Mature student travel costs??

finn2222

My wife and I are heading back to school, we have a young baby and completely reliant on loans and grants etc. The question now is regarding travel costs and whether or not anyone knows if there is a way to get free train or bus tickets?? I've checked out rai lcards but it says it doesn't apply on fares under £12!! Our daily train trip will be £7.90 which is ridiculously expensive and I'm loath to use the car??
any help or advice would be gratefully received!!

Oldernotwiser

Are you in Scotland or England?

finn2222

We are in England:j

Oldernotwiser

You can't claim any travel costs under the English system of funding.

GothicStirling

finn2222 wrote: »

My wife and I are heading back to school, we have a young baby and completely reliant on loans and grants etc. The question now is regarding travel costs and whether or not anyone knows if there is a way to get free train or bus tickets?? I've checked out rai lcards but it says it doesn't apply on fares under £12!! Our daily train trip will be £7.90 which is ridiculously expensive and I'm loath to use the car??
any help or advice would be gratefully received!!

That's what the loans are for.

emily93_2

You can't claim travel costs.

How far is your journey? Have you considered getting a bike a cycling?

You can pick one up these days for about £30 second hand.

xx

Jami74

finn2222 wrote: »

My wife and I are heading back to school, we have a young baby and completely reliant on loans and grants etc. The question now is regarding travel costs and whether or not anyone knows if there is a way to get free train or bus tickets?? I've checked out rai lcards but it says it doesn't apply on fares under £12!! Our daily train trip will be £7.90 which is ridiculously expensive and I'm loath to use the car??
any help or advice would be gratefully received!!

Have you looked at buying a weekly or monthly season ticket? These work out cheaper per journey. Or what about buying advance tickets, these sometimes work out cheaper. The student railcard takes 1/3 off even under £12.

The_One_Who

finn2222 wrote: »

My wife and I are heading back to school, we have a young baby and completely reliant on loans and grants etc. The question now is regarding travel costs and whether or not anyone knows if there is a way to get free train or bus tickets?? I've checked out rai lcards but it says it doesn't apply on fares under £12!! Our daily train trip will be £7.90 which is ridiculously expensive and I'm loath to use the car??
any help or advice would be gratefully received!!

No, you'll need to use part of your loan for that. Look into buying season tickets since they work out cheaper than individually buying, and I know some bus companies offer student deals.

That rule is for peak travel on railcards. Travelling at any other time will get you your discount. So they probably won't be much use if you have morning lectures.

Oldernotwiser

Having reread your first post, I wonder why you're loath to use the car. It seems a bit pointless to pay for all the running costs and then pay for public transport as well, particularly as it looks as if you'll be travelling to the same institution.

Person_one

If you are eligible for an NHS bursary you would be able to claim back travel costs for getting to placements if the cost is higher than for your normal journey to university. That's the only exception I'm aware of!

I'd double check railcards though, when I last had one (only a year ago) the 1/3 discount applied no matter the cost of the ticket.

The_One_Who

For railcards the 1/3 discount does apply no matter what the cost of ticket. But in the morning peak it will be £12 or the normal cost without the discount, whichever is cheaper. So for a lot of people it can be cheaper to get a normal ticket. If I had to do it I got a normal single and got a discounted single back, but it only saved a few pence.