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 .

How can you not know this? My son has just completed year 1 and I know this - it’s says it on the forms.

my DP will be moving in with me and his income will be taken into account. I know that.

my friend’s son now says he lives with his father who is retired but isn’t drawing an income (lives on savings until he runs out). So my friends son gets full grant even though both parents are/were high earners.

Well unfortunately that's why we t happens when you marry a guy your kids hardly know / you marry a woman who's kids you hardly know. Anyone getting married should be willing to share the burden of dependent kids.

Heaven forbid. But OK for the money to come from the public purse. And we don't know OPs son at all.

I can't get worked up over this. It's £5.5k less of a maintenance loan which your DC can earn with a NMW job. My DC has done this as has many others. He can work FT over the holidays or PT year round. Supermarkets now pay more than the NMW - in fact, shortage of labour means retail & hospitality also pay over the NMW.

But intent is relevant

Agree on risks of appealing

If absolutely not familiar with the rules etc but just from reading this thread, why couldn't the kids loan status just be based on their dad's circumstances - and not yours and new husbands? They don't actually live with you.

The 'you are over 18 and an independent adult, but we will go back to any other vaguely parent figure who may or may not be in your life to assess you and them financially' is a horrid system. You have my sympathies.

I have to support mine as best I can, but with two at once I cannot find enough.

Both mine work and have done for a couple of years both in holidays (main source of income) and through term time. One dropped the term time shifts (Deliveroo) as he got close to exams. One earned £12k last year as well as studying full time...

This is exactly why I didn’t have anyone living with me when my DCs went to uni. I was dating my now DH at the time, but he was supporting his own DC through university. My DCs would have received far less financial help at university instead of getting the maximum amount and it would have put a huge strain on our finances.

I think one problem about student finance is that people assume that the system hasn't changed since they were at uni, or don't look into the details until their DC are thinking of applying. By which time it's too late. Threads like these can at least help people who stumble across them, but surely there's a better way to get information across to people?

There definitely needs to be more info given earlier. Start of secondary school? So many threads on here where people assume they can get a loan to cover accommodation and living costs.
If you stopped 100 people in street and said would child of a couple both on min wage get full loan most would say yes incorrectly.

It’s based on household income where they have been living. So what address registered at school, dr, child benefit etc.
If it’s genuine 50/50 they can pick but it sounds like yp here has been living with mum so it’s in her household income.

That is why people need to look at finances before living together or marrying.

Two of mine went to uni between 10 and 15 years ago. Their school was very good about getting the information out, didn't start in year 7 and I think it was probably year 9. The kids had talks about it and we went to a parents evening where the figures were all explained. My older kids went when there were grants, happy days.

Some schools are better than others. Think dc’s was sixth form. A colleague gave me a massive heads up when mine was junior age - she was paying £500 a month. I’ve told my colleagues with small children and none had any idea they needed to top up £5500 a year per child to max loan.
I’m in a couple of facebook groups and there’s very regular posts from people who had no idea mum’s new partner income counted, no idea that they were classed as high earners on £30,000 each meaning teen gets £4700 and high cost of accommodation versus loan. Some discovering this very late in day - as in child suddenly decided to go through clearing. There was one where a parent assumed 3 loans - one for maintenance, one for accommodation and one for tuition as they couldn’t fathom loan being far less than uni halls cost.

Thank you. I'm clueless about this.

And it's just a loan right? That the young adults have to pay back once they earn a bit of cash?

If so, I think the incentive would be to not borrow and earn whilst studying so didn't have to pay interest?

Wondering if there is scope to change the designated household during the course of the degree. Particularly for longer a courses (eg architecture...) surely in year 6 the assumption can't be that you would still be living with the same parent that you were living with when at school?

No, it’s about the parent are they married, in a civil partnership or living with a partner. If yes to any of those then the partner has to also provide their information.

You won’t be married to, in a civil partnership with or living with (in this context) your son. Obviously.

England. Everyone can take a loan for tuition £9250 a year and loan for maintenance. Everyone gets minimum maintenance loan who applies. If you want more you supply household income info.
It’s only paid back when earning a certain amount as a graduate like a graduate tax - you pay same monthly percentage if you borrowed just tuition or tuition and maintenance so most will take both.
If teen gets less than max maintenance loan then parents are expected to top up to max loan.
No obligation to take loan if teen or family has savings they can pay tuition fees and self support but you are looking at £60,000 saved for uni. Given lots never pay back loan it’s often argued savings better spent on house deposit rather than uni. Money saving expert has lots of info.

My older kids went when there were grants, happy days

Except you only got a grant because your parents income was low - the system has NOT changed in that respect ever. If your parents earn above a threshold they have always been expected to support you. At least these days everyone is entitled to a minimum loan. Back in the day there was no safety net for those with arsehole parents who refused to support them. So it wasn't happy days for many people.

@boys3

The student loan company limited

But they also sell the loans to other private companies and don't tell you.

I nearly wasn't allowed extra funding for my masters as they had already sold the loan. Have no idea who too!

Mine worked for 3 years for one 4 years for the other so I don't think my income came into it as they were classed as independent.

Grants were only on parents not step parents income 30 years ago.
I didn’t get one as my parents were married and both working.
Dh got full grant as his mum didn’t work despite her being married to step dad who worked ft.
Terms were shorter and accommodation only term time not 42 or 51 weeks (normal uni not Oxbridge)
Accommodation was much cheaper.
Early 90s I earned £123 a week for shift work in a factory that summer and my catered halls were £58 a week from beginning October. So 1 weeks work paid 2 weeks living. My parents did help me financially but I could cover a lot myself.

@lateatwork well yes, the assumption is they will be living with the same parents over the course of their degree - how many parents does one kid have? If the parents are no longer together I guess they can move but it can't be for the sake of a lower declared income - it would have to be there 'normal residence', where their GP is and what's on their drivers licence etc. If they live on their own they'd have to be self supporting.
Now that the threshold when they start repaying the loan has been reduced and the length of time they have to pay it back (40 years), they estimate that over 60% will pay the loan PLUS interest back. Interest rate is currently 7.9%! Would you like at 9% income tax increase over £25k? I wouldn't. And while it doesn't affect 'credit worthiness' when applying for a mortgage, it can affect 'affordability'. If I can save £5k the next year so DD will only borrow the minimum, that will potentially save her £16k over the life of the loan (loan plus interest at current rate). That's a crude calculation but you see my point.

@mondaytosunday The best answer is to pay it off asap, by getting a well paid job. These grads are the ones who will pay least. So that should be an incentive. It’s also leading to a dip in applications to some subjects, English, History etc which don’t have an obvious career path.

@inlaw the Student Loans Company isn’t a private entity https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/student-loans-company/about

the last student loan sell off covered those due to start repayment in 2009. Though granted if you graduated in 2008 or earlier your loan could then well have been sold on. But not by SLC.

The grads who will pay least are those who never earn over the repayment threshold!