Funding question on Ucas form - how is it used?

[carrotsandlentils]

On the Ucas form my DC selected "don't know" for the question about how the course will be funded. This is because we haven't yet decided whether he will get a loan or whether we will pay fees. His teacher has said it's not an acceptable answer, and if he doesn't select the student loan box then he won't be able to apply for one later. I don't think this is true, because the loan application is a completely separate process. Can anyone confirm?

Also, why does UCAS ask the question - is it just for their stats?

(I don't know for sure so just speculating).

I would suspect that it is for UCAS/HESA stats.
Universities may use it to help determine fee eligibility (it's pretty unusual for eligible UK students not to take out student loans).

If you answer "yes" there is also follow up questions about UCAS sharing info with the Student Loans company and sending you further reminders (which might be useful).

It certainly won't affect your son's ability to apply for a loan later, but equally selecting student loan as the method of payment will not affect him not applying later, and might make some things simpler.

Yeh I agree, just select student loan. It won't matter if you decide later you don;t want to.

School told us just to select Student loan and it didn't matter whether they do get a loan or not

This report is a few years ago, but approx 10% don’t take loans so in the 10s of thousands when talking about first year students. More in Russell Group avoid taking loans. The report is good in that it calls out that the loan system is not progressive and allows the wealthy to escape what is essentially being sold as a graduate tax.

www.if.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Escape-of-the-Wealthy_Jan_2019_final-1.pdf

Say yes to make sure no ambiguity about what your fee status us. You decide later whether to actually apply to student finance or not.

You click loan.

Thanks all. I'd be interested to hear from any admissions tutors out there about whether they see the answer to the funding question. I'm wondering if it might be used in profiling (officially or otherwise).

Universities also need to know this information. It won't make a difference in the selection process, but it will be fed into registration & enrolment data once the applicant takes up a place.

We don’t see this info, it’s just for stats and I think so ucas can send you info/reminders to apply for finance.