Too poor for uni - what can I do?

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I'm going to the bank on Monday so I will definitely ask about it, thank you!
What will that allow me to do?

You can essentially go into negative money without having to pay any interest.

So you would be able to pay the uni accommodation deposit, go into negative money, and just wait for student finance give you the loan.

(E.g if you have £0 in your account, you spend £20, you have -£20 in your account. Student finance then gives you £50 so now your bank account will have £30)

Hope that helps xxx

Also student finance has a 'loan calculator' that allows you to see how much money you will be entitled to. Maybe try using that to see how much money you will be able to get? Xx

Reply 21

Elastichedgehog

Original post by jannu123

Once my dad gets home, I will have a real serious conversation about the whole thing and where we stand. I already sent out 3 emails to the Uni and I will ring up Student Finance next week to check if things are on the move. Thank you for replying :smile:

Good luck man :smile:

Reply 22

jannu123

Original post by dirtmother

You and your Dad haven't made the mistake of thinking that because you both feel he can't support you financially there's no point in completing the 'supporting a student' part of the student finance application have you?

I'm afraid that we have.The thing with my Dad's work is the fact that he doesn't have a stable income so every paycheck varies. Sometimes it's more, sometimes less.

Reply 23

jannu123

Original post by Elastichedgehog

Good luck man :smile:

Thanks!

Reply 24

jannu123

Original post by Lissy14

I looked on the website and it says I could be entitled up to 7 and a half grand which will mean I will have 2000 pounds spare and that will allow me not only to live comfortably but also pay off any loans we take from others. Thank you so much everyone suggesting things. My 6th form never even told us about these things so I literally had no idea there were so many options :smile:

Reply 25

Lissy14

Original post by jannu123

its amazing what school think are important things to tell students and what they don't think is important!
Glad you could get it sorted xx

Reply 26

LadyBunion

Original post by jannu123

When you chat to your dad about the funding and complete the forms you need to ask him to quickly get together the paper work needed to prove his income. (tax returns / accounts etc ) as you need to get the application in quickly

Reply 27

jannu123

Hey!
I got it all sorted out now - a very very kind family friend offered to pay for me as a "gift" for doing so well (she rang me 5 minutes ago after hearing about our problems) so it looks like I'm going after all if the Student Finance people sort it out! :smile:

I will definitely use all your advice to make the most and ensure I will be ok, I cannot thank all of you enough for all the help! :smile:

Thank you!!!!

Reply 28

OfficialHarambe

I heard there is a spare space at my zoo enclosure if you're interested.

Reply 29

jannu123

Original post by OfficialHarambe

I heard there is a spare space at my zoo enclosure if you're interested.

I'll pass, thanks :biggrin:

Reply 30

1c8e2

Original post by jannu123

Hey. As I stated, I live 5 hours away so there is no way I can live at home :frown:

I am very good at budgeting since I come from a family that has had hardship with money all my life - I don't even have a phone bill because I only use top up and go and rarely use it to call or text anyway. If I get the maximum loan, it will cover me nicely, the question is, will I get it.
Thank you so much for the reply, I will give the department a call and see what they can do. I never even knew Uni's can help you with things like this as the person I talked to quite blankly said - no money, tough luck, you're not coming.

I wouldnt let it put you off just yet, dont make any decisions until you hear back from SF. Even if youre down a few hundred for the year still go you can make the money up somewhere. Does your accomodation cover bills too as all you'll need to cover then is food.

I looked on NTU's website and they had a £1000 busary for people who have an annual income below £30k, ring them and tell them your situation.

Like i said budgeting is key and if you've had to do this in the past then great! Ideally you should be able to get by fine on £700 a month. As a student theres always ways of making a few quid here and there just work very closely with the university and students union to keep an eye out for these opportunities.

Reply 31

doodle_333

Original post by jannu123

Thank you for your reply. I will have to talk to him to see if that's possible. It's just the fact that his mum relies on him heavily and he has to spend nearly
600 pounds a month on her care home and medication so I think he might be quite a bit in debt from that already with credit cards. I did tell him that if I got a loan, I would pay him or anyone we can find back.
It just sucks that they don't tell you about the extra booking fee at the beginning so you could save up and instead send an email the day after results day asking for 200 pounds ASAP without being lenient.

Yes, there is no harm in asking, just explain you're exploring your options not expecting anything.

It is not good how they run the accommodation booking etc - so many people end up stuck as they just aren't told that they will have to pay a significant amount up front and why would you assume that your university, who know when SF is paid, would expect you to pay hundreds out before that date...?

It's also worth calling SF repeatedly and arguing with them and asking to speak to managers etc, at this time of year there will be a lot of desparate people and I know people myself who've been told it could be '2-4 weeks' only for them to find they could cut that to 48 hours when they argued more so it's definitely not done first come first served!