To not tell uni I’m leaving but not attend

[Catsandmorecats]

Hi. I’m at the end of term 1 at uni soon and will be ending my studies once exams are done this week (multiple reasons, not going into that) but I could really do with the maintenance loan. What would happen if I didn’t tell uni I was leaving and just still got the maintenance loan? But then just didn’t attend?

Or if I do tell them I’m leaving do I still pay the 9k for the full year even if I’ve only done half?

If you claim the loan when not at uni you will have to pay it back when they find out. And they will. If you don't tell the uni you are leaving they will hold you liable for the fees, you'll have to check their policy for what you owe if you do tell them as i expect they'll have a notice period.

The university can advise best but I am sure mine give pro rata refunds on the fees part but there is a notice period so best to do it ASAP.
And you can ask them without actually then leaving.
No idea about grants though

I stupidly did this. Quit my Nursing diploma and didn't tell the bursary people for a month or two.

Eventually I had to pay it back. I was young and stupid in my defence!

Go to whoever in the university, explain the situation and see what they can do to help

You've clearly been thinking of leaving for a while, so why do you need the maintenance loan?

Surely you've got yourself a job lined up etc?

You need to go to registry and ask what your otpyions are and they will advise you on the best way to leave financially.
If you don’t leave as such, tell them you will be liable for the full year of fees.
Registry will know the best way for you, get advice though

Once you stopped attendance, when the university eventually find out the will contact student finance. SF will ask for all the maintenance loan you received while you weren’t attending back. I’ve heard this happen to someone and it got them into a lot of trouble. If you are planning to quit tell the university and SF and you may get a refund from the uni for some of the year and SF can stop your payments.

Yes I do have a full time job but I’m in student accommodation (but private not owned by uni) so I’m also anticipating being kicked out and having to pay 2 rents. Don’t know how likely that is but I’m my flat contract it says I must be a student

Apologies for post full of errors

Options

If you don’t tell them you are leaving then you are liable for fees in full

Cats you need to speak to your university, student services should be able to advise you on your housing -

My sister left at this point in her first year. She had to pay back a large amount of her maintenance loan and a small part of fees. I think she kept putting off dealing with it all before Xmas so everything rolled over into the new semester which caused her to owe money back.

I genuinely feel for you but you can’t claim the maintenance loan if you aren’t attending uni. Maybe talk to your landlord and explain the situation?

At my university, if you leave before the end of term one, you only pay 25% of the fee. If you leave after that, it's a minimum of 50%. You need to check what your university's rules are, it could be costly to delay.

Hi OP. I work at a University. What you are suggesting is essentially fraud, claiming money under false pretences. I advise you do not do this. We’ve had many try and had horrible consequences to deal with afterwards. Basically you won’t get away with it and to be honest why should you. If you no longer are attending University you should get a job to support yourself. If you have financial difficulties I recommend speaking with the University’s student services for help.

Why would you be paying rent twice? Have you signed up for a year?

Speak to your landlord sooner rather than later and see if they will let you go with notice?

It would be a shame to have wasted a year. Is there any workaround that you could negotiate to allow you more time to do the class or anything? Can you get support with any of the multiple issues that are preventing your continuance? Perhaps talking to the student services could help you come up with a plan which would enable you to still attend and thus keep the loan the flat and the wolves from the door if you could work too.

We do attendance audits a couple of times per term based on swipe in data in the lecture theaters - you'd be caught pretty quickly, contacted, then withdrawn, which would flag you up with student finance England.

I did this during my masters last year. I arranged to payback £10/month with the debt collection agency.

You need to talk to uni and they'll help you leave in the most cost effective way. Ie there any way you could reconsider though? I know you've got a job lined up but it really is surprising how many jobs require 'educated to degree level' it's really very limiting (I speak as someone in their 30s who didn't go to uni)

Go and see your personal tutor then student services. If you're struggling financially, they can signpost you to places that can help. If its something else: academic work, emotional issues, relationship breakdown, pregnancy, health issues, harassment or anything else, your personal tutor can also signpost you. You wouldn't walk out of a paid job without notice would you? Give proper notice to prevent storing up issues in the future and to keep a decent reference.

Basically I want to start part time at open uni instead so will still end up with a degree but I am really not passionate about any subject and feel like there’s no point in dedicating 3 full time years to something I hate doing

Will email my personal tutor anyway

Tell them now before semester 1 officially ends. You will have to pay back more if you let it drag in to semester 2. Same with your accommodation - give notice ASAP.
Speak to Student Finance about what you might be entitled to if you do Open Uni.
You’ve made a mature decision to not continue with something you’re not passionate about, and you’ve put plans in place for what to do next. You just need to follow this bit through as well rather than hoping it will go away.

So two things;

Firstly; you don’t need to be attending classes to ‘be at uni’ I worked FT through uni, only went to a handful of classes but always turned my assignment in and got a 1st class degree 👍🏻 So in answer to your question you can stop going to classes, get your maintenance loan and stay in your accommodation as long as you still hand in your assignments/sit your exams. They won’t ‘find out’ and you’re not doing anything wrong.

Secondly; dropping out is a huge waste of money and when you don’t return next year they’ll make you repay the total sum with nothing to show for it. I changed my mind about what I wanted to do the Christmas of my first year (same stage as you). I found the course I did want to do (totally different) and hounded the Uni to let me transfer onto it!

Unless you’re at a super competitive uni (but even then) they always get a few students drop out after starting which frees up places on courses. It’s financially beneficial for the uni to fill that place again if they can!

I really pushed to get into the course I wanted. Then basically treated it like an open university course 😂 whilst getting all the perks/funding of a FT student. It didn’t make any difference - I came out with a 1st class xx

The university has to confirm your attendance to SLC every term. If you don't turn up in term 2, they'll tell SLC you finished at the end of term 1. That will make you liable for 25% of the fees. You'll be allowed to keep the term 1 maintenance loan, but asked to repay the term 2 loan you'll receive in January.

Firstly; you don’t need to be attending classes to ‘be at uni’

That will depend on the regulations at your university. Ours has an attendance expectation and we withdraw students who don't attend. Even those with long convoluted, yet entirely unevidenced, sob stories....