I got married and it's impacted on DS loan

[mumzof4x]

So I had 4 dc all with their biological father
Divorced after 25 years
I have worked incredibly hard since . Built up my career on. my own and seen one through uni now teaching / one several years into medicine and ds on year 4 at uni
Their biological father has never contributed one single penny and it nearly broke me but it was worth it. They are great kids and I'm so proud I could do that for them.
I met a man a few years ago and with their blessing we married recently.
Admittedly he's helped dd with her medicine sometimes but that's because he wanted to not needed to
DS put that I am now married on his student finance this year because I am but dh is not his father
He's really upset because he's got £4K for the entire year
I've just finally reduced my hours a bit because dd has additional needs and I need tk be here a bit more
All the other dc always got the max amount they needed which helped tbh . I still had to top them up but not like this
DS got the max the last two years amd all that's changed is I got married
This year has been a struggle as his internship in Oxford overlapped with his final year at uni elsewhere and is costing £3k in double rent
His bills and rent at uni this year are 800 a month and he will have 400 at most
That means I will have to find £600 a month.
We are just buying our first house together and this means we now cannot
I had no idea they would expect my husband to financially support him ? Apparently he had to provide his NI number so they will his salary details and everything
I would have waited until he'd finished uni and never married but it just seemed the right time
Would there be any chance of an appeal? I feel so bad because on my own I have always provided for them and now this.
Any advice would be much appreciated and thank you .

You have to have a household income of £25000 or less to get the full loan. That's pretty low. Ours, as I said, is around £38000 and we are considered paupers in MN land most of the time!

Which private company is all this income going to? @Inlaw

I'm on less than 25k. I am the Resident Parent.
But I am still married to her father although we have been separated for years (he is still on the mortgage, I wouldn't be able to get one on my own).
He lives in the EU and has seen her eight times in five years so LC but not NC.
Does he still go on the form? His NI number will be meaningless as he neither earns nor pays taxes here.

In the view of the government it is your responsibility to top up. Whether you are practically able to do so is a different question.

You might not agree with how it works, but your opinion isn’t grounds for an appeal.

Have you got any kind of separation agreement?

It’s household income so I wouldn’t have thought so, he is not part of the household.

The complete guide to sponsored degrees | Undergraduate | UCAS

Crikey I thought it would only be biological or adoptive parents. My son is going to uni this year with full maintenance loan as I’m a single mum. My other son is most likely moving back in with me now he’s graduated and job hunting. Would his salary be included in mine for next year’s assessment even though he’s just a brother of a student.

I think you're looking at this the wrong way. The expectation isn't that your husband will contribute to your child, but that you'll have more disposable income as part of a couple now. That's fair.

He’s not part of your household though

No, it wouldn’t. He would be classed as a non dependent child, so you wouldn’t get a deduction for him but his salary won’t be included.

It has always been assessed on household income though. Even 30 years ago when I went to uni. I had one friend who was entitled to nothing and had to work as her parents refused to support her (we had no fees but still had living costs) and one friend who had to get special circumstances as her mum and septdad had thrown her out the year before and she was living in a hostel to finish her college course but still wanted to go to uni. This was for the loan as the grant had gone by the time I started university.

My parents thought it was madness to but it hasn't changed. I do think that as it a loan rather than a grant then it seems mad. But part of the issue there is the government can't actually afford it. They never should have tried to increase the number of students going to university to such high numbers in the first place. It's not sustainable and I think we are going to see the sector shirk a bit over the next 10 years. 50% was never an achievable number and they never made that happen anyway.

That's what marriage is. What's his is yours, what's yours is his. You are reducing your hours, earning less becuase your husband is able to support you.

I've had a quick look but I'm not an expert (just someone with a bit more knowledge than most). It looks like a letter from a solicitor confirming separation should keep him off the form. But you'd want to check.

Do you mean it will be just based on mine as it has been so far? I hope so as siblings shouldn’t be included in the assessment even if they live at home and working. I nearly had a heart attack then thinking my graduate son should be contributing to his brothers Uni fees😬🙏🏼

Yep. Don't appeal or kick up a fuss or this may be uncovered and you may have to pay some back.

No. I have informal custody of two of our children. He has one.
He pays the mortgage (interest-only - another nightmare to come) and gives me £500/month. We go through stages of co-parenting well to hating each other's guts. I've just told daughter to start looking at sponsored degrees as I'm not sure a Psychology one is going to work out (given the lack of Ed Psychs in this country, it would have been good for an LA to sponsor an undergraduate but that's never going to happen. I've been ostriching in fairyland for too long).
Thanks for the thread OP. I thought my lack of pension was one thing. This is yet another.

Your DC will receive the minimum maintenance loan of £4,767. Assuming he's living elsewhere out of London, the max is £10,227 which means topping up of £5,460.

Like most students, DS worked in the summers mostly at NMW. He earned £4.5 - £5K (net) working June, July & Aug. He also worked when he came home at Christmas (£1K) during his first year. There are plenty of jobs in retail & hospitality and we live in a market town!

No. The guidance is here

www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-finance-how-youre-assessed-and-paid/student-finance-how-youre-assessed-and-paid-2024-to-2025

It will just be based on yours.

You are separated so it’s just your income (unless you have a partner you live with).

If your daughter really wants to do a psychology degree don’t tell her not to. There lots of jobs she can get from it.

Phew. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that!

Absolutely. Your household income is bigger. Of course his allowance will be reduced.

OP, there is unfortunately no chance of an appeal, and I agree with you that the situation is crazy. I got married when my DC were at university - their own father had never paid anything, and gave up his job rather than pay child maintenance. Fortunately, my DH agreed to make up the difference, which he had to do for three of them - but why a man who marries their mother when they are nominally adults themselves should have to contribute, especially when their own father gets off scot free, beats me.