Student loans/Grants etc

ketherin

Could someone help please, because of some personal problems my son has just decided that he's going to Uni in Sept and has been granted a place, he'll be living on campus for the first year.

Are the tuition fees paid by us (we will not be able to get any assistance,so we will be paying the costs) or can he get a grant/loan and pay this back once he starts working.
The same question for his accomomdation costs can he get a grant/loan and pay this back once he starts working ?

His weekly cost of living we will help him with and he'll get a part time / summer job etc.

Its just the tuition & rent fees were not sure about.

Thanks you for any help

braken2000

You need to apply for financial assistance, well your son does. This can be done at http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk I would do it ASAP as it can take time to hear back from them. This is the only way to get grants and loans etc. The new style 'fee loans' do not start until the 2006 cycle of entry to universities. I hope this has helped.

braken

peace-babies

it all depends on your income as to whether you/he pays tuition fees and how much which is decided by the student finance people as well as your local lea. his hall fees will be paid by him either from his own savings you or what ever loan his is eligable for, there are grants given but its down to your own circumstances as to how much he recieves (i no in england the max grant is £1000) at the moment. But like braken2000 says he needs to apply now in order for anything he is eligble for to be recieved early in the term. there is also a calculator on the website where you can get a rough guide as to what financial assistance he may recieve as it takes about 6 to 8 weeks for them to get back with details of what he can get after applying.

coolsteel

So he could get the full student loan of £3000 ish, and depending on how much your income is under £21,000 ish down to £16,000 ish he could get upto £1000 free grant from local authority. Student fees are paid if you earn under £21,000 and if you earn over then the more you are over the more you have to contribute to the fee's. Living fees are paid for by the student from loans etc.
Coolsteel :cool:

ketherin

Sorry to be a pain, but were just trying to get this straight, Weve had so many personal prblems were all a bit fuzzy at the moment so thanks for your patience and help.

My wife and I both work so wont qualify for any grants were only looking at student loans.

Loking on the web it looks like the loan is a max of just over £4000, we'll be able to get 75% of this around £3000. His accomodation in the halls for the first year is £3075 so bang goes the loan.

Then we have the tuiton fees around £1175 first year, do we get a loan for this or do we have to find this money ourselves ?

Then there's the weekly cost of living, which we are going to assist with.

were just not clear if there's 2 loans available or just the 1, and are these loans repayable only when he starts work.

ASgain thanks for any help and sorry for any misunderstanding

peace-babies

hi, the systems too confusing i still dont really understand it myself.

Depending your yearly houshold income your son may recieve a percentage of his tution fees paid for by the government this contribution by the government doesnt need to be paid back. The remaining amount for tuition fees will have to be paid either in instalments or at the begining or the year at uni.

From what im aware of there is only one loan available for students.
This loan is for things like accomodation, books and general living costs, it will be paid back when he leaves uni but only when he earns over 14,000/15,000 a year and it will be taken directly out of his salary. If you son is attending a uni inside london he may get a higher loan as cost of living is higher. hope this makes things a bit clearer.

Dont forget he can apply for a student bank account with an interest free overdraft which may not be completly ideal for him but he can use the money till he finds his feet and gets a job if he wants one.

coolsteel

Govenment will pay tuition fees if you meet the criteria, i.e combined earnings and other income must be below £21800 i think but i could be wrong, this needs checking.If your income is over then you will have to pay a certain amount, the more you are over the more you will have to pay. As far as i know there is only one loan availiable.

Coolsteel :cool:

Bennifred

Definitely get straight on to studentfinancedirect - they will sort out how much of the student loan your son is entitled to (as you say, minimum of 75%, may be more according to your income) and also how much of the fees you are liable for. So at the very least your son will get £3000 ish as a student loan, which covers most of his accommodation costs. (Obviously this will have to be paid back, but not until he is earning later). You may have to pay up to £1175 as tuition fees (still apply to studentfinancedirect, though , because the actual fees are much higher than this if you don't - that is the max. you have to pay if you apply for assistance, I think.) Then he has his living costs on top of that. Many many students get jobs to help cover their living costs. HTH.

Savvy_Sue

I don't know if this is going to clarify things for you, but there are two different elements you're asking about. And yes, you need to get the application into Student Finance Direct ASAP.

1. The fees: if you (the parents) earn less than a certain amount, the local education authority will pay your son's fees. If you earn too much, they won't pay anything. They'll eventually send your son a letter saying how much they are paying, and how much they're not paying. Whatever the LEA is not paying will be invoiced to your son by the university. How you and your son pay this bill is up to you: there is no provision for getting it added to his student loan. The university may allow for it to be paid in instalments rather than up-front all in one go.

2. The loan: your son will definitely get something if he applies. And after he graduates he'll be expected to pay it back once he starts earning over a certain amount. That's what he'll use to pay for his accommodation etc.

Hope that helps?

Bennifred

Savvy_Sue, you explain things so well! I wish I'd had you to ask when I was trying to get my head round it!