Can my DD 'flip homes' for financial benefit?

[Kosmik]

My daughter wants to go to university. My husband (her stepdad) earns just a bit too much for her to be eligible for the maintenance grant and says he will not pay for her as he cannot afford it and that her father should be made to contribute.

Her biological father (who she has never lived with since the age of two) I believe is now unemployed or on a very low income as the CSA have assessed him to pay just £5 per week maintenance for her. If she was living with him while at uni she would probably be able to claim the full grant (2,901 per year)

Would it be feasible in such a situation for my daughter to 'flip homes' to the lower earning parent in order to be eligible for the grant? Has anyone ever tried this?

Yeah, why not. People lie to get money they aren't entitled to all of the time don't they, why shouldn't she!

They base the grant on the years previous earnings don't they? They don't base it on current.

Sorry but considering it is only about £40 a week why can't your husband pay her that?

I find it incomprehensible that he has been there living under the same roof as her and because of his earnings she suffers? Yet he does nothing.

Now you are looking for ways around it.

She gets less money if she does not live on campus, in fact she has to live on campus in the first Uni year. All Uni's require this.

Ditto with pluck. Fraud is rife already, why not join them?

Im actually real mad at your post. This is your problem not someone elses.

Your daughter suffers because of your husband and you want to palm it off elsewhere. Get a fucking backbone and tell your husband to pay up the £40 a week, you will more than save enough when she has gone as you wont be feeding her or providing her with heat/power.

yes she must, surely she has two homes anyway, and better to swap homes than be thounsands in debt

Not true that all unis require you to live on campus in first year!

I don't think it would work, leaving aside ethical issues.

All ujnis do not require that students live on campus during the first year. Many don;t have enough accommodation for all first year's anyway.

How about she gets a job?

I can't see how it could work if she has never lived with him. Yabu.

Well I got the idea from our MPs flipping homes and then flipping back for financial gain - apparently all within the rules! All I want to know is would it be within the rules in my daughter's case?

OH AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF IF SHE LIVED WITH HER DAD HE WOULD LOSE BENEFIT.

Are you sure her step dad's income has to be declared? Unless he has adopted her she isn't his legal responsibility.

kOSMIK

No it would not be she has to reside at university the first year.

Talk to your tight bastard husband and tell him to cough up.

Not all Unis require you to live on Campus in your first year, especially if you are a "home" student.

Parents have always (parents not step parents) refused to pay what they are supposed to. Some parents who do this have been extremely rich.

Your daughter not living in your home should save you £40 a week easily.

Sorry Iska in order to get a certain amount of grant you have to live at Uni, she would get even less if she lived at her dads, as would he as he would lose benefit for having another adult in the house.

Wow, is that how it works these days? When I went to university (admittedly a long time ago) they didn't take my stepfather's earnings into account at all when calculating what grant/loan I was entitled to.

When my friend and I went to uni some years ago she got more money than I did because her stepdad's considerable income was discounted, as he hadn't legally adopted her.

FabbyChic, that's not what you said though. It's true that if you live at home you get a lower grant, because they assume you don't have to pay rent/utilities etc. If you live away from home you get slightly more, but it doesn't stay in your pocket.

That is NOT the same as saying "in fact she has to live on campus in the first Uni year. All Uni's require this" - it is not a requirement. You are entitled to live wherever you like to attend university.

I think it now goes on Household income to take into account the fact you get people living as a couple etc.,

Sorry I assumed you had to, my son as to he is attending Warwick.

Fabbychic - you don't need to live at university in order to get a grant/loan - there are different maximum amounts depending on whether you are living at home or not.

Kosmik - your DD is entitled to a student maintenance loan regardless of parental income (you have the option to reuqest that household income isn't taken into account). Obviously if you want the non-repayable grant, they do use household income.

Step parents income never used to be counted and absent parents not made to pay. I know one person who didn't have to pay their fees despite both sets of parents being loaded. I know of another who said they were separated (they had a second home so gave 2 addresses) to gain a full grant.

It's wrong and the system that allows it is wrong

Warwick don't have enough hall space for all the current first year students Fabbychic, so I can't see how they could make it compulsory ot live on campus.

If Ive got it wrong sorry.

My point is still the same, what the OP wants to do will compromise the benefits of her ex, and also reduce the income to her daughter.

The biggest point is her partner is a tight bastard.

I just looked it up. Nowhere on the Warwick accommodation website does it say it is compulsory for students at any stage to live on campus.