Student loan - other dependents

annabanana82

Re posted as there seems to be more traffic here


I'm trying to understand how student maintenance loans will work in my circumstances, 

Currently my partner is in yr 2 of a 4 yr degree course and get the maximum loan, in part to my income and him having children - happy with that.

Next academic year child 1 starts uni, student loan calculator says they would get £7500 ish maintenance loan

The following academic year, I will have partner, and 2 children at university plus another dependent. 
1st and 2nd child presumably will have similar loans.

Does the student loan system take into account that I have 4 dependents on my salary and I may not be able to top each of their maintenance loans up thereby increasing their loans beyond what the calculator says? 

Or is it just the flat rate on the calculator and it's my problem to sort out? 

I'm sure I had to declare I had dependents on my Husband's application on not sure if this impacted his loan amount? 


Child 1 would be living away
Child 2 is hoping to stay at home when at uni so there would be some difference in their loan amounts anyway. 

My salary is around £38k and as a CS I'm not expecting much in pay rises for awhile

Thank you

kaMelo

Your scenario is a little complicated but essentially yes, well almost.
How much of a loan a student is entitled to is dependent upon household income as this is what determines how much of a contribution the household is expected to be making towards the student, with the student loan making up the rest. When you have more than one student in the household your expected household contribution is split between them, this results in a smaller expected contribution per student which would normally entitle each of them to a larger student loan, subject to the maximum available student loan.


Why the almost?  I'm not sure whether you having another dependant makes a difference or not.
I was always under the impression it was deliberately a simple calculation used for student loans to avoid having to go into granular detail of people's financial situation. Once you start making allowances for things like another dependant etc,  you have to define "another dependant" or whatever else you can receive an allowance for. Give rights of appeal if someone thinks they have had allowance declined incorrectly, etc. It just gets way too complicated than it needs to be with not enough time available to do it.

 

annabanana82

kaMelo said:

Your scenario is a little complicated but essentially yes, well almost.
How much of a loan a student is entitled to is dependent upon household income as this is what determines how much of a contribution the household is expected to be making towards the student, with the student loan making up the rest. When you have more than one student in the household your expected household contribution is split between them, this results in a smaller expected contribution per student which would normally entitle each of them to a larger student loan, subject to the maximum available student loan.


Why the almost?  I'm not sure whether you having another dependant makes a difference or not.
I was always under the impression it was deliberately a simple calculation used for student loans to avoid having to go into granular detail of people's financial situation. Once you start making allowances for things like another dependant etc,  you have to define "another dependant" or whatever else you can receive an allowance for. Give rights of appeal if someone thinks they have had allowance declined incorrectly, etc. It just gets way too complicated than it needs to be with not enough time available to do it.

 

Thank you, that's really helpful, it makes sense they keep it simple. 
With what the calculator says my eldest son will get we can make it work even with him staying in student halls but obviously a larger loan would make life easier for him. 

Jami74

annabanana82 said:
 we can make it work even with him staying in student halls . 

Rooms in student housing off the campus can be far cheaper if he's willing to consider that. I was worried when my eldest said she wanted private accommodation because she'd rather have an extra hundred pounds or so a month for food but it's worked out really well. The other occupants are either mature students or in higher years. She has friends in halls she visits and dines with sometimes but she loves going back to her place and having a decent kitchen with a washing machine.

annabanana82

Jami74 said:

annabanana82 said:
 we can make it work even with him staying in student halls . 

Rooms in student housing off the campus can be far cheaper if he's willing to consider that. I was worried when my eldest said she wanted private accommodation because she'd rather have an extra hundred pounds or so a month for food but it's worked out really well. The other occupants are either mature students or in higher years. She has friends in halls she visits and dines with sometimes but she loves going back to her place and having a decent kitchen with a washing machine.

The student accommodation is about twice the price of some of the spare rooms I've seen. It does look nice as it's only a year old. I am assuming he would only do one year, but I also know he is really fussy a little OCD on cleanliness so it would have to be a good house share for him, 

It isn't a traditional university or university town and I've only only had a quick look but there doesn't seem to be much private accommodation about. But I assume there must be sufficient housing for them in the private sector due to the age of the campus housing, it's quite specialist in its courses and a bit rural I think? 
My eldest going to uni has only really been decided in the last few days so we haven't done too much research yet. 
Open day next month so things should be a lot clearer then.

