SAAS Travel payment delayed until Jan 2011.

eklynne

The SAAS travel allowance window normally opens on the 15th of December, and if you're quick it has been known to be paid before Christmas. According to the SAAS Facebook page, applications won't be taken until January this year, so a wee heads up for anyone who's maybe banking on a wee Christmas bonus

A_Doonhamer

I got an email the other day about following them on Facebook or twitter and this was one of the first things they posted. Thankfully it wont affect me to much but I get the maximum amount and for the last three years have had it before Christmas which was always a bonus with so much being spent at that time of year.

organic_wanabe

Hi, I wonder if anyone can tell me a bit about the SAAS Travel Payments (which I noted from the Press is likely to change into a 'Loan', presumably from next session!)? My son had a brief conversation with SAAS just before he started University in October and they said that he would be likely to get 3 x standard return rail fare payments to Cambridge (even although he said that we would have to deliver/collect him as he has totally to vacate his room during the Christmas, Easter and Summer breaks, so he would not be able to provide any receipts). They also said he would probably get his bus fares paid since his College is about 3 miles from where all his lectures and some of his supervisions/tutorials are held. Although he has a bike, he bought a bus pass to cover any days where the weather was awful or he has to go into town on a number of occasions. The bus passes are sold as 4-week, 13-week or annual. As his term is 8-9 weeks it works out cheaper for him to buy 2 x 4-week (total cost £42 x 2 (£84), rather than £1.80 per journey) and he has kept his receipts for these.

Would he normally be reimbursed after each term when the receipts are received by SAAS or do they make one total payment in the December (now to be January as said in the first post in this thread), or is the January payment to cover the session and paid partly in arrears and partly in advance? I am a bit confused!

A_Doonhamer

The travel payments will be made as one payment upon claiming in Dec/Jan, this one payment covers the entire current academic year. There are conditions which can be found on the site, such as they don't pay the first £150 ish of any claim but these are easy to find on the SAAS site.

925dancer

If you are experiencing hardship you can apply for an advance payment of 50% of your travel expenses now. I did this and got the email at the start of the week saying they had accepted my claim and would receive the money in 7-10 days.

organic wanabe - they don't pay what you claim for with receipts, it's not like claiming travel expenses from your employer. They will pay you for the cheapest form of public transport to and from your place of study plus some expenses for visits home if you have a home address and a term time address. As I don't claim for this I'm not entirely sure what the limits are but again it will be for the cheapest form of travel. All the info is on the SAAS website.