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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Student finance - help! Feel utterly clueless

26 replies

Graphista · 10/08/2021 17:48

There may well be another thread for this but I can't find one.

Dd is headed off to uni soon having done very well today.

One of the better unis too which I'm very pleased for her

BUT she is stressing about money (as I'm sure many are!)

I feel unable to advise her as I don't really know how it works myself as it's been quite some time since I was a student plus I didn't live in and it's the accommodation side she's most worried about.

Can anyone advise? Tips and links please?

I think she's eligible for full fees and maintenance thingy.

It's like getting blood out a stone getting answers from her cos she gets stressed and doesn't want to talk about it.

I will of course help her where I can but I can't help loads as I'm disabled and on benefits myself.

She is an older but not "mature" student having taken a couple of years out of education to work and "find herself" and has had her own place till now, uni in a new town hence she'll be living in for at least 1st year

OP posts:

54321nought · 10/08/2021 17:50

She needs to apply onine, if she hasn't already done so. You will then be contacted by student finance to ask if you are supporting her application, and if so, you answer questions about your finances. If not, then that is a whole other situation - but I assume you ARE supporting her?

54321nought · 10/08/2021 17:51

*online - actually she has hopefully already done so

Freedomprogramme · 10/08/2021 17:52

watching with interest.

What do we need to pay for?

university fee
living expenses

3 uni accommodation.

is that it?
DS has applied for some sort of loan online but frankly I don't know what it's for.

I think I'd pushed it to the back of my mind in case I jinxed stuff.

Howshouldibehave · 10/08/2021 17:54

Hopefully she’s already applied for the student finance months ago? She will already know how much loan she’s entitled to and that her tuition fees are paid.

Has she got accommodation sorted? Take that amount out of the maintenance loan and see what’s left and divide that by the number of months it needs to last for. That should tell her if she needs to get a part time job or not!

If she hasn’t applied for the finance, I’m not sure what to advise?

Kite22 · 10/08/2021 18:13

In order to guarantee things being in place when they start, students needed to have applied to student finance months ago.
Here
But you can apply late, if your plans have changed.

It is different in other Home Countries, but a quick search will find it.
Different again is you are an overseas applicant, but I'm sure you would have said if you were.

@Freedomprogramme Usually (I say that as people are always posting without mentioning they have exceptional circumstances), they will be awarded the tuition fees to pay for the course. Usually they will be around £9250 per year. You / The student doesn't see this money at all - it goes direct to the University. This isn't means tested.
Then students apply for the maintenance loan - this depends on your household income.
There is a 'minimum loan' which all (English) students are entitled to if the household income is above a certain amount, then a graduated rise to the full loan (about £9.5K) if the parents income is very low.
The amount is slightly more if you go to a London University and the amount is reduced if you live at home.

Quick Guide here

Best Guides / All you need to know Here

Alfiemoon1 · 10/08/2021 18:15

Did she not apply for student finance months ago. Her course fees will be covered and she will get a maintenance loan based on your household income

gogohm · 10/08/2021 19:16

Type in student fees into the government website, it will take you to the right page, there's two parts, course fees and maintenance, the first is simple, you just list the institution etc. The maintenance is in two parts, everyone fills out the first part which gets your the basic loan, then if you wish to apply for the means tested element you complete your household details (not absent parents but you do need to include a parents partner if they live with you) and the student loans company will contact your parent(s) for proof of income. Hope this helps, pm me if you get stuck I've got 3 at university

LillianGish · 10/08/2021 19:22

Kite's link is good, but it doesn't take months - it's about six weeks from making the application so still plenty of time before them starts.

LillianGish · 10/08/2021 19:22

*term

MoreRainThanAnyYet · 10/08/2021 19:31

OK, you say 'taken a couple of years out of education to work and "find herself" and has had her own place till now'. How long has she had her own place and been self-supporting? She may not count as being dependent on you for top-up finance at all.

From UCAS:
'You'll be classed as independent if:
[amongst some others]
-you’re 25 or over on the first day of the academic year you’re applying for student finance
-you’ve supported yourself for at least three years before the start of your course'

Original poster

Graphista · 10/08/2021 20:45

She applied for the student loan thingy ages ago, just not sure how it works at this point.

Also wondering if theres other help or tips available.

Not necessarily from student loan people but just in general? Or pitfalls she needs to look out for?

She has a part time job lined up but she's not sure yet how many hours she'll get. She works in retail in her current town and is transferring with the same company? But they've said they can't promise how many hours she'll get

Yes I'm a bit confused as I'm in Scotland and she's going to uni in England which is where she's living at the moment which is where it gets complicated.

She left home 2/3 years ago

OP posts:

Howshouldibehave · 10/08/2021 20:54

@Graphista

She applied for the student loan thingy ages ago, just not sure how it works at this point.

Also wondering if theres other help or tips available.

Not necessarily from student loan people but just in general? Or pitfalls she needs to look out for?

Yes I'm a bit confused as I'm in Scotland and she's going to uni in England which is where she's living at the moment which is where it gets complicated.

She left home 2/3 years ago

Is she going into catered halls? If not, her list of things to take will be longer!

If you know how much the halls are and how much loan she’s getting in total, you can calculate how much she’ll have left over per month-do that, it’ll help.

crimsonlake · 10/08/2021 22:12

If she applied for the student loan ages ago you should have immediately received a link whereby you had to fill in your financial details to support her application.

