Entitled to benefits age 35 and going to uni?

freebiehunter29

Hi I am posting on behalf of a friend who doesn't know where to turn to for advice. She is 35 years old and single living in a housing association flat alone. She has no assetts or savings. Because of severe mental illness has been claiming ESA for last couple of years. She has decided to go to university this year to finish her degree but has been told that she may lose her ESA and housing and council tax benefit. Could anybody tell us if there are any other benefits she could claim instead? Her uncle is paying her uni fee's for her but cannot afford to pay any more. Any help would be much apprieciated. Thankyou.

fishybusiness

ESA does not necessarily cease when someone becomes an HE student.

Your friend needs to talk to the ESA advisors or CAB, if ESA for your friend continues HB and CT benefit would continue.

Fire_Fox

Has she applied for the student loans or any grants? She might be better off paying her fees this way and her uncle helping her out with living costs where necessary. Student loans are not paid back unless you are earning a certain amount and are written off eventually. If she is a full time student no council tax is due.

GotToChange

She indeed may not lose her entitlements to some of the benefits - BUT it may be case-by-case basis for each university. Has she considered which one she would apply to?
The key thing is that she may be able to claim the benefits during the long holiday - which is one of the biggest obstacles for mature students to overcome.
I am attaching a document that I received from Nottingham Trent University - interesting reading.

http://www.ntu.ac.uk/student_services/document_uploads/107123.pdf

PasturesNew

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Has she applied for the student loans or any grants? She might be better off paying her fees this way and her uncle helping her out with living costs where necessary. Student loans are not paid back unless you are earning a certain amount and are written off eventually. If she is a full time student no council tax is due.

+1

It'd be madness for him to pay the fees if she can get loans to do it as loans are only paid back when/if you earn over a certain amount, then it's just a tiny amount in comparison of the wage. And, they end up getting written off if you never earn enough, or get to retirement age (or something).

fishybusiness

The key thing is that she may be able to claim the benefits during the long holiday - which is one of the biggest obstacles for mature students to overcome.

That is how we survive, my partner claims ESA due to her disabilities. She claims at the end of May just as we are finishing exams, and the claim takes so long to process, the medical interviews have been in August.

~Chameleon~

Is she in receipt of DLA? Disabled students can continue claiming ESA whilst in HE.