Maintenance loan

[Linneasweet]

Hi all, I know that maintenance loan is means tested but does it take into account things like rent, other children etc? We rent our property and at a quite high cost at that, Just seems a bit unfair that my DD would get the same loan as someone where they may have no rent / mortgage etc as we would not be able to help her out as much as we like.

I think it takes into account other children ( only if they are within a certain age range though) but not the rent as if used to be most parents would still be in their mortgage term when their child went to uni. Not so much now what with having children later in life etc but the form hasn’t changed as far as I know.

They take into consideration household income, not what individual bills cost.

They only take into consideration gross household income, its not a particularly fair system in my view as it doesn't really consider a parents ability to help. Sadly your daughter may have to try and look for employment to supplement it or contact the university and find out what grants or scholarships are available.

Great, thanks all!

And it’s not the end if she does have part time employment. I did accounting at uni (so not a part time subject) but still managed to fit in around 20 hours at week minimum of paid work plus still managed to get a 2:1 ( and if I’d have stuck in even 5 percent more would’ve got a first as my dissertation was marked a first).

The loan takes into account your income and dependants but not bills. However, please contact her university as they will have bursary schemes for low income families (usually under 25k mark). Also if she stays living at home you can get a reduction (25%) on your council tax. Xx

"if she stays living at home you can get a reduction (25%) on your council tax. "

Only if she's the only other adult living with you (i.e. if you're a single parent).

@Linneasweet

Hi all, I know that maintenance loan is means tested but does it take into account things like rent, other children etc? We rent our property and at a quite high cost at that, Just seems a bit unfair that my DD would get the same loan as someone where they may have no rent / mortgage etc as we would not be able to help her out as much as we like.

It does take into other childen. It doesnt take into consideration your bills or debts. Student finance calculator is good online, but does not take into consideration your kids. It worked out on the calculator, that this year DD would be getting £5600 in total and we put down how much we earned the previous year to the letter. But because of my youngest, the reward letter said she got £6200. So use that student finance calculator as a rough guide, so anything else she gets on top is a bonus.

There are also bursaries and scholarships which can also help from the unis'.

DD is first year, and we started saving November of last year and put so much away each month, so come August of next year, she had the things she needed like a laptop, kitchen ware, sheets, towels etc, so that wasnt a big expense come results day.
Then Septembers 2020 wages went towards freshers week, and since then october onwards, with the usual wage we put an allowance to one side for her which we pay monthly and she has to budget.

Oh and also have a student bank account with an overdraft facility too. So should you run into any issues, its always there as a back up.