Original poster

Graphista · 10/08/2021 22:22

Not catered but bills inc

@crimsonlake it's not quite as simple as that. Would prefer not to give details here but happy to do so by pm if that helps?

OP posts:

gogohm · 11/08/2021 12:14

@crimsonlake

You don't get a link if you earn over £60k because you can't apply for the means tested element

MarchingFrogs · 11/08/2021 20:33

Actually, it's a bit more than a flat £60 000, so really best to check the exact cut-off - you / your DD can check this on the .gov.uk website, if you think your household income might be near the threshold. It's not that you won't be sent a link, if your DD ticks the relevant box on the form, you will; it's more that if you can tell that she is only entitled to the non-means-tested portion, there is no point in going through the whole assessment process, only for her to be told what you knew already at the end of it.

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 12/08/2021 14:44

So basically she’s applied for her student loan and that’s sorted but you’re wondering about the other bits she might need to pay for, or other sources or money she might be able to get?

Original poster

Graphista · 12/08/2021 15:19

@SometimesRavenSometimesParrot yes that's exactly it thank you

Not even necessarily money as in cash but discounts, vouchers, special offers or best places to get certain items that kinda thing.

She's saying she's gonna wait and get the bulky items closer to her uni rather than where she is now and have to transport it which makes sense too.

I want to help as much as I can but as I said I'm disabled and on benefits so not in a position to help a lot cash wise so want to help in other ways if I possibly can.

I also have Clubcard and nectar card which I am hoping might be useful in some way.

It's a long time since I was a student myself so I'm thinking a lot has changed plus I've forgotten a lot too.

OP posts:

Original poster

Graphista · 12/08/2021 15:21

Apologies if I've confused anyone. I just really didn't know how to word my query.

She has some items already but needs others and I want her to have all she needs, but I think there's also a fair bit she won't have considered or I might have missed. I'm trying to develop a comprehensive list

OP posts:

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 12/08/2021 16:23

Right so she needs to see what bursaries her university offers, many will have some for mature learners.
Depending on how she got into uni she may be eligible for a scholarship.
Don’t buy anything in advance, use the student sales in freshers at wilkos/Poundland. If she can use your club card points to do a big stock up that will help.
Assess student bank accounts to see which has the most effective freebie for her - some will have cash, others railcards etc.
She needs to set up her student card (TOTUM/NUS) and unitasterdays accounts as soon as she can, loads of freebies and discounts on there which will add up.
Find out when her freshers fair is and make sure she knows to go - last time my institution had one I got a poker box of chips, each was a free drink in a different bar so a full free night out, Wilkos gave out a full bag of toiletries and dominoes gave out vouchers for free pizza (couple of meals taken care of!)

SometimesRavenSometimesParrot · 12/08/2021 16:23

And have a look at TurnToUs grants search

Xenia · 12/08/2021 18:26

Well done to her.

If she is eligible for the full, maintenance loan she will probably have more not less money than most people as those others will have parents unable to make the minimum of about £4300 up to the maximum which can be over £11k in London. So we get a perverse situation where the children who are independent or with parents with not much income have more money at university than those whose parents earn more but cannot afford to make it up to the full maintenance loan.

It sounds therefore like her student loan will put her in the top income bracket for university.

If she is living in halls they will either be catered (meals) or not. Either way I believe they ask for the rent/hall fees in the first term by the time the loan money arrives (the fee element goes straight to the university and not to your daughter).

My sons took the duvets off their beds but other parents seem rich enough to buy their children new stuff! So I don't think anyone can generalise. My daughters took masses of clothes and in their day CDs. My sons took much less stuff. My son found his bike quite useful but others hate cycling so a lot of these things are quite different from one person to another.

My children had catered halls so did not have to take things for cooking. They took sports equipment if they were into a sport. When you to in Sept it is hot by Christmas very cold (even in England) so I always remind them to take gloves and a hat.

Original poster

Graphista · 12/08/2021 18:27

She's aware of some help her uni gives I am keeping on at her to apply as soon as the availability opens as she can't apply yet apparently.

Didn't know Certain stores did freshers sales so that's good to know

Also good to know about freshers fair being a place to pick up vouchers etc

She has an nus card already but I think she often forgets to use it

Student accounts side worries me as she isn't the best at budgeting tbh

OP posts:

Original poster

Graphista · 12/08/2021 18:36

Xenia I'm of the generation that got grants for uni so I agree it's a bonkers system we have at the moment where some families are really struggling cos they're deemed to have a high enough income to support student children without any other factors taken into consideration

She has bedding etc some kitchen items, laptop...

But there's still stuff she needs

She hasn't a bike at the moment as her old one wasn't replaced when she outgrew it so I am thinking I may club together with other family and get her a bike either for Xmas or possibly earlier as she has balked at the transport costs where she is going. Thinking it may come in handy.

She's murder for not dressing properly for cold weather! Every Xmas I get her hats, scarves, gloves and she doesn't wear them! Then moans she's cold/wet/miserable kids!

OP posts:

MoreRainThanAnyYet · 12/08/2021 19:06

I’d get an old secondhand bike - they get nicked or battered about in studenty areas.

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