Advice for married couple considering university, but in debt

emay02

We could really use some insight into our little ordeal if anyone can offer some sound advice please...

We are married, ages 30 and 34. Neither have been to university before and we know we each qualify to receive the £9,000 Tuition Fee Loan to attend full-time.

Our combined current annual income is about £27000 and we're paying about £400 a month to cover loan and credit card debt.

We've found it quite difficult to find information about what we'd each be eligible for if one or both of us went to university. For instance, if we both went would we both be entitled to the same amount of maintenance loan AND maintenance grant? The student finance calculator tells me that based on my annual combined income I'd be eligible for £4,051 Maintenance Loan and
£3,009 Maintenance Grant but there's no way of checking if this changes if my spouse is also a student.

Also, to qualify for additional support that's available for parents, I would imagine the child has to actually live with you right? My husband has a son who is very much a part of our lives - we see him regularly and pay maintenance for him but he does not live with us.

Anyway, at this point we're trying to figure out if we both went to uni and got the maximum support we're eligible for and also still worked part-time could we still live and continue to pay off our debts?

Also, how many hours are you "allowed" to work while doing a full-time degree before it starts to affect the amount of grants/loans you're eligible for?

Any help much appreciated...thank you!
emay02

V_Chic_Chick

This is very much an out-of-the-ordinary question, so I would suggest that you might like to post on the Ask SFE forum here (assuming you're in England, that is) http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=910

You might also like to have a look at the mature students forum http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=185

Beyond that, all I do know is that you can work as many hours as you like without it affecting your SF - but do remember that you are there to learn, and you shouldn't let it affect your grades, so most unis recommend working no more than 16 hours per week.

You should also be aware that, unless you have been studying recently, you will probably need to do an Access to HE coursehttp://www.accesstohe.ac.uk/Pages/Default.aspx for which a 24+ advanced learning loan is available https://www.gov.uk/advanced-learning-loans/overview

System

lso, to qualify for additional support that's available for parents, I would imagine the child has to actually live with you right? My husband has a son who is very much a part of our lives - we see him regularly and pay maintenance for him but he does not live with us.

As your husband is not the PWC and the child does not live with you then you will get no support. for him

emay02

Thanks V Chic Chick. I'm aware of all those sites...done plenty of research and that's why I've come to this forum in hopes of finding someone who might specialise in this area. For some reason there is very little information available online for mature students who as a couple are wanting to go to uni, as I know it's doesn't happen that often. Thanks for the info on working hours...I wasn't sure if there was a limit on how much you were allowed to earn. Thanks.

Taiko

I wouldn't post it on TSR to be honest (Not as accurate with assessment advice since I stopped doing work for them, especially in more complex cases!).

I'll try and pop up a full and in depth answer later tonight. The bare bones of it though is that, where both partners are students, income is disregarded for the maintenance loan/grant.

I'll double check the regs regarding SSG/PLA etc. You won't get the Adult Dependents Grant though, I'm afraid.

Mojisola

emay02 wrote: »

Our combined current annual income is about £27000 and we're paying about £400 a month to cover loan and credit card debt.

Anyway, at this point we're trying to figure out if we both went to uni and got the maximum support we're eligible for and also still worked part-time could we still live and continue to pay off our debts?

Could you have a really strict belt-tightening period and pay the debts off sooner?

The amount of work you would be able to do while a student can depend on what degrees you'll be doing. Check out what people are currently managing by asking on student forums.

emay02

Taiko wrote: »

I'll try and pop up a full and in depth answer later tonight. The bare bones of it though is that, where both partners are students, income is disregarded for the maintenance loan/grant.

I'll double check the regs regarding SSG/PLA etc. You won't get the Adult Dependents Grant though, I'm afraid.

That is so kind of you Taiko! I have been searching everywhere for some advice regarding couples and can't seem to get the answers I'm looking for. At the end of the day we just need to know if it will be financially possible for either one of us or both of us to go to uni before we actually decide to go for it. If we can work out how much we'll be entitled to and how many hours we'll be able to work than hopefully we can make a decision about it!

Thanks again,
emay02

emay02

Mojisola wrote: »

The amount of work you would be able to do while a student can depend on what degrees you'll be doing. Check out what people are currently managing by asking on student forums.

Thanks Mojisola, that's a really good idea...I'll do a bit of research on that.

nimbo

emay02 wrote: »

That is so kind of you Taiko! I have been searching everywhere for some advice regarding couples and can't seem to get the answers I'm looking for. At the end of the day we just need to know if it will be financially possible for either one of us or both of us to go to uni before we actually decide to go for it. If we can work out how much we'll be entitled to and how many hours we'll be able to work than hopefully we can make a decision about it!

Thanks again,
emay02

when it comes to hours you will be able to work will depend on the course...

as a social work student I am in two full days, and one half day each week (3rd year), but this will vary from course to course, and uni to uni... I manage to work 10 hours, as I work week days, and I would be hard pushed to start any earlier than 6 in the morning, so i get 2 hours in a day. There are people on my course who manage more - in the second year one woman was working full time as a bus driver before she started placement... (and getting decent grades). how much you will be able to work will vary on how well you manage academically, what days you will need to be at university, and what jobs are available in your area...

the woman working full time had to be super organized, and get stuff started and done really early, as even a day of tummy bug, would have left her high and dry at the wrong time of year (I know I personally couldn't manage that)...

if you were to both go, you would also need to think carefully about computer access, as I find it really hard to even find my partner checking train times when I am trying to get an essay written (he has two laptops, an iphone, and an ipad) it drives me mad, but he'll say 'it was on' - if i pop to the toilet for example. and the one time i tried to use one of his laptops to type it drove me mad, as where i thought the back space button should be he has an arrow key or something, and i kept typing in the wrong place... it's only a little thing, but when you are counting the time to assignment deadlines in hours it will matter...

emay02

Thanks Nimbo.

I don't think either of us would be interested in attempting to work full-time while doing our courses, but I was concerned that if we get the maintenance grants/loans and it wasn't quite enough than we'd still have the choice of working more hours of we needed too.

And yes, we will definitely each have our own laptops!

Thanks for the info :-)

Mojisola

emay02 wrote: »

And yes, we will definitely each have our own laptops!

And a couple of good methods of backing up your uni work!