Independent student

pavlovs_dog

bambam69 i know exactly what you are going through.

my mother is bipolar, and i had had enough of being her emotional punchbag. i left the family home 2 weeks before my 18th birthday, as much of my own free will as from my mothers. i had to have a police escort to collect my belongings from the house, because she had threatened violence towards me.

when it came to applying for funding, i had to fight for the support INSPITE of having a letter from school confirming my estrangement and proof from the income support people that i had been in receipt of benefits to support myself because of the estrangement. the irony of the whole situation was that inspite of it all, i had the best a level results out of all the girls in my sixth form, had won a scholarship to uni to help finance it, had worked all the hours i could legally work whilst claiming benefits to support myself - and my dream of going to uni very nearly didnt happen because they didnt *believe* me :mad: :rolleyes:

the system is a farce, and the welsh assembly are worse than useless when it comes to stuff like this. please do not give up hope though - you are entitled to help.

go through your students union, Citizens advice, a solicitor. another thing to bear in mind is that if you have insurance on your possessions, you may also be covered for free legal advice, so do investigate this .

also, go back to the uni with a breakdown of all your ingoings at outgoings and see what else they can do for you? perhaps you are eligabe for money from the hardship grant - there is a long thread on this board that may be of help to you.

all the best, and keep us posted

Savvy_Sue

bambam69 wrote:

Have not been able to see the finance advisor at uni since as she has been on a 2 week holiday and she is the only person dealing with this (far be it from me to tell people they can't have holidays, everyone needs them, but as the only person doing this at a busy university, is the START OF TERM the time?!!! You've just had 3 months off!!!)
I have another apointment next week...

While I can understand your frustration, I think you're being a little unfair in assuming that this person doesn't work through the university vacations. And there may be good reasons why they had to take leave at this time, rather than a more convenient time for you and your fellow students.

MSE_Martin

Sorry for my delay on this.... its taken time... and in the meanwhile you seem to have discovered much. I very kindly got a message from the higher up eschelons of the Welsh Higher Education department.

Dear Martin

As far as student support is concerned, you are considered dependent on your parents if you are under 25. If you are estranged from your parents you need to provide evidence. The post was correct about this and was also accurate about the type of evidence that you need to provide (a list an be found below).

- Letter from your social worker.
- If you claimed Income Support when you were under 18, a letter from your local Jobcentre Plus office showing that you received benefits due to your estrangement.
- If your relationship with your parents broke down when you were at school or college, a letter from an advice worker/personal tutor/teacher confirming your circumstances.
- If you have visited the doctor because of problems relating to your parents, a letter to confirm circumstances.

I think the assumption is that the student must have been in contact with a professional person with regards to his estrangement. It seems from the post that the student in question is not "permanently estranged" and this may be what the problem is. I think more information is required and I am ware that this person has been waiting a long time now for a response. Feel free to pass on my email address and number (both in my signature) to this person and they contact me with any queries.

Thanks,
Blakeley Nixon



NOTE I HAVE DELETED THE CONTACT DETAILS, BUT IF YOU WANT THEM BAMBAM69 PM ME AND I WILL SEND YOU THEM

freebie_junkie

im in a similar boat unfortunately. im 23 and i was kicked out 3 yerars ago, first i lived in a hostel then i got my own council flat. i dont live with my oh or have any kids. me and my parents made friends again but just becuase i go round for tea every week and talk to my mum on teh phone doesnt men they pay my bills or give me any money! we buy each other birthday and christmas presents but thats it. as i hadnt been 'self supporting' (earning money or claiming benefits in my name) for a full 3 years (it was bloomin 2 years 8 months!) i had to be assessed on my parents income. luckily for me my mum just graduated from uni this year and my dad just set up a business so hadnt yet made much money but im gonna be be bu-gerd next year when i do my PGCE. it so unfair, you dont become an adult when youre 25! i havent had a penny off them cince i was 20 and id never ask them for cash, i make my own money. i find it so patronising and insulting, its ridiculous!

saver2006

hey bambam69,

i qualified for funding as an 'independent student' so i got the full maintanace grant and uni bursury

before i came to uni i lived with my aunt and uncle
i qualified for 2 reasons:
my mum is in a nursing home because she has been in a coma for 7 years (she lived with us before this time) and
my dad lives in another country and is divorced from my mum and i have no contact with him

i was asked to provide evidence of my mothers illness (i did- went to the nursing home got a letter from them in 5mins) and evidence of divorce (sent legal documents) and i was fine- i also had to write a covering letter explaining my situation

the funny thing is that my aunt and uncle earn £30,000 plus together annually and so could in reality support me (they havent given me a penny by the way) but as long as you have 'no contact' with you're parents and they have no means to support you then u should be fine

my advice? write a covering letter and send as much evidence as you can fully explaining you're situation

missk_ensington

This is exactly what happened to me last year, although they have since changed the rules.

One the first day of my degree course I was a single parent with 2 years old child, BUT because I wasn't a) married b) over 25 or c) able to prove I'd supported myself for over 3 years (my sons father had supported me for part of that time and this wasn't accepted as "supporting yourself") They still wanted my Mums financial details and regarded me dependent (despite living 70 miles away and being 20 years old with a mortgage and child!!)

It turned out there was nothing I could do I'm afraid, in the end my Mum agreed to give her details (we're not estranged we get on perfectly well, thus I couldn't even go down the 'estranged' avenue!) and I paid her what she had to pay for me, which luckily wasn't too much.

I hope I'm wrong but I think your situation is one of them 'tough luck' situations that I was in last year. You need to have supported yourself for 3 years I think. You could try obtaining a letter from your parents to say you're permanently estraged, you can also appeal and you send in a supporting statement and evidence from everyone you can find and they go to a panel of councillors and decide your fate. However, they say No more than they say Yes. Despite my situation they still said No I was dependent.

Good luck with it, it may be you have to take some time out and come back when youre officially 'independent' or just work your a*se off and pay it all yourself.

I went through all this and in the end had no choice but to ask my Mum to provide income details.

Misskx

justruth

How's it going?

bambam69

Well...

The student union advisor wrote to the lea on my behalf explaining the situation and asking that they reassess my status.

As expected the lea wrote back to say it didn't think I was permently estranged just because I was living away from home etc, and so I would still have to be assessed on my parents income. It seems that no matter what you (or anyone else) tell them they will choose to believe that you've had a minor tiff etc and are just doing this to spite parents or something similar, which is the basic tone of the letter.

Am gonna write back myself and ask if they would except evidence from any other source, but failing that I'm not sure what else I can do.

justruth

How much is your parents income? Is it so much that you would get no financial support at all?

bambam69

Looking at around £30k. Have 2 younger siblings but this doesn't make much difference.