Last week we asked you on
Twitter and
Facebook what questions you wanted us to put to
Student Finance England. We've now picked a selection of your responses to try and represent as wide a range of your concerns and situations as possible and put them to
Mark-Lee Kelly their
Communications & Social Media Assistant.
“What does approved
mean? Have you paid the uni or not?”
The approved application status means that your application
has been processed and that payments are ready to be made.
You can check whether your university has been paid from
your online account. To do this you
should log in to your online account then go to
My Account > View Payments at
www.gov.uk/studentfinance.
 |
Student Finance England expert
Mark-Lee Kelly |
“When is the deadline
for 'evidence'?”
There’s no specific deadline date for evidence to be
received, however we would advise you to send it in ASAP! The sooner you send
the evidence that’s been requested, the sooner we’ll be able to get your
application fully processed and let you know what you’ll be receiving.
When evidence is required this means that we cannot process your
application until it has been received.
“Why can’t I register
for a new account?”
A student finance account is linked to the account holder’s
National Insurance Number. This means
that each person holds one account for the length of their study and their
repayment period.
You may be able to find out your login details to the
account you hold by using our ‘forgotten your login details’ link on the login
page at www.gov.uk/studentfinance. If this isn’t possible then one of our
telephone advisers will be able confirm your Customer Reference Number over the
phone on 0845 300 5090, and then they’ll email a new password and secret answer
to you.
“Why has the finance
application not taken into account that there is no NHS bursary for the first
year for Social Work BA students?”
Social work students are able to apply for full support from
SFE including tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and maintenance grant based on
household income, regardless of which year of their course they are in.
It sounds as though you might not have applied for a grant when you were
completing your application. On the
‘Your estimate’ page of the application there’s a link that says ‘continue
based on household income’ which needs to have been clicked to make sure that
household income is taken into account.
Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten to do this as you can still
request for household income to be considered.
To make the change you’ll need to complete and send us
this form.
Your parents or partner can supply financial details to
support your application by completing
this form
too (please note that we’ll need separate copies for each parent in your
household!)
“Mum doesn't have the
P60 that they ask for. What else can I do?”
There are a few alternatives that your mum may be able to
send us if she doesn’t have her P60:
- a copy of a Statement of Earnings for the relevant tax year
that can be requested from HMRC
- a copy of the month 12 payslip showing the full tax year’s
earnings on it (this is the last payslip from the tax year, usually issued in
March)
- copies of the full tax year’s payslips from April to the
following March
“Why do they need to
know my mum’s P60 from 2009? We were in Spain and don't know it!”
It sounds as though we need proof of your mum’s earning
level for your grant application from the 2009 tax year.
If your mum had an income from the UK in 2009 there are a
few alternatives that she may be able to send us if she doesn’t have her P60:
- a copy of a Statement of Earnings for the relevant tax year
that can be requested from HMRC
- a copy of the month 12 payslip showing the full tax year’s
earnings on it (this is the last payslip from the tax year, usually issued in
March)
- copies of the full tax year’s payslips from April to the
following March
If your mum had an income from Spain in 2009 she will need
to provide the Spanish equivalent of a P60 to prove her income amount.
“Do I need to give
bank details if I'm only applying for tuition fee loan?”
Tuition fee loan instalments are paid directly to your
university so you don’t need to supply bank details if you are only receiving
this type of finance.
“Does the passport
you need for identification purposes need to be in date or can it have expired?
With the sending of our birth certificate I presume they will send it back to
us as you only want originals?”
Yes, passports need to be in date to be used as proof of
identity.
Birth certificates will be sent back to you once they have
been processed. It’s worth noting that
if you are sending your birth certificate you will need to send a
Birth Certificate Form along with it.
“When can we start
applying? Can I apply before I'll accept an offer (still waiting for the last
response)?”
Applications for full time student finance are now open. The
deadline for new students is 31 May,
so it’s a good idea to apply as soon as possible.
