Halls and finance

silvercar

A large number of students do not know if they have a place until 16 August when the results come out. I'm surprised you have to commit to accommodation before that date, what would happen if you didn't get in.

Also surprised that the uni doesn't own any halls itself.

outtawork

We paid £500 up front for the room which reduced the monthly payment a little & £250 deposit. The first payment dates were before the grants came through, so a lot of people complained to the Uni & it was changed, but the grants & loans will not be in their accounts until after they start or go back to Uni, roughly a week.It is paid 3 times a year, Sept, January & April.

jgh

standingupformyself wrote: »

Can anyone ease my worry, or do I have to find £2000?

No, HE has to find £2000. The whole point of student funding reforms over the last 20 years is that STUDENTS pay for their education by going into debt. By paying your son's bills you are signing up to the rich toff's manifesto of paying their children's way and insulating them from the realities of the world and giving them an artificial step up above normal people.

standingupformyself

jgh wrote: »

No, HE has to find £2000. The whole point of student funding reforms over the last 20 years is that STUDENTS pay for their education by going into debt. By paying your son's bills you are signing up to the rich toff's manifesto of paying their children's way and insulating them from the realities of the world and giving them an artificial step up above normal people.

I agree HE is paying for his accomodation and uni fees, by way of repaying the loans and grants that are being lent to during his time at uni - however neither he, nor I have the £2K to pay in advance of his loan coming through, he is not asking or expecting us to pay it for him, he knows he is responsible for paying his way throughout uni... just as his sister has done for the past 2 years,,,my issue here is not that we have to pay for his accomodation - the grant and maintenance loan does that, my issue is that the grant and loan arrives too late...

He will come out of uni in three years time owing a small fortune, and unless he (or we as a family) win the lottery, he will be paying that amount back for many years to come.. I have no intention of bankrolling my son throughout uni

Poppy9

jgh wrote: »

No, HE has to find £2000. .

but how do they do this.

In some areas jobs are very hard come by.

DD been job hunting for over a year. She's walked around delivering CVs, completed numerous online applications and tests but has only been invited to 3 interviews. All group interviews which are daunting to teens. Competing against more mature applicants with years of experience for 4 or 8 hour jobs a week. She secured one job with a major retailer who rang her just before she was due to start to say they couldn't give her any hours for a few weeksas shop too quiet.

She has trained as a lifeguard (which I shelled out for) but has only managed to pick up the odd casual shift.

She has loads of friends in same position who just can't find a jobs so there is no way she could save £2000 in a short period.

DD is lucky in that we could afford to plan ahead and save for her so she will have the money to start off in uni. Our financial circumstances have changed dramatically in last couple of years so we will no longer have the spare cash to see her right through Uni but at least we can afford to start her off.

It's so wrong that bright, capable students are meeting such large financial barriers to further education. If they have to pay accommodation up front then the student loan should be available in time.

Bennifred

We found that in reality the Halls were prepared to wait for payment until the student had received their loan at the start of term, as long as the deposit had been paid.
However, this was in university owned accommodation, so I don't know if the same would apply to privately owned Halls.

melancholly

Poppy9 wrote: »

It's so wrong that bright, capable students are meeting such large financial barriers to further education. If they have to pay accommodation up front then the student loan should be available in time.

Although I dislike this system with halls, it isn't fair to say that there is automatically a financial barrier. The flipside is that there are other options than these expensive private halls with these difficult deadlines for payment.... It isn't necessary to live in them. I think some unis are a little suspect and push them more than they should though. Most places do seem to engage some sense and only ask for payment after the loans get paid out, so this is an exception rather than the rule (not that that helps the OP find the money!).

standingupformyself

Bennifred wrote: »

We found that in reality the Halls were prepared to wait for payment until the student had received their loan at the start of term, as long as the deposit had been paid.
However, this was in university owned accommodation, so I don't know if the same would apply to privately owned Halls.

I was hoping this was the case, but the rent has to be paid by the 3rd Sept, 2 weeks before the student moves in... I hope plenty of people complain to uni and to Paragon, this seems so unreasonable.

Sorry, I am just repeating myself now.. I will update when I hear anything, thank you to you all for your support and advice x

standingupformyself

silvercar wrote: »

A large number of students do not know if they have a place until 16 August when the results come out. I'm surprised you have to commit to accommodation before that date, what would happen if you didn't get in.

Also surprised that the uni doesn't own any halls itself.

He got an unconditional offer, which he accepted,

silvercar

standingupformyself wrote: »

He got an unconditional offer, which he accepted,

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was trying to say that some students won't know they have a place until late August. So there must be places in halls for students in late August and therefore a payment schedule that doesn't require so much money up front. I can't believe that the many, many students with conditional places won't find accommodation in late August. So signing up for halls now can't be essential.