16-19 College Bursary..Advice/help needed plz

dlb

My eldest son is 17 and started college last Sept (12), we have only just found out about the college bursary available and have got the forms to see if he is able to claim anything.

My questions are

1- It is means tested and £24.000 is the threshold, does this mean if my income including any benifits is over 24k he wont be able to claim?

I ask this as they want details of housing and council tax benifit which we get some as my husband is currently only working part time awaiting knee surgery next month, we also get tax credits both working and child tax for 4 children in total...do they take into account i have 4 children and no where on the form does it ask for details of number of children in family ect.

they also want details of csa payments, i do not get csa for the child at college but get a smalll ( £4.00 a week) for my youngest child..do i have to declare this as this money is not for him...same with child benifit do they only need details of money i get for eldest or for all 4?

Sorry a little confused..as if we add up everything we get for all 4 children and husband wages it takes us just a few pounds over the 24k any advise on how they wor out mean tested bursary??

originl

I'm looking in to it for my gf now as her Dad has just lost his job. I can't answer the main questions but I'm pretty sure the threshold is £30k, not 24k. Can I ask how you got the correct forms?

Thanks

Helix

The money is left to the colleges to distribute and decide on who qualifies now. Therefore it is going to differ depending on the college, you will need to ask them really.

dlb

I got the forms from the college student services, and yes the reply above is correct, each 6th form and college sets its own rules, my sons college limit is 24k where as the local 6th form is 26k, i have since contacted the college and they do not want me to add child benefit into my month income and they do take into account how many child are in the family as they know this from the tax credit forms as the children being claimed for are listed in this, they say they dont ask this on the form as in there experience familys that dont get any tax credits are way above the threshold anyway.
Thanks for your replies.