Help! Uni advice how does it all work

[Colycola]

I never went to university so excuse my ignorance.

Dd wants to go to university, we have done the ucas form.

She has put down 3 choices.

We are a very low income family, think under £25k.

So as I understand it.

We apply for loans to pay for the course. Then she applies for maintenance loans to pay for her living and food? And this is dependent on our family income? Are we entitled to any other help? My biggest concern is that she won’t have enough money and we will have to top it up, even though we are obviously hoping she will be able to transfer her Saturday job to there.

And then they get her ucas forms and she gets offers? Is that correct? What happens if they don’t offer her? Or if no one wants her!

How does it work? Thank you and excuse my ignorance.

How exciting (and a bit scary too) to have these choices
I grew up in a single parent family,council house,1st in family to go to uni
It is achievable,and it can be hard going.

Ok it’s a while since I was at uni

UCAS form is her application for a specific course at a named university
The uni considers her, based on projected grades, supporting statement and school reference and their estimate of grades
Offers are
unconditional
Conditional
Or she gets declined

It’s unusual to get declined by all choices. School usually realistically steer student to the appropriate course and uni

The loans, your daughter applies in her name it’s her student loan.
The family income is assessed for maintenance grant and you submit payslips etc. Again it’s her grant, in her name based on your family income

Working, yes she can work. Depending on the course it may be more than the one day

Do you contribute? If you can afford to yes. Doesn’t need to be financial support. My mum sent me food, when we met she paid for lunch. Biggest contribution is her knowing your in her corner,that you love her and are supportive

We are same boat, single parent family she will be first to go. So I’m really hoping to facilitate as much as I can. I want her to be given the opportunities I wasn’t.

Be Supportive that’s what matters, give her your time, and encouragement
And good luck, with the applications.

Preparation and more preparation. It is, after all, a competition between all the applicants in any one year.

Don't just rely on the school. Make sure DC gets best possible GCSE grades. They do count for the most prestigious/worthwhile courses. At least 7 or 8 of the GCSEs should be at the top possible grade.

Try to ensure he gets the best A level predictions. As other posters have said, these are the major deciders for offering universities, unless he has grades already at hand.

It's hard to be positive, but try to convince him he has as much chance as anyone else. It's tough to bluff to bolster their confidence when it's a fact that some parents will have thrown money at the outcome from nursery stage.

In addition, most universities offer bursaries for low income students. Have your DD look on the individual university websites for her three choices and search for bursaries. She’d apply for them separately and directly to the university. These bursaries can be thousands of £ off tuition or accommodation costs.

Does your DD have any disabilities? If so, she should apply for the disabled student allowance as well.

Also, she can try contacting zero gravity. It is a charity that helps disadvantaged students navigate the university application process.
www.zerogravity.co.uk/

They match each aspiring university student with a current university student who can act as a mentor and guide them from the perspective of a person who has just gone through the whole process.

Don't they get 5 choices? Mine is coming to the end of uni now but it was always five, if it's still five then it's worth applying to five. Usually an aspirational choice (they require grades a on the higher side of what she could achieve) a couple of realistic choices, then a couple in case she doesn't get what she expects.

On your income your dc would get maximum maintenance loan of about 9250 a year (don't start worrying about the debt, see it as a tax on education, read Martyn's Lewis advice on it) they may get more if you have other dependent children.

Look at the areas of the universities she's applying to, as rents/hall fees will vary in different parts of the country. They also vary hugely depending on whether they want an en suite or are happy to share a bathroom.

There's a charity called IntoUniversity, look on its website, which helps low income families with tutoring/advice.

Don't worry too much about the cost. They don't pay anything back unless earning over a set salary. (For now)

It's also perfectly possible to scrape by on the maximum loan which your daughter may be likely to receive.

Well GCSES have been taken and they are all at a 4/5 level. A levels are predicted C’s. So not great but we have had a lot to contend with we have really struggled through the last few years financially and there have been some medical issues that have taken her out but despite this she has passed all her exams and she is trying.

Make sure your DD is looking at the contextual offer grades for the courses she applies to. For example, a university may say the grades for their course are BBB but then they usually have a * and you follow that to their contextual offer grades and these are usually lower, as in BCC. Universities often on their webpage have a little “do I qualify for contextual offer” calculator. You plug in your post code and check off whether you are State school, free school meals, a young carer, disability, etc. Then it says, yes you are or no you aren’t. Most low income students from a deprived area at a state school like your DD will qualify for a contextual offer. This means your DD needs the lower set of grades to get an offer for a uni course. Not the higher published grades. I mention this because many disadvantaged students don’t know this and miss out on going to a better university or course by thinking oh, I can’t get BBB so I’ll not apply. She needs to check the contextual grade requirement. Calling the university admission office can also help answer any questions too.

That’s such an informative post @PlanDeRaccordement

I’m not sure we qualify as a disadvantaged postcode even though our family income is so low. I shall call round the choices tomorrow and see what they suggest.

Good idea OP, look into it because each university has different criteria for contextual offers. It all depends on their specific widening access policies. You might be pleasantly surprised. Fingers crossed for you both.

The loans are split into two. Your DC applies as the debt is in their name.
One is the tuition fees, for everyone, and this depends on where you live and where the uni is. Eg, cheaper for Scottish students to study in scotland etc. Typically £9k for england.

