Paying for halls in advance problem.

tes2312

Hi I'm writing this on behalf of my girl friend. basically she's applied to uni and just got her offers and accommodation pack from the uni. the problem is that the uni seems to want her to pay for her accommodation before she will receive her student loan. i realize that the 1st idea is to borrow the money from somewhere but the problem is she has no permanent past address (lived with her dad for 4 years then left a year ago and has been living "technically on her own" with me at my parents house. im guessing this will effect her ability to get loans. She's been working the last year but doesn't have any savings and by the time uni comes she wont have more than £500 saved which isn't even close to the fee's i was wondering what she should do? is there a common procedure with this or is it just a case of we have to just find the money somewhere?
Thanks in advance
TES2312

The_doomed

call the uni finance department, normally they "want" this but in reality you have 30days to pay.

Broke_Student

tes2312 wrote: »

the uni seems to want her to pay for her accommodation before she will receive her student loan.

Does the uni want her to pay the whole year upfront or just a deposit? I have never heard of unis asking for the full amount upfront, unless these are private halls.

tes2312 wrote: »

she wont have more than £500 saved which isn't even close to the fee's TES2312

Fee's? Does she need to pay any tuition fees upfront? She should get a tuition fee loan unless this is a second degree. Or do you just mean fee's as in accomodation costs?


Not sure if it would work but could she not open up a student bank account and use the £1000+ overdraft? It may not be a problem if she hasn't lived at her current address for long if she applies to her bank with which she already has a current account (as she has been working and may have a good internal credit score).

Ytaya

She should call the university's finance department and ask them about it. She won't be the only student in this position, they must have a standard procedure to deal with it. Failing that, she should call the student union at the university and talk to their welfare officer, who would be able to point her in the right direction.

Amys

Usually fees for accomdation are paid in advance on a temly basis. So, when she goes in Sept/Oct she will pay the autum term. The grant/loan usually comes through the first week of study in time to pay the fees.

There is usually provision made for students who face a delay. This means talking to the finance department and sometimes filling in a form.