My dniece is going in to the 3rd year of her law degree in September. She has just found out that the amount of student loan she will be getting for living costs is going down by over £1000 compared to the last two years. I've spoken to her, and she is now really worried that her budgeting doesn't work. Her loan now will just about cover her rent and utility bills, but not food, books, mobile bill, going out, internet etc.
She is getting less because dbro and sil have earned more in the last year than the years before, and maintenance loans are calculated based on parental income. Dniece thinks her parents should top up to the amount she had last year (when they didn't give her any money), although she hasn?t asked them if they will. I don't think dbro and sil can afford to top up her loan, and I'm certain they wouldn't even if they could, which dniece probably knows too. Her only contribution at home is helping out cooking and cleaning - she doesn't pay rent for the holidays or anything. She hasn?t been able to find a full time job for the summer, so she has been doing temp work and a couple of hours cleaning through the week. Her summer earnings have paid off most of her overdraft, but she is still about £500 overdrawn (on a student account where there is no interest on an overdraft). She is worried about not being able to find a job in the city she studies in, which means she wouldn't be able to afford to stay in her degree. She is also worried about taking too much time out of studying to work, as it's her last year and she will need to be working 10+ hours a week.
Is this a common problem for students? Are funds available to students whose parental income means they don't get a high maintenance loan, but who also don't get any money from their parents? I'm thinking about offering to help her out financially as I can just about afford to, but before I offer to help her I want to check if there is any scheme for students stuck like this, because it seems like a pretty obvious problem in the funding scheme.