Spendless

Of my 2 kids, eldest is at Uni and the youngest was going to go this academic year  but changed her mind at the last minute. Both were only entitled to the minimum loan so from the explanation above there must be a 'cut off' point  because neither was getting any  more than the minimum  just because we were going to be supporting 2 at the same time. (This is in England) 

Spendless

annabanana82 said:

Jami74 said:

annabanana82 said:
 we can make it work even with him staying in student halls . 

Rooms in student housing off the campus can be far cheaper if he's willing to consider that. I was worried when my eldest said she wanted private accommodation because she'd rather have an extra hundred pounds or so a month for food but it's worked out really well. The other occupants are either mature students or in higher years. She has friends in halls she visits and dines with sometimes but she loves going back to her place and having a decent kitchen with a washing machine.

The student accommodation is about twice the price of some of the spare rooms I've seen. It does look nice as it's only a year old. I am assuming he would only do one year, but I also know he is really fussy a little OCD on cleanliness so it would have to be a good house share for him, 

It isn't a traditional university or university town and I've only only had a quick look but there doesn't seem to be much private accommodation about. But I assume there must be sufficient housing for them in the private sector due to the age of the campus housing, it's quite specialist in its courses and a bit rural I think? 
My eldest going to uni has only really been decided in the last few days so we haven't done too much research yet. 
Open day next month so things should be a lot clearer then.

My daughter is a  student at a drama school  (not a Uni) and I'm aware there are some drama schools  in locations where they isn't enough accommodation to go around. This affects their 'new arrivals' far more because the current first and1st and 2nd years get 'first dibs' on rooms from those in higher years who are moving out because they hear about it sooner. A large amount of drama schools are 'stand alone' though and only a very small amount connected to a Uni, so usually they don't have any associated Uni halls, you have to look in the private sector. If you've got a situation similar to that for where and what your son is studying, I'd suggest looking as early as possible. 

annabanana82

Spendless said:

annabanana82 said:

Jami74 said:

annabanana82 said:
 we can make it work even with him staying in student halls . 

Rooms in student housing off the campus can be far cheaper if he's willing to consider that. I was worried when my eldest said she wanted private accommodation because she'd rather have an extra hundred pounds or so a month for food but it's worked out really well. The other occupants are either mature students or in higher years. She has friends in halls she visits and dines with sometimes but she loves going back to her place and having a decent kitchen with a washing machine.

The student accommodation is about twice the price of some of the spare rooms I've seen. It does look nice as it's only a year old. I am assuming he would only do one year, but I also know he is really fussy a little OCD on cleanliness so it would have to be a good house share for him, 

It isn't a traditional university or university town and I've only only had a quick look but there doesn't seem to be much private accommodation about. But I assume there must be sufficient housing for them in the private sector due to the age of the campus housing, it's quite specialist in its courses and a bit rural I think? 
My eldest going to uni has only really been decided in the last few days so we haven't done too much research yet. 
Open day next month so things should be a lot clearer then.

My daughter is a  student at a drama school  (not a Uni) and I'm aware there are some drama schools  in locations where they isn't enough accommodation to go around. This affects their 'new arrivals' far more because the current first and1st and 2nd years get 'first dibs' on rooms from those in higher years who are moving out because they hear about it sooner. A large amount of drama schools are 'stand alone' though and only a very small amount connected to a Uni, so usually they don't have any associated Uni halls, you have to look in the private sector. If you've got a situation similar to that for where and what your son is studying, I'd suggest looking as early as possible. 

Thank you, it is an Arts college in Hereford he's wanting to go, we are going up in a few weeks for the open day. When I spoke to the course director they said that they'd be able to give a good indication as to whether he'd be accepted on the open day, so I'm hoping we have plenty of time to get organised. 

kaMelo

Here is some information on how student loans are calculated. It's a PDF download from this page.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-finance-how-youre-assessed-and-paid

Spendless said:

Of my 2 kids, eldest is at Uni and the youngest was going to go this academic year  but changed her mind at the last minute. Both were only entitled to the minimum loan so from the explanation above there must be a 'cut off' point  because neither was getting any  more than the minimum  just because we were going to be supporting 2 at the same time. (This is in England) 

There is a maximum loan entitlement, after the more than one child disregard if the household income is above a certain level then it will unfortunately mean only the minimum loan is available, but it's always possible the link between the two has not been made and no disregard applied to either. Check the figures and see.