Travel Grant Help

marty88225

Hello,

This past academic year i studied abroad in America. Before I left i completed my student finance application as normal and stated that I was studying abroad which entitled me to a little larger than normal payments. Along with my application confirmation letter, they also sent me a 'Claim Form for Travel Expenses' - this stated that I could claim back money spent on flights and visa's etc.

This was very good news to me and I knew it would be very useful after getting back to have all that money spent re-imbursed. They did state however that I was responsible for paying the first £300 which is fine.

Throughout the year, i kept all documents relating to flight and visa costs and at the end of my time there, i took the time to fill in the form and sent it to Student Finance along with supporting documents such as bank statements etc showing how much I had spent.

I received a letter back from Student Finance a few weeks later stating that "Students must be entitled to means tested support" to qualify for the claim. As I did not apply for means tested support, as I would receive less money, they are basically saying I cannot claim ANY of this money back.

This has severely disrupted my financial status and would not have spent money to fly home at Christmas as I knew that I could claim it back at the end of the year. I appreciate that this may only be for means tested students but they should not have sent me that claims form if i was not eligible. According to their own website "this claims form will only be sent to Students who are eligible to apply." Why did they send it to me then?

As this has seriously messed up my situation is there any way I can complain to Student Finance or someone else? I shouldn't be punished because of their mistake.

Please help with any advice!

Taiko

You will NEVER receive less support if you are means-tested than if you are not.

Admittedly, they should have noticed that you were not eligible to apply for this, and therefore either advised you to submit information for an income assessment or explain why they wouldn't send the form.

You can make a complaint to them, but what do you expect the outcome to be? They will not override the regulations; at best they'll allow you to be income assessed outside the 9 month assessment deadline.