Student Finance

[Nicola]

Just thought I'd make a thread and see how people are getting on with their student finance.

I got mine back today and I looked at it and it had given me the basic maintanence loan amount and the tuition loan amount. So I was like "Crap, what?! That doesn't even cover my accommodation". I noticed at the top of my online form that it said that my household income hadn't been taken into account. I thought this was odd so I rang them up and they were like "Oh we're missing some of your mum's information" and then I asked them if I had even applied for a grant and they said I hadn't applied for one. So it turns out that my mum didn't tick the most important box on the form which was about getting your income assessed 1 box and it all messed up! We've printed off an additional form now and hopefully it will be sorted soon but it put me in a mad panic at first.

Anyone else had any problems so far? Is there anyone that hasn't even applied yet?

[dirrty]

student finance are ******* TERRIBLE. i started uni last year and everything wasn't sorted until DECEMBER lmao. they sent me on a wild goose chase saying i needed certain documents (when in the end i didn't need them), different advisors told me different things and thus confused everything. in the end i had to get my finance officer to call them up, which sped things up. if i didn't do that, i wouldn't be surprised if my student finance wasn't sorted until after christmas.

reapplying now, and dreading the next few months

[Nicola]

student finance are ******* TERRIBLE. i started uni last year and everything wasn't sorted until DECEMBER lmao. they sent me on a wild goose chase saying i needed certain documents (when in the end i didn't need them), different advisors told me different things and thus confused everything. in the end i had to get my finance officer to call them up, which sped things up. if i didn't do that, i wouldn't be surprised if my student finance wasn't sorted until after christmas.

reapplying now, and dreading the next few months

Oh my god that must have been a pain. I know people who have had similar issues and I could tell how stressed they were getting Apparently it's a lot easier applying for your second year though.

[Red]

oo theres nothing worse than student finance. my mum sorted it all for me when I went. I wouldn't of had a baldy! Thankfully mines easy enough now and I can just apply online. Got a text from them the other day saying its time to do it but meh.

[dirrty]

Oh my god that was must have been a pain. I know people who have had similar issues and I can tell how stressed they were getting Apparently it's a lot easier applying for your second year though.

yeah. but knowing them and my luck, something will go wrong

[Nicola]

oo theres nothing worse than student finance. my mum sorted it all for me when I went. I wouldn't of had a baldy! Thankfully mines easy enough now and I can just apply online. Got a text from them the other day saying its time to do it but meh.

Haha. My mum was pretty much ripping her hair out when she was trying to fill in the form, I was dreading telling her today that she had to fill another one in Luckily her friend was visiting and she sorted her son's finance last year so she helped us out to see where we had gone wrong.

[Angel-Light]

When I first applied I forgot to tick on of the most important boxes: Apply for a loan. Was very upset that day I found out and after 6 hours of ringing up I finally got on but couldn't talk so had to let my Mum do it.

Took another 2 months for it to be sorted so had to borrow money from parents and sis (who weren't doing well finance wise :/)

Rule for life: DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!

[Inseriousity.]

I started my first year this year and I thought student finance were going to be a pain in the backside but apart from asking for documents all the time, I've had a pretty smooth ride with them so far. Although this thread has reminded me I still have to reapply this year, I keep forgetting. MUST. NOT. FORGET.

[PaulMacC]

They are quite horrible. I'm receiving the maximum grant and loan and they said they could pay me for the first payment but for further they need proof of my mum's separation status. My mum and dad are no longer living together and separated. My mum receives child benefits and such but my parents aren't legally separated. Just not living together. They want me to provide some document that my mum hasn't got but she receives child benefits for all of us. So I don't know.

[JoeyK.]

I had a difficult time applying for my loans this semester for sure. Three months before I was born, my father was killed in a motorcycle accident, leaving me an inheritance when I turned 21. My last semester ended at the end of April, but my application for federal loans was denied because of my inheritance, as the funding you're approved for in the US is decreased by 1/3 of your total assets for the year. Unfortunately, I would have been considered a drop out if I hadn't taken out private loans, which ended up being significantly more expensive then the federal loans would have been. Thankfully, I can pay them soon, but it was definitely a headache x[