Parent of Four going to Uni...advice please!

kaka72

Hello
My partner earns £25 000
We have 4 children
Have a mortgage of £2700 ( paying £500 per month)
Get child tax credits £ 6200
Family allowance £ 2940
credit cards £7000
Council tax £1400
The usual bills...life insurance, gas, water electric, insurances, phone,pension, car bills etc.
I have been accepted for max. maint loan £3875
maint. grant b£3250
I have been told I will not get the parental learning allowance...is this right?
My course requires me to spend a lot on materials and I will need to travel a long distance every day.
Will I be able to get a child care grant too?

Sorry, you may think I should know all this by now however, I have had huge problems with Student Finance who have managed to completely lose and muddle up all my information I have given them to the point where I have submitted everything twice. They have only just started calling me by my proper name four months after my application went in ! I have only just had confirmation of my awards today and I am not convinced all the information has been taken into account.

Many thanks for any advice !

The time of signing on the dotted line is very close and I am not convinced I'll be able to manage it.There will debts of approx.
£35 000 by the time I finish even if I manage to live within the income.

Thanks again X

honey10

If you go to the student finance calculator
http://www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/portal/page?_pageid=153,4680136&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

you can put in your details, courses etc and it should tell you what you're entitled to, I don't know that much, I'm still at the very beginning of my journey (again) but surely you should be entitled to something for the kids according to this information
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Typesoffinance/DG_171503

I know its dependant on household income, and yours is quite a bit higher than £25,000 (what I think is the cut-off, if WTC is taken into account)

nimbo

hi - I don't have kids but I think the ages of your children are taken into account.

how old are they (for example over the age of 18, and they don't exist for the sake of calculations - technically old enough to look after themselves (there is no legal age for this) again they may not be counted)....

can you call the finance dept of the uni and see if they can help?

A friend of mine thinks she got more last year and her son in nine, 10 this year so the ages they take into account may be completely random in appearance to real people because I'd think he wasn't old enough to care for himself (she won't leave him alone as we're training to be social workers, and lest face it that would make the front page)!!!!

good luck sweetie

Lokolo

CT will go down if all the children are in full time education and noone else lives in the house. 25% single persons discount.

£7k on credit card?????

I think you should start to do a family budget as you are most probably overspending.

I have been generous with these figures and I don't see how you are going to have a problem.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 593.75
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1627.67
Benefits................................ 761.66
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2983.08

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 500
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 87.5
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 30
Contents insurance...................... 30
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 300
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2154.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(500)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
(Unnamed debt).................7000......70........0
Total unsecured debts..........7000......70........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,983.08
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,154.5
Available for debt repayments........... 828.58
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 70
Amount left after debt repayments....... 758.58

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,000
Net Assets.............................. -7,000

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

kaka72

Thank you all so much for your time and effort and I appreciate all advice.
My children are young...all under 10.
I know the credit card looks bad however in true money saving style it was used towards buying a people carrier and is on 0% interest, we do not shop on credit cards but an interest free loan is always handy!!!
Once again a MASSSIVE thanks x:D