Other is the maintenance loan. This bit is means tested on parents income and is for living (accommodation, food, materials) costs. When DD applies you'll be asked to input income so they can work out what she is entitled to. She can still work though, most uni towns have students working in bars, shops, etc.

Go to open days, if possible, or read uni websites carefully for bursary's (money grants). My DS got £1K additional for putting a uni as first choice, and another £1K for exceeding his offer grades.

And don't ever stress about paying off her student loan. It's the cheapest money she will ever borrow and a percentage of people never have to pay it back. Check out Martin Lewis for this.

When she accepts an offer, the uni will have different accommodation levels too. So cheaper to share a bathroom than have a room with an en-suite. So look at that on open days or online too. She will apply for the rooms at the price points she wants.

Teach your DD to shop and cook for herself on a budget. Obv much cheaper than the easier takeaways.

UCAS website has loads of info! Good luck to your DD!

Most people put 5 down rather than 3. Consider with the school if she can add another 2 in as it is quite rare only to apply for 3.

As family income is low she will probably get the full maintenance loan. f she will not be living at home and is not going to London then this year it is £9,203. If parents earn more the child gets more like £4k and the parents are expected to make it up to the full one.

If you are in Wales there is a grant for those from homes with not much money rather than just the loan. Scotland has no fees.

She never pays any of the loan back ever unless she earns over about £26k.

The £9203 will cover her rent, food, travel, books etc. It should be enough but she might want to get a part time job eg over the summer holidays.

Apply to UCAS first - is she 2nd year sixth from or first? Deadline is mid Jan if she's applying to start this September. Most schools will have asked for them to have applied by now to give them time to add the reference, so hopefully she's year 12.

Yes use all five choices - costs the same! If she's a C grade student consider courses that offer foundation years.

Not that many have contextual offers sadly, though a few high grade places do.

Once she has rejections or offers from all five she has to narrow it down to two choices - firm, her first choice, then an insurance choice if she doesn't get the grades for the firm choice.

Apply for fee and maintenance loans around Easter. Can be later though.

If your household income is less than £25,000 then your DD will get that maximum loan for living costs. Depending on where your DD has applied to she might get a bursary on top of this so extra money that is given to the student that doesn't need to be paid back. Bursaries
tend to be awarded to students from a low income background (ie are getting the maximum means tested student loan) - get your daughter to search for bursary on the universities websites she has applied for to see if she's entitled to any. The Money saving expert website explains how the student loan works - is take a look at that too to put your mind at rest about loans and how they work.

Contextual offers will be based on the school attended. If it’s a state school in a large city then contextual offers likely to apply.
My dd got a Contextual offer. She received a bursary of £1000 as I’m on a low income.
She is budgeting very well (proud).
I’m not giving any extra financially but giving things like toilet roll and pasta.
She can send the form off with 3 then add 2 more on via Ucas track. This is what I encourage my students to do rather than delay the application if they are not sure if the final 2.

www.ucas.com/undergraduate

@Colycola, your DD should already have found her way around it in the process of preparing her application, but the website is open for anyone else to have a wander round, as it were, as well.

What subject does she want to study? Is there a reason why she has only put down 3 choices so far? Although as Rummikub says, it's better to get one's application in with 3 one is certain about, than delay it dithering over the last two. She can add the other two (it's her application, not the school's) as and when she's ready, but preferably before January 15th (the 'key dates' are all listed in the UCAS website).

Wants to study media, I’ve told her this morning to have a look and add another two if possible.

So the form goes off, she has done the statement and then we wait for the offers?

@Colycola

Wants to study media, I’ve told her this morning to have a look and add another two if possible.

So the form goes off, she has done the statement and then we wait for the offers?

yes, and then once the offers are all in she picks 2- a firm and an insurance. the firm choice should be the one she wants to go to the most, and the insurance should have slightly lower grades, in case she misses out on the grades for the firm choice. things like applying for loans etc come later - for now all she needs to do is send the form and wait for the 5 responses.

Yes, the form goes off and she waits. Then if she gets 2 or more offers she chooses her firm favourite and then has the easiest to get into as back up (don't do what my son did and say he was so sure he would get the grades for all his choices he has as his back up one with the same grades offered as his first choice which is risky, although he did get the grades for first choices).

Then she concentrates on getting the best A level results she can. In my son's case the time for applying for where you live - the halls of residence - was after the A level exams so he could forget about it all until then. Then if you get your first choice and the exam results to secure it in August then you know you are going.

It is worth in the summer looking at when the student loan comes in and how it is paid. I believe it is not equal for all 3 terms so a bit of budgeting is needed and sometimes you need to find year 2 housing in November and December of year 1 as houses to rent get snapped up so something to pay towards the deposit of year 2 might be needed a few months after you start year 1. Usually private landlords for year 2 require a parental guarantee too.

@Colycola

Wants to study media, I’ve told her this morning to have a look and add another two if possible.

So the form goes off, she has done the statement and then we wait for the offers?

Yes but once the form goes off it doesn't actually go to ucas, it goes to her school to provide the reference. Which they have to do before 15 Jan. hence the urgency and need for her to communicate with school.

The college has submitted her form today! I’ve told her to look up two more that do the course she wants.

But only chose a course and location she actually wants,not just to fill a form
Uni is study but it’s the location,the experience,where she finds herself.
If there is genuinely only 1 place she really wants, chose that