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Parenting

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Original poster

uni - Finance fallen through

21 replies

gemmiegoatlegs · 24/08/2006 20:35

I am due to start a four year degree course in september. at the moment i work 3 days in an office and have two under 3s. when i applied to uni, I worked out the help I might be entitled to. I am giving up my job to study and my hubby earns around 11k a year. In my eyes, this qualifies us as a low-income family. as my hubby and i both work we already have a fantastic childminder who will continue to look after my kids 2/3 days a week. I really thought i would be entitled to maximum funding for my course but today I received a letter saying I will not get the parent's learning allowance or ANY help towards my childcare costs. I am absolutely devastated. I have already given my notice at work. I can't see how I would ever be able to afford to do my course, unless they have made a mistake. Of course I'm having to wait til morning before I can even call the student support dept.

Does anybody else receive this type of funding assistance? Do you know what the income threshold is? I am sadly certain that i cannot do my course on only my dh's wage. Out of 900 quid a month, my childcare would be £400+, Iwe still have to pay the mortgage, the bills and put food on the table....the list goes on

Please...does anyone have any insights or experience with this sort of thing? I feel like I was sacrificing so much to do this course and now my world has come crashing down. Thanks for listening, Gem

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beckybrastraps · 24/08/2006 20:38

Is there a hardship fund at the university you can apply to?

southeastastra · 24/08/2006 20:44

blimey that must be crushing for you.

a mum i know got alot of benefits when she went to uni but she was housed by the council. i'm mad on your behalf

gothicmama · 24/08/2006 20:51

If you can manage the first year you will be entitked next year to extra support as you income toApril 06 is taken into account this year and this will include your income. Hope thathelps

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Indith · 24/08/2006 20:52

Hardship grants from your uni, ask now before daft freshers drink their loans away.Also uni creches are often cheaper for students, have you looked into that?

Have you been given a reason for not getting the allowance? usual income thresholds for student support are higher than that...odd...have you rung your LEA and gone through the form etc with them? They are usually much much better than the guys on the other end of the student support phone line.

Feeling the pain, I get a grand total of £250 next year. (sorry if I keep repeating that people I'm just bitter and twisted)

Original poster

gemmiegoatlegs · 24/08/2006 21:33

i only got my letter when i finished work today so have not had chance to ring the LEA. You can bet I'll be knocking on their doors in the morning though. I've had a look around at the various student support info on the net this eve and the general idea is that childcare grant and parent's learning allowance are available to single parents (which I'm not) and low income families (which I would defo class us as). I don't even want to get my hopes up that they have made a mistake, as i will only be more devastated if they back up the original decision. I am in such a turmoil as all i wanted to do was get a proper career to give my kids a better life. It seems that in 3 weeks I will have neither a job, nor a course i can afford to attend and my tax credits will stop too as i receive help towards my childcare at the moment, but these will stop when i finish my job.

That's a thought - how come the tax credits assess that we are eligible for help with childcare on a combined income of 20 k but the LEA reckon we're not, on a single wage of 11k? Who sets the guidelines for these things?

Thanks for listening once again. It's nice to feel like i have someone on my side. Gem

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tiredemma · 24/08/2006 21:35

may sound like a stupid question- but i dont really understand how these things work ( do they actually know themselves???) - can your Dp claim the childcare element of WFTC seeing as he is on a low income- if you have no income surely he must be eligible for something?

southeastastra · 24/08/2006 21:37

keep us posted, this really annoys me, the government seems to just want mums to work, with no interest in them getting careers grrr good luck

Original poster

gemmiegoatlegs · 24/08/2006 22:17

tiredemma, no we can't still get childcare through tax credits as they only pay for chilcare if both parents work. i am so sad because i don't even have a back up plan...

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ilovecaboose · 24/08/2006 22:24

GGL - I'd definately contact the SLC and enquire. My OH is on about the same as yours and my loan has been calculated at about £4,300 plus a Parents learning allowance of £1,400.

Get them to check the information you put on the form to see if anything has gone wrong anywhere. They misread mine last year and that caused a few problems.

