Household income for Student loan query

Mrs_Arcanum

As a Household we just fall outside the rate for our daughter to get any additional grant in the qualifying year. The household income amount seems to make no allowance for any other dependent children. Given Debt Management plans we have little or no spare income to help her whilst at uni.

The 1st year accommodation will take up most if not all of the grant she will get. What is she supposed to live on if she cannot get a job?

catpat

Hi,

Do you mean that she only receives a maintenance loan and no grant, or she receives a loan and some grant but not the maximum grant? The loan and grant money should be enough to cover most costs, but the rest will need to be made either through part time work or parental contributions.

Dependent children are taken into account for income assessment. I am not certain of the exact values but depending on whether the children are still at school or are also at university, income is reduced by a certain amount. When filling out the online or paper forms this should be worked out for you when student finance do the income assessment.

Unfortunately if your daughter cannot get a job and you cannot make further contributions there is little else that can be done. Obtaining a part time job should not be too much of a problem, but depends on the course. There may be bursaries around, so have a good look. Your daughter could also contact her university about potential scholarship opportunities.

Mrs_Arcanum

catpat wrote: »

Hi,

Do you mean that she only receives a maintenance loan and no grant, or she receives a loan and some grant but not the maximum grant? The loan and grant money should be enough to cover most costs, but the rest will need to be made either through part time work or parental contributions.

Dependent children are taken into account for income assessment. I am not certain of the exact values but depending on whether the children are still at school or are also at university, income is reduced by a certain amount. When filling out the online or paper forms this should be worked out for you when student finance do the income assessment.

Unfortunately if your daughter cannot get a job and you cannot make further contributions there is little else that can be done. Obtaining a part time job should not be too much of a problem, but depends on the course. There may be bursaries around, so have a good look. Your daughter could also contact her university about potential scholarship opportunities.

No grant just the maintenance loan & fees. Looks like fingers crossed for a scholarship & a job.

TBH the levels for household income should really be based on one income for loan purposes, depending on where you live. In the SE costs are higher and the loans are based on overtime included income.

agrinnall

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

No grant just the maintenance loan & fees. Looks like fingers crossed for a scholarship & a job.

TBH the levels for household income should really be based on one income for loan purposes, depending on where you live. In the SE costs are higher and the loans are based on overtime included income.

As are incomes. You could take it up with your MP, we are "all in it together" aren't we .

Mrs_Arcanum

agrinnall wrote: »

As are incomes. You could take it up with your MP, we are "all in it together" aren't we .

☜ Is my MP :rotfl:

Taiko

If outgoings were taking into account, people would just spend more to get more from the system.

Think of it in a different way though. If the money to your child is restricted, it should hopefully encourage your daughter to learn how to budget outgoings vs money coming in. This is a valuable tool, which should stop her getting into harsher debt once she leaves university.

j-josie

I think if your child is assessed as not eligible for the full loan/grant, the parents are expected to make up the difference. That would then mean you need to amend your DMP to include this new household expense and your DMP payment would be lowered accordingly while your daughter is at uni.
Is that something you could do?

Mrs_Arcanum

j-josie wrote: »

I think if your child is assessed as not eligible for the full loan/grant, the parents are expected to make up the difference. That would then mean you need to amend your DMP to include this new household expense and your DMP payment would be lowered accordingly while your daughter is at uni.
Is that something you could do?

Don't think the DMP recipients would be too happy with that.

My main gripe is they take overtime & one off taxable pay into account for the qualifying year for assessment. A DMP does not do that as it is not regular & reliable income.

agrinnall

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

☜ Is my MP :rotfl:

Yes, I spotted it, that's why I mentioned it. It would be interesting to see whether he would have any time to respond to a constituency issue.

Mrs_Arcanum

agrinnall wrote: »

Yes, I spotted it, that's why I mentioned it. It would be interesting to see whether he would have any time to respond to a constituency issue.

Well, an e-mail has been sent to No 10. So we shall wait and see. :rotfl:

Mrs_Arcanum

Also looking into this I discover that students of families with a household income between £40 & £45,000 will have the largest student debts. Why?

Surely the student loan part should be equitable, with variations only on Grants/Bursaries/Scholarships.