Not been asked for income details in application for student loan.

pennyfrog
pennyfrog Posts: 200 Forumite
edited 8 June 2019 at 10:09PM in Student MoneySaving
Hi- I'm wondering if anyone can clarify something for me, please.
My daughter is 25 and lives at home with us. She has a place at uni to start this September and has been applying for her Tuition Loan and Maintenance Loan.

With my son, (who went to uni at 20) I simply filled in the supporting an application form with our income details when it was sent to me.

As my daughter is older, she'd be classed as an Independent Student. She's not employed and has no savings.

She filled in the form, received a reference number and was given a link to a form to submit with her birth certificate as ID (she has no passport yet).

At no point was she asked for any financial information about income etc.

I keep reading that the maintenance loan is means tested but obviously that can't happen without them having income details.

Can anyone clarify whether my daughter will be asked for her financial circumstance details once her initial application has been looked at- or has something been missed? At the moment the amount quoted during her application process won't even cover the cost of her rent in student halls, let alone give enough to eat or buy books, etc.

Thanks for any help :)

UPDATED TO ADD>>>>>>
I've now read in a couple of places that Independent Students don't get their income taken into account. Not sure if that's right or not. Also that if the student is living away from home, the maintenance loan is around £8000 but if they state that they're living with parents they get the basic parental rate- which is a lot less. This seems to tally in with the amount mentioned in her application process - (a bit over £4000). She did tick the living away from home box, though. We can't work it out! Did the fact that she gave the home address as the place to send her mail to make a difference, maybe? (she put that as she obviously doesn't know her uni address yet).
It's rather puzzling!
Conquering the debts one penny at a time.....

Comments

  • Taiko
    Taiko Posts: 2,711
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
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    She's classed as independent, so only on her unearned income/any partner income.
  • pennyfrog
    pennyfrog Posts: 200 Forumite
    Thanks for replying Taiko. As I mentioned above, we did know that she's an Independent Student. Thing is, they haven't asked about her income. (There's no partner). That's what we're confused about.
    It doesn't say that they'll ask for those details- only her ID details.

    We went back over it all again this morning and it shows that she's applied for the maximum maintenance loan of over £8000. It shows that she's ticked the option saying she'll be living away from home (she'll be several counties and a 9 or so hour journey from home)but at the end the application summary states 'Maintenance Loan and grants paid to you' and gives £4,168 as the figure. At no point has her income been asked for, so it seems she's been given a parental rate as if she's living at home during term time. Surely 'mature' students who live at home can't be given that automatically, regardless of the fact that they'll be having to pay rent and living costs with no parental financial assistance.

    Does anyone know if they'll check finances later, or if we have to do something ourselves to find out what the situation is?
    Conquering the debts one penny at a time.....
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