IT might be worth a try. Hope you get something sorted. Don't know about childcare costs cos I don't claim for them.

southeastastra · 24/08/2006 22:29

the girl i know at uni used the creche there free? do they have one? and is that an option for you

MrsFio · 25/08/2006 09:12

crikey how awful gem! I have applied but not heard anything yet, i am cacking it tbh

mumoftwoangels · 25/08/2006 16:49

Have you thought of studying with the OU instead? You can now apply for a grant (no repayment) to study which if you earn under a certain limit per household (think 19k) you get your a large chunk of your fees,if not all, paid for you and a subsistance allowance of £250 for books if on lowest level If your household income is over that you still might qualify for something. Don't know if it helps! Even if your earnings are over that

Original poster

gemmiegoatlegs · 25/08/2006 20:37

update: i called the LEA this morning, there is no mistake. Apparently my husband is allowed a portion (4600 i think) of his gross income as a personal allowance. They make deductions on whats left, in our case 9 grand. these deductions cover your mortgage and insurance. They DON'T include such minor things as gas, water, electricity, council tax, phone, tv licence,food, petrol, travel costs...you get my drift.. Then this final figure is considered. for us this would be around £6500. If this figure is more than your childcare costs (around £5500) you don't get a bean. I can't believe anyone could expect a family of four to survive on a little over four thousand pounds a year.

Anyway, me and dh had a good old wrangle this afternoon and decided that since i no longer have a job we will be poor-os anyway, if i take up my course we will be poor for considerably longer and in massive debt at the end but hopefully i will have generated a bit of earning power at the same time.

I am reapplying for the maximum loan and hopefully will get some help from the access fund at my uni. I know this next year or two will be tough butmy childcare costs will drop massively when my ds starts full time school next year. I would advise anyomne who is applying for student support not o count their chickens like i did. I thought "oh, there's no way we couldn't be considered a low-income family" but due to their bizarre criteria we are...

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ilovecaboose · 25/08/2006 20:41

Shit thats tough . The one thing I have found with my course is the amount of actual teaching hours is quite low (in my case only 10 as most work done outside) which means I use very little childcare, as last year I was only in 1 day and 1 evening. Doing work in the evening (all evening) meant I could reduce the amount of childcare to a low level as I could be around to look after ds. Also long holidays meant again I only needed childcare in term time. Obviously it depends on the course, but if you are doing one like that it might save you a bit.

Hope you find a solution.

tiredemma · 25/08/2006 20:46

where is the incentive here for people to move on in life with a better job??

Im dreading the day that my bursary offer and student loan offer comes through the door because that will be the day when i finally realise and have to admit to myself that we wont have a pot to piss in for the next three years.

what course are you doing Gemma?

Original poster

gemmiegoatlegs · 25/08/2006 20:51

I'm doing nutrition and health studies - funny, I never gave a crap about what was in food and how it affected you until i had kids...

Hopefully ther is a good career at the end of the rainbow as i live in the north east where diet and health is so bad there is a real call for education and awareness.

it's funny how the human mind works though. This morning i felt crushed under the weight of it all and then once i'd made all my calls, faced the truth and started formulating a plan i started feeling way more hopeful. I'm almost looking forward to the challenge of living on a really tight budget. I kept saying things to my hubby like "I suppose we won't have to worry about the kkids being spoilt, there'll be no rides on Thomas every time we go to the supermarket!"

i must have an optimistic nature...

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southeastastra · 25/08/2006 21:04

it will be worth it! but bloody hell i am gobsmacked that you can't get any help! flippin country. write to your MP!!

tiredemma · 25/08/2006 21:05

gemma - you have to speculate to acuumulate!! and i think if you really knuckle down and plan things- then it wont be nearly as bad as you were expecting.

Good Luck!!

Original poster

gemmiegoatlegs · 25/08/2006 21:15

southeastastra, i certainly will be weiting to my MP. I am totally on my soapbox. I will be in touch with the NUS, dfES, and any other bugger i can think of.

What is maddening is that if i had a bigger mortgage, i would be entitled to a full childcare grant AND parent's learning allowance. So technically, i could remortgage my house, take out my 60 per cent equity, sod off to the carribean for six months, buy a solid gold toilet seat and still get my chioldcare paid for because our residual income would be nowt! What a laugh!

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southeastastra · 25/08/2006 21:18

it's wrong! i know how you feel. makes you want to get on the housing list. if you have too much money you get help if you have none you get help, if you are in the middle you get nowt, who the hell made that rule up. grrrr

Indith · 25/08/2006 22:03

Wow I never realised how they calculated stuff like that! Really tough but as you say will be worth it in the end once you have that bit of paper. Where in the North East are you? (Durham here). I'm going to be on to my MP etc about things aswell once I have the full lowdown of figures etc since as a part timer I have to be registered on my course to apply and that takes place in October!

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