to think that if the government change the money they give us, they could at least tell me why?

[threefeethighandrising]

Rant alert!

I'm a full time student (and parent) and so is DP.

We both get student loans and grants from Student Finance England (SFE).

Every time SFE recalculate how much they are going to give you, they send you a new breakdown of costs and payment dates.

This would be fine if it was accompanied by a letter explaining what has changed and why. But no.

They have sent me and DP no fewer than 8 letters since September, all with varying amounts on them. At look identical except for the amounts and come with no explanation. They don't even mention that there has been a change.

So after playing a really fun version of spot-the-difference between the most recent letter and the last one (which they sent only last week) I can work out they've reversed their decision to award help with Child Care costs.

But they've given no indication as to why!
And their systems are down so I can't ask them.

So I'm left wondering if this is a mistake which is easily resolved (and even then will probably take weeks) or if they have basically just canceled Christmas and left us totally up shit creek. Which is pretty fucking stressful.

Who designs systems like this?! If you're going to change someone's income, isn't it basic decency to tell them why?!

And how on earth are we meant to budget if they keep moving the goal posts?!

If this decision stands I have no money to live on, I have not planned for this, as until only a week ago they said they were going to pay it to me.

Grrrr!

moaninglisa did you have small children while doing that? I seriously doubt it. And if you did, then all I can say is that your degree is less demanding work-wise than mine (that's not meant to be a dig - simply saying there's an awful lot of work involved in mine).

FWIW both DP and I work freelance. DP had to skip uni to do his last job which really wasn't ideal. It involved working two 18 hour - very physical - days with a only a 6 hour break between them to include traveling an hour to and from the jobs and sleep (so he got about 3 hours that night) - so please don't suggest we don't work bloody hard!

Beyond that, there is no slack to fill. I do not have time to watch TV, read papers, listen to music, go shopping or do anything for myself other than be a mum and study. I do not visit friends or family in term time other than occasional playdates for DS. This (being on mumsnet) is about all the "leisure time" I have!

I could not do this degree with a regular part-time evening job, nor if DP had one. DP and I spend every evening of the week either studying, doing freelance jobs or chores. There is no spare time to get more work.

Thanks to those of you who have been supportive, and I'm really sorry that some of you have had to deal with them too. They're a bureaucratic nightmare!

We have a Dutch friend staying with us for a while at the moment, and he can't get his head round it. DP reckons we should fire all the bureaucrats here and import Dutch / Danish ones instead! (DP used to work in Denmark and found their systems really easy to deal with).

RandomMess "Why on earth is there not a proper breakdown on their decision!" that's the thing that annoys me the most! I'm going to make an official complaint to them about exactly this. If they make a change to the amounts / dates they should write a cover note explaining what they've done and why. I can't understand why they don't do this, it seems so obvious that they should be doing it!