You should include the details of the course you’re most likely to attend on
your application. You can update this later if your course changes.
“Are there are any
plans to introduce a fourth payment for health science students due to the fact
we are in university/on placement for several more weeks than other courses and
this prevents us from being able to find work when other students can during
the summer holidays?”
The payment dates for each course are given to us by the
university or college where the course is being studied.
Students whose
academic year exceeds 30 weeks and 3 days in length receive an 'extra weeks'
portion of Maintenance Loan. To qualify
for this your application must also be based on household income. The amount that’s awarded for each extra week
will depend on where you are studying, which year of study you are in and
whether you live at home or away.
“In relation to the
four year cap on support, why is it that even if I have funded one year myself,
it still counts as one of those four years? (I took two part-time Cert HE
courses, the first was funded by PTG1 and the second was funded by myself - but
I’m now in a situation where I can't do a degree because only years 2 and 3
will be covered.”
There isn’t specifically a four-year cap on student finance
as students are entitled to receive funding for the length of their course plus
one extra year that can be used for a false start or resit year.
We have to take any previous studying into account when
calculating your entitlement for student finance. This includes self-funded study and study at course
providers outside the UK too.
“Why are full-time
mature students assumed to have the same financial commitments as younger
students. The current method of computer-generated payments by instalments does
not meet the needs of mature students whose financial commitments are
completely different. Mature students operate larger budgets often with
dependent children and/or relatives. The appeal process is also humiliating.”
Regardless of whether a student is mature or not, if they
have children or adult dependants they’re able to apply for extra non-repayable
support to help with these additional costs.
Extra support includes:
- Parent’s Learning Allowance,
- Adult Dependent Grant; and
- Childcare Grant
There’s lots of information on eligibility, entitlement and
how to apply for these types of funding
here.
“I am a first-time
applicant. I want to know the deadline for 2013/2014 applications. Someone told
me that it’s 31st March 2013. Is this correct?”
The deadline for new students in the 13/14 academic year is 31 May 2013. The deadline is in place
to encourage you to apply as soon as possible to help ensure that your funding
is in place when you start university.
“Can EU students
apply for student loans online, through the website or do they have to fill in
the paper form and send it via post?”
EU students can apply online for student finance if they
have been resident in the UK for 3 years or more prior to 1 September 2013.
EU students who don’t meet the above criteria need to apply
using a paper application form that will be available to download from
www.gov.uk/studentfinance soon.
“Why does Student
Finance England not take into account how many dependants my parents have as this
greatly decreases how much financial support they can give me at uni?”
Student Finance England does take dependants into account
when calculating your parents’ household income.
On the parents’ part of the application they are asked to
provide the details of any other dependants that they are financially
responsible for.
“I've applied for
student finance already but purposefully left my bank details out because I
want to do some shopping about for the best deal (which at the minute I doubt
is my current bank). When will I definitely have to finalise my bank details?”
You’ll need to update your online account with your bank
details at least five working days before your first payment is due.
“If I'm an English
student applying for a nursing degree in Scotland, is it correct that I get
tuition fees paid by NHS and a bursary from SAAS? And am I entitled to a
maintenance loan from SFE on top of this?”
English students studying nursing in Scotland will be have
their tuition fees paid by the NHS and a non-repayable bursary supplied by
Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)
too. Unfortunately they won’t receive
any financial support from Student Finance England.
“If a British citizen
living in an EU country, can we apply for maintenance grants as well as finance
as a 'home' student would? I was told ‘yes’ as I have the right to roam around
EU countries but have also heard conflicting information. Thanks.”
British students do have the ‘right to roam’ around the EU,
meaning that as long as they’ve been resident within EU countries for 3 years
prior to 1 September 2013 they can still apply for same student finance as home
students.
“If you are a Scottish
student with a place at an English uni, do we apply for our loan through SAAS
or through the English system?”
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