Advice please re student finance / parental assessment etc

[EastMids2]

DD now in final year of uni - it's been a huge learning curve (I left school at 16, single parent, DD only child) with nobody else in wider family ever going into higher education and I've asked loads of "basic" questions during the past 3 years and now have another financial one.

When student finances first assessed I was earning £20,000 pa for first two years, then made redundant and have now been in lower paid job £13500 for last 12 months. Would my earnings have been reassessed to enable DD to receive a little more financial support or do you think she has the maximum anyway?

Try this? www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk/calculator/studentfinancecalculator/1314/

Apologies if I'm being a bit dense Mollyberry, but that link is what DD completed when first applying re Student Finance in 2010 and then I had to give my financial info separately - should we have done this process again each year since?

Oh no, but it's worth checking whether she would get more grant.

You don't have to go through the whole process just put in what you earn now and then go throuhg it again and put in what you used to earn and see if she would potentially get more and if it would be worth getting reassessed?

Or have I got it totally wrong and you're asking if you can be reassessed through the year?

Ah - I don't want to get this wrong

People here might know better www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=545

You have to reapply each year for student finance, so it would be worth speaking with your daughter to see what information she has provided student finance with.

each year's application goes on the previous tax years income. those starting last september were assessed on 11/12 income, which means those applying now for next september's loans will be assessed on 12/13 income - if there is a massive drop there are provisions to take that into account, you have to ask to be be assessed on current income. Haven't got the link but it will be on the sfe website. Give them a ring if you can't find it

Thanks to all contributors. As with all students (!) money is tight, so I'll be contacting Student Finance to see if my drop in salary will have any impact.

I'm pretty sure she should already be getting the max amount. The max (except for extreme cases such as being in care) is about £7500 per year with the loan and grant combined. It would be worth ringing up and checking though.
If she is getting the max fund already and is struggling with cash then in honestly she probably needs to budgeting a bit better. Unless her accommodation/ rent costs are huge. I survive easily on the max loan and grant because its designed to be enough to live on with no extras from family. They've worked it out pretty well (for once).

SnowGo - I'm happy if DD is in receipt of the max amount and simply wanted to make sure of this due to my own salary reducing by approx 1/3rd. Totally agree about student budgeting - financial independence has been a big learning curve and, on the whole, she's OK and has worked part-time during last 3 years to supplement income. However, if DD was actually eligible for any further support via the "system", I hope you'd agree this was fair!

Oh yeah, get what you can off of them. I managed to get a bursary too even though I didnt really need the extra money. But its nice to have extra to save away. It actually might be worth seeing if her uni offer them. Though usually its only to first years.
I just didn't want your DD to be claiming to not have enough money (and wanting extra off you) when its quite possible to live off of the loan and grant.

If you want your salary to be assessed on a more recent financial year than they usually use, there is an extra form you have to fill in. I'm not 100% sure what the name of it is, but I think it is fairly easy to find on the student finance website. I think your income has to have dropped by a certain percentage for you to be allowed to do this.

However, if your DD is in her final year, then presumably she is not going to apply for fiance next year? There is not much benefit for her to get an in year assessment for change of circumstances, as this will very likely delay her next loan payment, which is probably not something she wants to happen. If she gets a bursary from the university, it may also delay her recieving this.

She would not have got any more money overall (except maybe a slight increase in her bursary) at this level of income, but the proportion of grant and loan might have changed slightly, so she would have had slightly less to pay back. Due to the way student finance works, it is possible she will never pay off the whole loan anyway before it is written off, so this will probably not make much difference to her.

SnowGo - you sound like you've got it all together - :) to you

Slowloris - that does indeed make sense and I appreciate your clear explanation. I'm very good at some practical/emotional stuff but useless with financial paperwork and didn't want DD to lose out due to my own financial circumstances!