Part Time Student.What Benefits?

dibdabable

Am hoping for some advice. My daughter has been suffering with depression,but has struggled on through her Degree with help and support. Unfortunately even with extenuating circumstances being taken into consideration, she feels she has probably failed one of her exams and therefore would not be able to proceed into her final year. However, she will probably be offered an internal student place to do go through the same studies for the same exam again next year.

AS she passed the rest of the module, she would only return to do the part of the module she failed, thus becoming a part time student.

She has obviously had to set up living accomodation for her final year (so will owe rent) but we aren't even sure if she'll get anything from Student Finance as her time at Uni will be so minimal. We haven't established with Student Finance yet what if any payment she may get, so we need advice based on them not giving her anything and/or them giving her a small allowance, sufficient to cover her time studying.

Can anyone tell us if she can claim HB/JSA/Income Support etc, so that her rent etc will be paid until she can find a job? It's posible with her Depression she perhaps wouldn't be able to work full time, but I know she will do all she can.

Hope this makes sense but please ask for clarification, if need be. Thanks.

karenx

If she is a student she wont get income support unless single parent sick/disabled.
JSA is for people looking for employment, not students
Housing benefit isnt payable for students unless they have children

dookar

Part time students can receive JSA if the course is not within their pattern of availability or they are prepared to rearrange or give up the course

abby1234519

How many years of funding has she had compared to length of her course. If it is a 3 year course, she is entitled to 4 years of funding. Ie I failed the 2nd half of year 1 due to non attendance. I went back for the 2nd half of year 1 in my 2nd year at university and now I have passed that I can progress to my official 2nd year. I recieved funding. She may need to send evidence to student finance, they do consider extenuating circumstances

bodmil

When I was at uni one module was only a few hours a week. If she's just re-taking the one module it should leave her heaps of time free to get a part time or even full time shift job. If she's suffering from depression only going to uni a few hours a week could make life really tough with so little to keep her occupied, a job could really help that and her financial troubles? It could also make the transition after uni a lot easier too.

skater_kat

i'm part time postgrad and on jsa. yes, minimal study time and can be done at any time of week, so very much available for work. lots of evidence suggests that being in employment speeds recovery, particulary for depression so my advice would be to urge your daughter to seek work, even if part time. are you able to support her financially in any way?
i would advise her to check her student status with registry and get a confirmation letter from them. even though her attendance will be PT, she may be marked at registry as FT status. this will be crucial benefits-wise. as if she is indeed part time, she *should* be able to claim HB, if she is not eligible for student finance (which you will need to prove). not sure if any sp;ecific HB rules on student halls though, sorry.
she should go an visit her student advice service at her uni, take advantage of the summer break meaning she will have much more attention from them as opposed to in a month when all the new students get flustered.

silvercar

She has obviously had to set up living accomodation for her final year (so will owe rent)

She needs to decide what to do about this. She could advertise the room and hope another student takes it to save on rent. Or she could live there herself. If she is living there and not classified as a student she could be liable for council tax. If the only non-student in the house she will be liable for council tax on the whole property less 25% for single person discount.

skater_kat

also, look up 'access to learning fund' and see if the uni have started the fund yet - should open in a couple of weeks for the coming academic year.

dibdabable

karenx wrote: »

If she is a student she wont get income support unless single parent sick/disabled

.

Well strictly speaking she is sick...

karenx wrote: »

JSA is for people looking for employment, not students.Housing benefit isnt payable for students unless they have children

I've been able to find some info whilst waiting for responses and I'm not sure where you got this from. Perhaps you can quote where your info came from which would be much more helpful.Housing Benefit isn't just for students with children as with most benefits it's about income as well as dependants. She will also be a part time student with no income (as she's unlikely to receive Student Loan) and she has depression, so she wouldn't be in the same category as a full time student with Loans etc.

dibdabable

abby1234519 wrote: »

How many years of funding has she had compared to length of her course. If it is a 3 year course, she is entitled to 4 years of funding. Ie I failed the 2nd half of year 1 due to non attendance. I went back for the 2nd half of year 1 in my 2nd year at university and now I have passed that I can progress to my official 2nd year. I recieved funding. She may need to send evidence to student finance, they do consider extenuating circumstances

Thanks for sharinfg your experience. Up to now she has had two years of uni and therefore 2 years of funding.She's actually passed everything up to now, so if she does fail this one exam it would mean most likely that she'd only have about one session a week at Uni from Sept to Jan, then she'd wait until June to take the exam again.

Obviously after Jan it's more clear cut she'll be able to clam or find a job as she won't be a student. The other problem is her contract with a letting agent who may or may not accept students on Housing Benefit.

dibdabable

silvercar wrote: »

She needs to decide what to do about this. She could advertise the room and hope another student takes it to save on rent. Or she could live there herself. If she is living there and not classified as a student she could be liable for council tax. If the only non-student in the house she will be liable for council tax on the whole property less 25% for single person discount.

Yes obviously this is a concern but would she would be okay if she was entitled to HB and JSA/IS and the landlord accepts, tenants on HB.
What we can't do is do anything about it, until she's received her results which won't be for about 3 weeks.