"maintenance loan" in Scotland

[waffleanddaub]

Does anyone have any info regarding maintenance loans for students in Scotland? I have read elsewhere that such loans in England are split into means tested and non-means tested elements, the former being around £3k? According to the Scottish student finance website it looks as if my daughter would only qualify for a means tested maximum loan of £950 per annum due to our salary levels.

I was quite shocked at this, at it means she could not get a loan to cover accommodation. Although our salaries are good, we have absolutely no savings ( both no inheritances, made our own way with poor backgrounds etc) and we also have two other younger DCs at home.

I assumed that since a loan would, eventually, be repaid, there would not be such a low amount avialable. There is no way we could pay for her accommodation at approx. £400 per month if she chooses a university away from home.

I know, of course, that her tuition fees would be paid but this doesn't help us at the moment really and she would prefer this to be a loan too but with access to a higher maintenance loan to allow her to make a choice of where to study.

Am I correct in reading it this way as I still can't believe it, really?

I don't know about Scotland, But DD2 is in her 2nd year of uni in London. We didn't get the loan means tested and she gets £4950 maintenance loan per year ( it;s higher in London then elsewhere in England) and also a tuion fee loan.

Hi mumeeee, it looks like we don't have a non means tested loan here. Unless I'm reading it wrong. I would be pleased if she could get this as I'm not keen on her having to take out a commercial loan.
Is there no-one in Scotland who knows about this?

I think if the parents combined earnings are over 58,000 then your daughter won't get the income assessed living loan but the non-income assessed living loan which is about £915.00.

If she studies in Scotland there are no tuition fees to pay but I think that she could apply for a student loan if she studies outside Scotland to pay the tuition fees. Parents income is not assessed for this loan.

She would also get a 0% overdraft on her Student Account up to a certain amount every year.

There are various bursaries as well

There is a calculator on the SAAS site and also all the facts, I found they were very good to talk to for information as well.

There is £915 non-means-tested loan available, but anything beyond that is means tested

Thanks, that what I thought, unfortunately. £915 obviously isn't enough to pay for accommodation. I don't think she would be allowed to run up an overdraft of a few thousand pounds every year either. I don't think she would qualify for any bursaries.

I don't really understand why she can't get a loan, since she would be paying it back eventually. Oh well, she'll have to restrict herself to accepting a place within commuting distance or work almost full time as we just can't afford to help her with rent.

The Scottish government seems to think we can just pay £400 a month to her. That's just not possible and it will restrict her choice of university.

It looks like the penalty we get for having tuition fees paid is that we don't get loans for accommodation. I'd rather have loans for both.