Student finance in England
After an application through UCAS or direct to some independent universities or external unis that offer taught programmes by residential fortnights (such as some London Business Schools). You have to make a paper or online application for student finance if your parents can’t afford to support you or you are a mature or disabled student.
Student finance is administered by Student Finance England:
Student finance England,
PO Box 210,
Darlington,
DL1 9HJ
0845 607 7577 for students to seek advice and check applications.
There are two components to the loan, the fee loan (up to £9,000 2012/13) and the combined maintenance loan / grant (grant up to £3250, loan £8382 2012/13). Once registered on a course, the University gets the fee component and once attendance is verified, you get your loan and grant.
The loan and grant count as income under DWP benefit rules so that disabled people lose there income support (£100 a fortnight) but keep their incapacity benefit (£220 a fortnight) and housing and council tax benefits. In some local authorities this is assessed on a case by case basis. Hence the continuation of the grant component of the money paid to the student in part lieu of this income support.
For NHS prescription costs (the other £2000 of the approx £5200 annual income lost with the cancellation of income support), English students on sickness benefits (IB / DLA / ESA / Universal Credit) can use form HC1 from the NHS. There is also a prescription prepayment certificate if not on these benefits at a high enough qualifying rate.
Disability Living Allowance is paid for care support but there is also the disabled student’s allowance that includes both equipment and learning support components (note taking, though this is often taken to mean accessing lecture handouts on a student portal or blackboard software).
The loans are combined at the end of the course and repaid at a personal earning income variable rate. This repayment amount increases with the amount a person earns above £21,000 a year (the average wage of a station assistant on the London Underground). The amount paid back is approx 9% of total income according to UCL.
If a student is in the fortunate position to work part time and want to study part time, they can apply for course fee grants and loans. If the Open University and disabled, some fee support / waiver is allowed if on benefits and disabled students allowance, letting you keep your state benefits (though you have to declare this with the Department of Work and Pensions and the OU would like a letter from the DWP confirming your receipt of benefits, for Housing benefit, the local authority can help at their office and council tax benefit reception). If a Four year part time intensity BA / Bsc / LLB degree at 90 credits a year part time you only get from student finance England a fee loan so would have to save for textbooks and stationery prior to the course starting and look at the feasibility of working part time.
This is opposed to 120 credits a year full time over three years or the Edinburgh / Oxford / Cambridge Masters included MA / MSC / LLM degree over four years (or the Six year Medical degrees), the disabled student keeps their benefits intact on a case by case basis or on the income reduced rate if they are working part time (such as £21 a week indefinitely income for things such as paper rounds, and £80-90 a week for a year if on transition to full time employment with disabled tax credits for those working over 16 hours a week). They get the full time student loans and grant. IF at Oxbridge (Oxford / Cambridge) they may get top up bursaries and loans for the even higher tuition fees set by the elite ‘Russell Group’ Universities. You need to check how these are repaid.
For standard tuition fee and maintenance loans if you fail to earn over £21k (nurses or social workers or bar staff / waiters) or are unemployed, you don’t pay anything back during that period. After 30 years the debt is written off.
POSTGRAD STUDY
This is funded separately by either university scholarships for the fees or fee grants from bodies such as the British Council, the Arts and Humanities funding council, Royal Society (Sciences). You have to amass your own funding and may be offered assistance by the university you apply to. You could be a warden for undergraduate students to get free accommodation if you are not privately renting on housing benefit if on a low income. Part time work is allowed if you are a part time student such as at Birkbeck or the Open University and that for mature students has included company or charity directorships on a pro rata part time salary. With The Open University it also includes full time work and distance learning.
