Please Help me- Student Nurse

zeryx

My daughter is a student nurse. She gets a bursary of £5600 (approx) for the year, it doesn't make any difference that she's not living at home and paying accomodation fees at the university, the people living at home receive exactly the same amount!

As has already been said, she does not qualify for any student loans. She is in uni Monday to Friday with regular placements. She does not have the same holidays as other students so can't take on holiday jobs. She is currently applying to local nursing agencies for bank work as she has worked for the past year as a care assistant she is experienced in a lot of what is required.

Middlers

Hi,

My daughter is wanting to do a physio degree at Oxford Brookes whilst living at home. I had heard that the NHS may pay some/all fees but cannot find this information. Having read the above thread it would appear that this may be the case, but are there any stipulations attached to this ie have to work for NHS for so long after attaining the degree, is it means tested etc etc. Any information or places to gain this information would be much appreciated. Thank you

jojo12_3

you cannot apply for a student loan if you are studying the diploma nursing course as you already get a non-means tested bursary ( not a lot i know!) but degree student nurses can apply as their bursary is means tested and some cannot get any of this, i shall get £2055 a year student loan and £2000 bursary not a lot, but i work for my local nurse bank so it helps. If you work over 16 hours a week and you and your partner earn less than £56,000 a year joint income you can get working tax credit, that mean most people are elligible for this, A lot of students seem to think that if you are studying and working you do not pay tax, this is wrong everybody pays tax once they have earned over £4500 a year, im not sure about national insurence payments but will check this out. there is also travel expenses paid via your university, but this depends on how much extra you pay going to and from placements and whether it costs you more than going to uni it does not pay travel expenses for going to uni though, hope this makes sense. Jojo :j

blue_goo

like most people have said student loans aren't given to nursing students. make sure you fill in a travel expenses form, although it takes a bit of time to get your head around at first all money spent on travelling to placement only will be given back. i dont want to be mean but staing at home may be best for you on this course, try to save as much as possible. it doesnt matter if you live at home or away you will find you get the same as people the same age as you. im sure there is something from the rcn (union) to help with child care and they can advise you more on other extras you are entitled to if any (if you join them as your union).

anyway, good luck with the course, it will put you to the test but its all worth it in the end. the 3 years fly by, enjoy it while you can.

stuwilky

jojo12 wrote:

A lot of students seem to think that if you are studying and working you do not pay tax, this is wrong everybody pays tax once they have earned over £4500 a year, im not sure about national insurence payments but will check this out.

That was the single most frustrating thing when I worked with students, the misconception that students do not pay tax. The personal tax free allowance this year is £4895. But worth remembering that if you pay professional membership subscriptions you might be able to reclaim the tax back on them (not a huge amount in all probability - but worth doing none the less!)
Further info on that here - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/list3/

And students also have to pay NI on earnt income, subject again to the normal exemptions and limits, which from memory is somewhere in the region of £94 per week.

studentnurse

I am about to start my third yr (Diploma, northumbria uni).

This is the web add of a student nurse forum which you may find usefull, freindly advice from fellow student nurses :

http://com2.runboard.com/bstudentnurse

There is also a financial section within the forum in which you can post specific questions. Hope this post is of help to some of you (My username on that forum is nursynewcastle - say hi if you join !)


x

kellyplanet

Susanna wrote:

Hi,

You are not eligiable to apply for any student grants, or hardship funds when you get to uni.

QUOTE]


Untrue. I am a diploma student in my first year at Northumbria and they have allowed me to apply for the hardship fund. Mind it is worse than applying for a mortgage every transaction is scrutinised!!!!

emma_b_4

what is the hardship fund and how hard up do you have to be to apply for it?

zeryx

The hardship fund is something individual to the university and as my daughter found out, as she's getting a student nurse bursary she's not eligible to apply for it - to get it they stipulate you must already have a student loan - but as a student nurse she's not eligible for a loan.

She's working as a 'bank' worker for the local health authority which gives her flexibility about when to work and allows her to not work when she's got a heavy workload. She's also managaging to pick up some ad-hoc shifts in a bar where a friend works.

It's not easy but she's now nearly halfway through her 3rd year and I've very proud of her

Daisies

My brother qualified as a nurse in February after taking the 3 year diploma. He had the NHS bursary (they also paid the tuition fees), and also claimed some extra for dependants (he and my SIL had two children whilst he was doing the course). He managed fine without a student loan and without doing any paid work, just had to learn to live within a tight budget - the Old style thread is good, lots of ideas for cheap meals etc. They also didn't run a car (and still aren't!) which cut costs by a great deal. He got to all his placements by bus or cycled.

- as a student you don't have to pay council tax, so make sure you're not! If you live with a partner who's working and they earn below a certain amount you're probably eligible for CTB anyway.
- remember to claim back your travel costs to placements (his didn't seem like much week to week, but really added up by the end of the term.)
- take advantage of student deals - cheap newspapers (or read online). Because of the kids they tended to stay in in the evening and didn't go out much which must have saved a fortune over the 3 years.
- make sure you claim everything you're entitled to - he (or probably my SIL?) could claim tax credits and, later on, child benefit, all of which helped.
- it is possible to live on the bursary, just as long as you're really careful.

Also, this year especially there seemed to be a shortage of jobs for people just finishing the course. My brother was lucky and got a job that started 3 days after the course finished, but 60 other people had applied for it! So be prepared for a gap before you find nursing work.

Good luck! He really enjoyed the course (although it was hard work) and is now really enjoying his job.