students job seekers allowance

The_One_Who

TaxAvoider wrote: »

Are you all sure you cannot get JSA ??? I have been asking lots of official sources this week, and reading all the websites and my impression was that you could get JSA and therefore Housing Benefit. The Woman at the Uni Money Advice Centre quite clearly stated that if you get a letter from your faculty saying your studies have finished for the year on a certain date then if you are seeking a job then you get JSA ....... am I missing something ?

You are still classed as a student over the summer period, and will be until your graduate. If you weren't a student then you would need to pay council tax, hand in your student card, etc. Which is a bit silly. The student loan is supposed to last you the full year (including the summer!) unless it is your final year.

dalemci1

I'm a Scottish student, so what I've read is really quite shocking - English students get loans as high as £6,000? The highest loan you can get in Scotland is around £3,000.

I don't see why student should not be allowed to apply for job seekers' allowance, especially since university is a year-by-year thing, counting up the credits till you have enough to graduate.

I recently phoned the department for work and pensions, and they said that I would be elligible for JSA, but not any other benefits.

I mean, if you consider that if I were a full-time student, by the authority's definition, that is, studying "all year"; I would not even be able to pay just rent with my student loan. In Scotland, the loan is paid monthly, and I got around £329/month, and my rent is £290/month - so you can imagine how tight my situation is. So there is no way that you could even consider that the loan is suppose to last you all year.

If the authority's intended the loan to last all year, why didn't they just pay it monthly for every month of the year, rather than paying it only for term time?

LittleSnowBear

dalemci1 wrote: »

I'm a Scottish student, so what I've read is really quite shocking - English students get loans as high as £6,000? The highest loan you can get in Scotland is around £3,000.

I don't see why student should not be allowed to apply for job seekers' allowance, especially since university is a year-by-year thing, counting up the credits till you have enough to graduate.

I recently phoned the department for work and pensions, and they said that I would be elligible for JSA, but not any other benefits.

I mean, if you consider that if I were a full-time student, by the authority's definition, that is, studying "all year"; I would not even be able to pay just rent with my student loan. In Scotland, the loan is paid monthly, and I got around £329/month, and my rent is £290/month - so you can imagine how tight my situation is. So there is no way that you could even consider that the loan is suppose to last you all year.

If the authority's intended the loan to last all year, why didn't they just pay it monthly for every month of the year, rather than paying it only for term time?

I should imagine that it would cost them more time and effort to pay people on a monthly basis.

The_One_Who

As a Scottish student I have experienced both the old system of three yearly payments and the monthly payments. Personally, I preferred the yearly, since it allowed me to put money away and budget much more effectively. However, the monthly system was put in place (I believe) to help people budget on a monthly basis and stop people blowing it all on the first week.

I agree with dalemci1 above, I too have been shocked at the maintenance amounts some students south of the border can receive.

LittleSnowBear

what I always did was pay my rent in full for the term as soon as the loan came in to a seperate account as well as the money for bills this meant I always had a roof over my head no matter what happened and had less to worry about.

I knew one girl in my halls my first time at uni who spent every single penny she had got (including overdraft and hardship) by the first month.she got the same amount as me (paid the same rent as me too) and I hadn't even got into my overdraft by christmas! How she managed it i don't know!

magoogy

my daughter had her appointment wednesday for her job seekers....she explained how she had finished her first year foundation course and will be going back to college in september to begin a 3 year degree....

she was told because she was between courses she is entitled to claim - it is when she is in a 3year course and on holiday that she isnt because then the grant/loan covers all year round....

she does have to look for work still though but just explain about college at interviews...

Fire_Fox

puttcat wrote: »

My friend is a mature student who has no financial support from family. She has to pay her rent, books, food, travel etc from her student loan. Her rent is 90% of her loan (nothing is free - she will owe nearly £20,000 in tuition and loans when she graduates). She cannot get jobseekers allowance or income support over the summer (despite working for 10 years previously).

She is not desperate 'enough' to qualify for additional uni bursaries or mature student assistance as there are so many people in need they have run out of cash. She will, and has, do any job she can get but in the current climate this proving really difficult. Not all students are lazy or financially stupid - some are just really struggling and I had hoped that MSE people would be less judgemental than this. I'm disappointed.

If she is a mature student doing her first undergraduate course she will be automatically entitled to a full maintenance grant as well as the full loan. A part-time job (earning more than the average 18 year old) plus council tax exemption leaves mature students without kids with a perfectly adequate income. In fact it's better than a full-time minumum wage job!

I am a mature student two years in to my degree: my loans are cancelled out by my savings. To achieve this I work for the NHS on the second lowest scale point and for about five months in 2008 I held down a second job. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have been supported by the taxpayer when I chose to give up full-time employment to study. :T

student_advisor

Fire_Fox wrote: »

If she is a mature student doing her first undergraduate course she will be automatically entitled to a full maintenance grant as well as the full loan.

Sorry, but this depends on whether the student lives with a partner or not. There is no automatic entitlement to the maintenance grant or the full loan for any student

Fire_Fox

student_advisor wrote: »

Sorry, but this depends on whether the student lives with a partner or not. There is no automatic entitlement to the maintenance grant or the full loan for any student

In that case you'd be expected to have financial input from your partner in leiu of family. At the very least you'd have someone to split the rent and bills with 50/50. Puttcat was suggesting that her friend had no such support

My friend is a mature student who has no financial support from family. She has to pay her rent, books, food, travel etc from her student loan. Her rent is 90% of her loan

luv_or_h8_me

In fairness, and speaking as a student, I don't see why students should get JSA during the holiday period. I work 46 hours at ther moment and while at uni I do around 20. There are jobs, but if you want the money you will do anything, whether a student or not (anything-within means). No I am not saying become an escourt or anything like that unless its what you want to do. My partner has been unemployed for a year and recently has got himself a job which he enjoys. Yes, I have told him the same thing, If you want it enough you don't need to rely on benefits. Student Loans on there own you can live on.