Help With Student Loans - HERE!

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  • jollygreen
    jollygreen Posts: 9 Forumite
    Dear kind ladies and gentlemen, wondered if you could offer advice please?.

    I am a 42 yr old lady who has applied to uni for the first time. It is a two yr foundation degree and it states part time. 3 to 3 1/1 days per week.

    I have previously done a college course in my youth which was a two year NNEB in childcare, don't think they have these any more.

    I am puzzled as my friend's daughters uni course is only three days but classed as full time?

    Anyway to get to the point.. the nearest uni to offer course is 90 mins away. I feel I would have to stay over a few night per week.

    My husband works but we receive working families tax credit as he is a relatively low paid worker and we have 3 school aged children.

    ALL the financial help i can find is for full time courses... can i get ANY help with the course fees and my living away costs from any where???
  • glider3560
    glider3560 Posts: 4,115 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    jollygreen wrote: »
    Dear kind ladies and gentlemen, wondered if you could offer advice please?.

    I am a 42 yr old lady who has applied to uni for the first time. It is a two yr foundation degree and it states part time. 3 to 3 1/1 days per week.

    I have previously done a college course in my youth which was a two year NNEB in childcare, don't think they have these any more.

    I am puzzled as my friend's daughters uni course is only three days but classed as full time?

    Anyway to get to the point.. the nearest uni to offer course is 90 mins away. I feel I would have to stay over a few night per week.

    My husband works but we receive working families tax credit as he is a relatively low paid worker and we have 3 school aged children.

    ALL the financial help i can find is for full time courses... can i get ANY help with the course fees and my living away costs from any where???
    See this page http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Applyingforthefirsttime/DG_171529
  • jollygreen
    jollygreen Posts: 9 Forumite
    the link tells me about help with the course fees but nothing of helping with accommodation etc??
  • glider3560
    glider3560 Posts: 4,115 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    jollygreen wrote: »
    the link tells me about help with the course fees but nothing of helping with accommodation etc??
    It says about "the Course Grant - to help with study costs, such as books, materials and travel". When you get the money, you can spend it on whatever you want (including accommodation).

    It also says "A number of organisations offer grants on top of the student finance package provided by the government." There are some details about these on that link.
  • jollygreen
    jollygreen Posts: 9 Forumite
    gosh max £1450 for course and accommodation? very low and quite scary
  • Oldernotwiser
    Oldernotwiser Posts: 37,425 Forumite
    jollygreen wrote: »
    gosh max £1450 for course and accommodation? very low and quite scary

    You don't receive funding for maintenance when studying part time as you are expecting to be supporting yourself by employment or benefits. There wouldn't normally be any need for extra accommodation as most people would live locally.
  • bestpud
    bestpud Posts: 11,048 Forumite
    jollygreen wrote: »
    Dear kind ladies and gentlemen, wondered if you could offer advice please?.

    I am a 42 yr old lady who has applied to uni for the first time. It is a two yr foundation degree and it states part time. 3 to 3 1/1 days per week.

    I have previously done a college course in my youth which was a two year NNEB in childcare, don't think they have these any more.

    I am puzzled as my friend's daughters uni course is only three days but classed as full time?

    Anyway to get to the point.. the nearest uni to offer course is 90 mins away. I feel I would have to stay over a few night per week.

    My husband works but we receive working families tax credit as he is a relatively low paid worker and we have 3 school aged children.

    ALL the financial help i can find is for full time courses... can i get ANY help with the course fees and my living away costs from any where???

    You are very likely to find you don't need to be in uni for as long as they say once you get started. You may well get away with one or two days a week.

    Is there any way you can chat with current students - on FB or the uni website...? They would tell you what you will actually be expected to do.

    Also, semesters are very short, with long holidays and breaks for this that and the next thing.

    Have you tried contacting a tutor to ask how it works in reality? They tend to exaggerate in the prospsectus and at open days!
  • Stella66
    Stella66 Posts: 145 Forumite
    Can someone help please. I started an NHS funded course in September, and also applied for the maintainance grant from SLC. I now want to change to a different course which starts in January at a different uni. The new course is not NHS related, will l be able to re apply for the full Student loan award?
  • Taiko
    Taiko Posts: 2,711 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    You're only allowed one award within the academic year, so no.
  • Lady_DingDong
    Lady_DingDong Posts: 2 Newbie
    Hi,

    I'm a mature student with two children and a mortgage. My partner is low income, earning just slightly above £16k p.a.

    I'm halfway through my second year at uni and I've today received 2 letters from SLC. One stating I have been overpaid in grants by over £4k and the other is a new payment schedule taking this into account. They have deducted what is owed from this years finance and my payments have reduced by two thirds. Believe me - this is a lot of money to me.

    I just don't understand how they can assess me on 4 separate occasions (year 1 once, and now in year 2 I've had my original application approved plus been the victim of 'auditing' twice which has resulted in this). The first three say I'm fully entitled to the grants and paid them out and then on the 4th they say they've changed their mind and I'm not eligible for them any more???

    I'm completely bemused by it in fact and spent the most of today in tears. I don't know how we will get by on just £90 a week for a family of 4. I have friends whose partners earn almost triple what mine does and they are getting the same as me now - how can that be fair?

    The only changes in circumstances are that my partner had a £300 pay rise (whoopie-doo) in Jan 2010 and I worked 14 hours a week on minimum wage for 6 months of the summer. My earnings were about £1500 in total.

    The grants are the Adult Dependants Grant and the Parental Learning Allowance.

    Can you give me any insight into why this has happened and if I have a leg to stand on asking for it to be re-assessed? I have written quite a strong letter of complaint to SLC about it but haven't posted it yet. I did try to phone but only spoke to a muppet who told me there are no managers I can speak to and the department that reviews the grants don't have phones... Yes, she did actually say that!

    I just don't understand how a mistake this detrimental to the student can be made on three occasions and my family and I have to suffer the consequences.

    Any advice is very much appreciated!
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