Student Finance refusing tuition/maintenance for repeat year - advice please!

[LapdanceShoeshine]

DS2 failed his degree 3 years ago. He was suffering from depression but he didn't realise it & neither did we. He missed most lectures, seminars & deadlines, & did not complete his dissertation (though he'd have failed anyway).

He's been at home since then, generally not achieving much, but has got himself out of the black dog & last year DS1 arranged via his favourite professor (same subject, different university) for DS2 to pick up his degree halfway through second year on the back of his grades in first 2 years before.

He is just completing that semester, which we have funded fully, on the understanding that he could be fully funded by student finance for the final year (= 4th year of finance).

He has just received this communication:

Your second year of your Politics course in 2017 counts towards our previous study calculation. Self-funded years are still calculated, and any amount of time spent on the course is taken as a full year
With this, plus your time at the University of X (2011-14) this comes to 4 years

This is ridiculous, isn't it? I am incandescent with rage

And we're going on holiday for 2 weeks tomorrow, & with the election we can't do anything with our MP

& he has a chance to do the autumn semester in Europe but without having the finance confirmed he might not be able to.

Do you think his university can help? They also thought he could get full funding for next year.

It is ridiculous -I got caught out by the same thing

I started a degree 18 years ago, never had any loans as it was an NHS financed course and I didn't qualify for a maintenance loan due to my parents income. I was ill so couldn't complete at the time

Went back as a mature student to be told that I'd had my student finance already

Being unable to claim tuition fees loan also reduced the maintenance loan I was eligible for and meant I wasn't eligible for the university hardship awards

Madness

Maybe you can figure out an alternative way of financing that final year. There are always solutions, but not always the ones you first thought about, and not always as good as the most preferred solution. So, what other options are there? Take out private loan? Distance studies, living at home while studying? Working part-time and study part-time thus taking two years to complete one full year? Take the final year abroad somewhere where tuition fees are lower? (Remember I don't know any particulars about the situation, only mention some options that came to mind. I do know, however, what it's like to miss most lectures, seminars and deadlines in a year, as it happened to me in 1984 or thereabouts.)

I'd also look at alternate options, from something like open university/distance studying, through to can you guys pay for it and maybe he owes you the money on the same terms.

Thanks all - I'm shocked that this is apparently 'normal' & has been happening for such a long time.

I suppose this kind of situation is quite rare so you don't find out about it until it affects you.

The email also says:

'If you didn’t finish a previous course for reasons beyond your control, such as the depression you have indicated, you may be able to get an additional year of funding. You would need to send evidence from a professional person such as a doctor, counsellor, social worker, tutor or similar who knows your circumstances, explaining your situation and why it meant you couldn’t continue with your studies'

He did go to the GP here for anti depressants but won't have told them much. The previous university won't be any help because his name was attached to a piece of group work. He attended the group meetings because they were in the evening, & because he felt he should go, but he had very little input; his tutors' attitude was that if he could do that he should be doing everything else too

He's asking his professor for advice initially.

Get the proof that he went to the docs for antidepressants - that's proof enough :)

Also, don't presuppose what the other university might help with, and not, until you know it for a fact. You might be right, but you don't know for sure just yet. Who else was on the group work? You might want to find out, to use as a reference.

His professor is unlikely to be clued up on student finance. He needs to speak to his student services/student support team - every university has one although calls them slightly different things. They will have been through it before so should know what the options/possibilities are.

There are loopholes that can allow you to be refinanced. Most degrees are 3/4years with a false start year included (so 4/5 years funding is available). Any years previously financed (so first two) will be excluded but any unfinanced years should be available when your son reaches that point in his degree (so from y3 on). Sometimes it helps to have medical back up for the need for additional funding so speaking to his psychiatrist and getting them to write a letter of support for additional funding can work (it can also fund an entirely new degree from scratch if proven there is a need for it and that he can't go back to what he was doing before due to sickness or disability). These are all things I've done myself but I had to get lots of evidence in support of my claim and even then they tried to revoke my funding and I had to fight them. Is there the chance he could study part time? In Scotland for low incomes there's the part time fee grant that doesn't need paid back which might also alleviate stress of studying full time. You can study up to 119 credits a year but may need to contribute something the more you do.

Go to the GP and explain the situation. They write these letters all the time. They'll charge you for it but not much. Trust me, this is routine. If he was prescribed ADs, the GP will write the letter.

Great to have the professor onside. His student union should have a student advice service or similar, I've had good experiences with them at uni. There should also be information online about the Uni's fees dept., who may be able to contact Student Finance on his behalf if he gives them permission. They might also have info on hardship funds as a back up.

The fact that the GP prescribed him ADs means that he probably gave them quite a lot of detail in the appointment - this will be enough for him to get a letter from them (and will be helpful if he needs help from the Uni Disability Services in his final year). This is probably your best bet re. getting the funding for that final year.

They just need evidence from a professional that he's telling the truth, that's all - no big deal and perfectly reasonable to want it, otherwise they'd be opening the floodgates to all sorts of fraudulent claims.

He needs to request funding on the basis of Compelling Personal Circumstances. I used up my 'repeat year' funding as I'd already started a degree previously, but I had to repeat my fourth year due to MH issues and I got that funded by Student Finance as they accepted I had CPC. I just had to send them letters from my psychiatrist and therapist. The student advice service should be able to advise him - they deal with this situation all the time, academics often have out of date information.

Good luck with everything OP. I hope you can come up with a solution asap. I have dealt with student finance and fighting them for the past 7 years (long complicated story). They are incompetent and unreasonable and i hope u have a good caring & passionate MP.

GOOD LUCK.

Keep an accurate record of all your correspondence (phone calls, letters etc) with student finance. They are not reliable & highly incompetent.