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?

Like Jazz says, she will be able to live off her student loan, even if she doesn't get a grant. She will just have to learn how to budget properly. If she wants extras, she can get a job - shop work or bar work, even a couple of hours a week will give her extra spending money.

My DP and I are both students - he manages to work 26 hours a week as well as 2 days at uni, and I work 12.5 with 3 days at uni. We live in a privately rented, nice 2 bed house and can still afford things that aren't vital e.g. virgin tv & nice food. It is managable.

The first year may be harder as campus accomodation is extortionate, it will be a lot easier for her if she finds a shared flat or house in the second year.

Of course you should do this. It would be very strange for you not too

the grant is not extra on top of a loan - if you qualify for a grant, that amount is taken off the total loan you can apply for (more or less) so the only benefit is that it's not all repayable at the end.

students cannot get hb unless they are in the care of a child.

It is extra and it is not deducted from anything else.

Having had a son at Uni for four years and another going this year, I'm well aware that the maintenance grant is in addition to and not instead of.

I disagree with the whole idea of assessing the step-parent's income being assessed for student loan purposes - I refuse to move in with/marry DP because of it tbh, at least until the DC have finished with university.

Another alternative is for your DD to postpone studying until she's old enough to be assessed as an Independent student. I think it's only about three years. I studied as a mature student and my parents' income was never taken into account.

Actually Fabby, the more you are entitled to as a grant, the less you are entitled to as a loan. It does pretty much balance out in the end.

My DP's mum & stepdad's income means he qualifies for the full maintenance grant but not the full loan amount, whereas my mum's income means I qualify for the full loan amount, but not as much of a maintenance grant, and we get just about the same amount of money as each other.

Nope she can't it's worked out on the primary caregiver (mother) not the household she lives in. We've had great experiences with this as when my mother died it was worked out on my father even though I haven't lived with him ever. She would have to declare that she was estranged from you and apparently they do check.

we're in the process of applying for student finance at the moment, and it's most certainly taking off the amount of grant (I'm playing with different figures to work out if we should use last year or this year's income). I guess it depends on the level of household income?

Ok so I'm a student in the UK, just to clarify (as is my DP):
If you want, there are two loans one for tuition fees which goes straight to the university and one called a maintenance loan which is paid quarterly to the student. Neither one of these are household income assessed.

If your household earns below a certain threshold you could be eligable for a maintenance grant (not neccessarily the whole thing)

If you recieve any amount of the grant this does not usually take from your loan (I presume you'd have to ask for this to be the case)

There are also burseries and scholarships which you can apply for which vary uni to uni and do not effect your loan/grant application.

Students are exempt from council tax but all other bills apply.

Students do not recieve JSA, HB or Income Support etc unless they have children.

I can't help the OP at all sorry, but just wanted to ask about the grant. I didn't think there was any such thing as student grants anymore? I thought it was all loans these days, am I wrong then?

read my above post.