than 3 years, you have been correctly informed. You're eligible for the fee loan and nothing else, although you can get a job as many UK students have to do.

I'm afraid that by any definition, you're not a UK student.

aimeeheath

Any help would be appreciated..

I started uni last september, however i quit in february. Because of this, i had to pay the student loans company, some of the maintenance grant that i was 'overpaid' because of when i quit. This i can understand. However i have had a letter off them today saying...

We have received notification that you withdrew from your course on 27/02/2009. As a result, your local authority has reassessed your entitleent to a maintenance loan.
The amount of maintenance loan you are entitled to for the period you attended your course is £1228.00. As you have already been paid £1580.04, you must therefore now return £352.04. This amount is now due.

I can understand why i had to pay the grant, however, as this is a loan, surely it should just be paid back when i earn over the threshold with the rest of the loan.

Please help

Aimee