The Student Room Group

Income assessed finance when parents live abroad

Hey all,

I'm British and my parents both live abroad and earn well under the threshold for me to have my finance application income assessed.

Apparently I need to have lived in the UK for 3 years prior to startying my first year which I kinda have. :s-smilie: I'm currently at uni in the UK as a normal home student. (I used the address of a UK relative)

When I started in 2007 I tried getting my application income assessed and there were contant hoops to jump through, problems with translations of pay slips, the fact that my parents are separated and not divorced, very little cooperation from my parents...I eventually gave up and stopped worrying about it and got the normal loan.

I want to try to get my application income assessed again, can anyone offer any advice?

I'm currently in ~20K of debt and starting my fourth year wanting to add as little as possible to that scary figure.

In theory if I was living with a relative in the UK while still being primarily supported by my parents I don't see why I would not be entitled to the juicy grants and bursaries that my peers get.

Thanks!
Because that's fraud.
Reply 2
lol thanks for the advice friend. Very helpful indead.

My Dad is unemployed and essentially homeless and my mother earns maybe £12-14K. They both payed taxes for 20 years in this country... And my peers have 30K household income and still get a small grant. How is it fraud? You think this system works? :rolleyes:

Fraud haha if you are not born with a silver spoon in your mouth you have to do what it takes to get ahead. You sir are a <insert here>
Reply 3
SpamTheMan
Hey all,

I'm British and my parents both live abroad and earn well under the threshold for me to have my finance application income assessed.


Where's 'abroad' exactly? Presumably outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland?

Apparently I need to have lived in the UK for 3 years prior to startying my first year which I kinda have. :s-smilie: I'm currently at uni in the UK as a normal home student. (I used the address of a UK relative)


How so? If you just used a UK address but weren't actually living in the UK, how is that in any way even 'kind of' living in the UK?

Regardless of whether the system works or whether it's fair that UK students often get stung with international fees if they've been living outside of the 'relevant area', you gave false information (and then signed a declaration saying all the information you provided was correct when it wasn't) essentially to get money you might not have been entitled to. How is that NOT fraud?

I believe (not totally sure) if it had been the case that you lived in the UK and your parents abroad it wouldn't have been such a problem-but you'd still have needed your parents cooperation and the same 'jumping through hoops' to provide payslips etc.

As it is however, there's little help anyone can offer when you've got the issue of your residency eligibility hanging over you in the first place.
SpamTheMan
lol thanks for the advice friend. Very helpful indead.

My Dad is unemployed and essentially homeless and my mother earns maybe £12-14K. They both payed taxes for 20 years in this country... And my peers have 30K household income and still get a small grant. How is it fraud? You think this system works? :rolleyes:

Fraud haha if you are not born with a silver spoon in your mouth you have to do what it takes to get ahead. You sir are a <insert here>

whine, whine, whine
it is still fraud pal!
By the way the system does work - it stops freeloaders like you!
Reply 5
I get what you're saying but look at it logically. I did my year 12-13 (a levels) abroad and still got in to a UK uni paying the 3K+/year so either the admission people slipped up somehow or I am classified at least by my uni as a normal home student and thus should be able to get a grant surely?

And abroad is in the EU (western europe).

I will 90% be working in the UK when I graduate and paying taxes so I should be entittled to some moneyz now when I need it! Living on £30/week sucks when a good night out costs at least £10-15 including taxi and takeaway!
Reply 6
SpamTheMan
I get what you're saying but look at it logically. I did my year 12-13 (a levels) abroad and still got in to a UK uni paying the 3K+/year so either the admission people slipped up somehow or I am classified at least by my uni as a normal home student and thus should be able to get a grant surely?


You are only classified as a home student because you lied on your form. No financial information from your parents = no grant.
Reply 7
My Alevels and GCSEs are from the Cambridge International Examination Board (fyi make the normal A-levels look like year9 SATs) and I clearly stated that I took them abroad on any document I signed! If the uni offered me a Home place then as I said above I should get a grant?!
Reply 8
SpamTheMan
If the uni offered me a Home place then as I said above I should get a grant?!


