Student maintenance loan and Salary Sacrifice

swindiff

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but here goes.

My step-son wants to go to university next year so will be taking out a student loan. My understanding is that he can get a Student Loan for the full amount of the course, £9250/year.

However, he will need to live so will be getting a student maintenance loan as well as a part time job so that he can pay for accommodation and living expenses. This is known as a "maintenance loan for living costs" and how much he can get will depend on our household income.

I earn just over £40k/year and my wife just under £20k/year. If I put £60k into the online calculator it says he would be entitled to a maintenance loan of £4331/year. However I notice that the criteria is taxable household income.

I salary sacrifice for my pension down to £27k/year so is it legitimate for me to put this figure into the calculator making out household taxable income £47k? This would increase the maintenance loan he was entitled to upto £5954/year. This should just about pay for his accommodation.

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator