DD has messed up her student loan application - anyone know what will happen?

[promomum]

I now wish I was a helicopter parent!

DD is about to go to Birmingham uni and needed to fill in her student registration online by tomorrow.

But, at the part where it asked for how the tuition fee will be financed, she needed a reference number from the student loans company.

She trawled through the disgusting mess that is her bedroom and found a form which she should've signed and returned in April. The letter with it says failure to return it will result in the loan being delayed, which I'm sure it would!

She's now writing a grovelling email to the university - she can't submit the form because she can't put a student loan company number on it.

The loans company won't be open until Monday morning and she obviously needs to phone them then, followed swiftly by a call to the university.

My biggest worry is this jeopardising her university place. We can act as guarantors for her fees, but I really don't want to have to release money from our mortgage to pay the money for her, especially as we've just committed to paying the £4k for her first year's accommodation.

Any advice anyone please? What's likely to happen, do you think?

(In her defence, she was doing a pt job throughout her A'levels and worked her socks off to get good grades, then did two jobs which finished last week to save some money towards her living costs).

I know that DD1's university doesn't require payment for fees until sometime in November - for that exact reason as there are all kinds of reasons why loans can get delayed.

She may be able to apply for a "crisis loan" from the university for accommodation etc which she pays back when her loans come through.

She should have a customer reference number on her letter from student loans (on the right hand side of the letter, just below the date) - I'm sure that's the number her uni are referring too - I don't think each individual loan has a reference number IYSWIM, just the student?

HTH and good luck!

Also, I've just checked online - SLC England are "open" on Sundays from 9.00am - 5.30pm so your DD can phone them tomorrow and doesn't have to wait until Monday.

Their number is 0845 30050090.

Apologies if it's not SLC England you're dealing with.

Oh Woman, please act as her guarantor, the loan will eventually come through, many students get delays in their loans. You don't need to pay all the fees up front.

(keep in mind that if she misses starting this year, next year the fees will be more than twice, while if she starts now she stays within the same low fees bracket until she completes her degree)

Thanks for all your replies.

Wellies - We're in Wales, where the student loan company is shut on Sunday, but thanks for looking up the details.

I've told her to take all the paperwork, go to the student loans company office tomorrow when it opens at 8am and see if she can sort it out in person, then phone the university and submit her registration form after the deadline they've given her, which is supposed to be today. She has been in touch with other Brum students on Facebook who are in the same boat.

The uni are clearly not going to deal with the registrations until Monday, so if necessary as a last resort we'll have to act as her guarantor as Wellies suggests - which may mean releasing money from our mortgage account as we've committed to paying for the accommodation.

What a hassle! She's has a lecture from us about being more organised in future - I'm surprised there were no follow-up reminders or emails after the initial letter, but there you go!

promo can she log in online and print off the loan offer and send it in with her registration form as an interim measure? At least the uni will have her reference no and can use it to claim their tuition fees which is what they need.

I had a quick look at the Brum Uni website and it is possible to ask for a refund on fees IYSWIM, so if you have to pay for the first installment of tuition (approx 1/2 of total fees) to keep the uni happy until her loan comes through then you can apply for it back.

I know you've earmarked £4000 for accomm. but I believe it would be paid in installments too, so if you did have to pay for tuition it could come out of that?

If this is DDs first undergraduate course then she is eligible for a student loan, so it's not a case of if she'll receive it, but when, so don't worry about that aspect.

I'm afraid I don't know how SF Wales works, but I'd have thought she would already have a reference number, otherwise SF Wales wouldn't know her from Adam. Are you/your DD positive it's not the customer reference number Brum Uni are referring too?

Did DD send Brum Uni an email, just so they have something with a date showing she tried to enrol before the deadline but was unable?

Hope it all gets sorted tomorrow and fingers crossed.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Wellies the info about the refund is useful to know. I could do without having to shell out so much upfront - just paid £1800 total for the accommodation, with another £1600 or so to come out of our bank account just after Xmas. It's not money put away as such, we need to earn that second installment first! But if necessary, we'll be able stump up half the first years fees (have been overpaying our flexi mortgage, so will release it from that), and then claim it back.

The reference number on her letter doesn't work online apparently, according to her... she'd read that on the uni website. But I've just yelled up the stairs that she should try try it just to humour me!

Yes, she has sent the uni a grovelling email explaining she's been a complete numpty rather disorganised. I'm sure it'll all be ok and that it's something the university has seen and heard before!

I'll update and let you know the result tomorrow - she's in a bit of a panic, so it's a good lesson for her to learn.

All ok, thankfully. The student finance office in Cardiff weren't able to help much - the form has to be posted to Glasgow as it is all centralised and no longer dealt with by local authorities. She has posted it off now.

But the university was extra-helpful and said they don't expect to receive the fees until December anyway, but suggested she phones the student finance company weekly to check where it's at.

The uni told her about another way of submitting her registration without the need for the reference number from the student loan company.

Luckily she has some money saved, so will be able to live on that until her loan comes through! Phew!

Glad it all got sorted for you/your DD!

Interesting. Esp the bit about phoning weekly. Presumably she now has her reference number! And has reset her password!

'the form has to be posted to Glasgow as it is all centralised and no longer dealt with by local authorities'

I go aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh every time this comes up.

I have older kids whose applications went through the LEA & it was a complete doddle compared with sodding Glasgow (&, to a lesser extent, Darlington) - if you had a problem you could just ring the LEA (on a landline number too, not 0845 ) & speak to an intelligent human who knew what was going on.

Glad you have it sorted, anyway, promomum