Again, you will only be eligible for a grant if your parents submit their financial information for assessment. Without this infomation you cannot be assessed for a maintenance grant and so will only be entitled to a loan.
Reply 9
SpamTheMan
I get what you're saying but look at it logically. I did my year 12-13 (a levels) abroad and still got in to a UK uni paying the 3K+/year so either the admission people slipped up somehow or I am classified at least by my uni as a normal home student and thus should be able to get a grant surely?

And abroad is in the EU (western europe).


I will 90% be working in the UK when I graduate and paying taxes so I should be entittled to some moneyz now when I need it! Living on £30/week sucks when a good night out costs at least £10-15 including taxi and takeaway!


Lying on the form was pointless then. You clearly didn't do your homework into your entitlement well enough.

UK students living in the EU/EEA or Switzerland are treated exactly the same as home students (including getting maintenance loans/grants (though I'm only definitely sure it's been since 2008 so it might not have been the same when you went to uni if you started in 2007-you would have then been treated as an EU student, and got a fee loan but not a maintenance loan).

It's also completely not a problem if your parents live/work within the EU. UK nationals are entitled to take up residence in the EU if they want to and student finance takes this into account.

So yes, of course you can get a grant etc. But you'll still have to provide your parents payslips etc (or other evidence of their income). There's no escaping that. You can't be income assessed without that information (and as you only get entitled to a grant with income assessment there's no way out of this).

My parents provided their details for my sister though and I don't think the documents were even translated because it was clear enough what they were saying from the numbers on the forms.
SpamTheMan
I get what you're saying but look at it logically. I did my year 12-13 (a levels) abroad and still got in to a UK uni paying the 3K+/year so either the admission people slipped up somehow or I am classified at least by my uni as a normal home student and thus should be able to get a grant surely?

And abroad is in the EU (western europe).

I will 90% be working in the UK when I graduate and paying taxes so I should be entittled to some moneyz now when I need it! Living on £30/week sucks when a good night out costs at least £10-15 including taxi and takeaway!


EU students are charged the same rate of tuition fees as UK students & can get a tuition fee loan but arent entitled to the maintaince loan.
They can if they've lived in the UK for 3 years before they start their course, which the OP hasn't.
Reply 12
heidigirl
Lying on the form was pointless then. You clearly didn't do your homework into your entitlement well enough.

UK students living in the EU/EEA or Switzerland are treated exactly the same as home students (including getting maintenance loans/grants (though I'm only definitely sure it's been since 2008 so it might not have been the same when you went to uni if you started in 2007-you would have then been treated as an EU student, and got a fee loan but not a maintenance loan).

It's also completely not a problem if your parents live/work within the EU. UK nationals are entitled to take up residence in the EU if they want to and student finance takes this into account.

So yes, of course you can get a grant etc. But you'll still have to provide your parents payslips etc (or other evidence of their income). There's no escaping that. You can't be income assessed without that information (and as you only get entitled to a grant with income assessment there's no way out of this).

My parents provided their details for my sister though and I don't think the documents were even translated because it was clear enough what they were saying from the numbers on the forms.


cheers, i'll look into the 2007 vs 2008 thing.
jelly1000
EU students are charged the same rate of tuition fees as UK students & can get a tuition fee loan but arent entitled to the maintaince loan.


That only applies to EU nationals.

UK nationals who have exercised a right of residence in the EU/EEA or Switzerland (which all UK nationals have every right to do, for whatever reason) get everything UK home students get, including maintenance loans.

They didn't actually put it on the directgov website until this year though(when my sister applied last year she applied as an EU student originally, only to get her forms sent back with 'fill these home student forms in instead') so there's still a lot of confusion about it.

hypocriticaljap
They can if they've lived in the UK for 3 years before they start their course, which the OP hasn't.


And also if they're a UK national and have been resident for three years in the EU/EEA or Switzerland.
heidigirl
That only applies to EU nationals.
UK nationals who have exercised a right of residence in the EU/EEA or Switzerland (which all UK nationals have every right to do, for whatever reason) get everything UK home students get, including maintenance loans.

They didn't actually put it on the directgov website until this year though(when my sister applied last year she applied as an EU student originally, only to get her forms sent back with 'fill these home student forms in instead') so there's still a lot of confusion about it.



And also if they're a UK national and have been resident for three years in the EU/EEA or Switzerland.


Ah my mistake

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