[Jemeter]

I'm hopefully going to university this September so will be applying for student finance very soon. I'm not from a particularly affluent family so am hoping that I'll be able to get a fair bit of help, but my household income will decrease quite significantly over the summer, due to tax credits/maintenance payments stopping. However by then I will have already applied for financial help but with a higher household income which won't be what my household income will be when I start uni.
Basically, do I declare the current household income or the household income I will have when I start university?

[jeffercake]

Apply for it with your details now, then use the change of circumstance part of the form as your income changes.
Basically, don't worry too much for now. There's loads of time before you're actually going to be awarded anything.
The main thing is to get your form submitted as soon as you can and make changes later.

[GBateman]

I think it is your current household income.

If you provide your predicted household income, then that could have negative ramifications. For example, it could be perceived that you are trying to 'cheat' the system.

I'd call up Student Finance help line and deliver your query to them.

Although, I'm not 100% certain that tax credits / maintenance payments are taken into account when assessing household income.

It's best to ask Student Finance themselves, as they will know

Hope this helps

[ily_em]

(Original post by Jemeter)
I'm hopefully going to university this September so will be applying for student finance very soon. I'm not from a particularly affluent family so am hoping that I'll be able to get a fair bit of help, but my household income will decrease quite significantly over the summer, due to tax credits/maintenance payments stopping. However by then I will have already applied for financial help but with a higher household income which won't be what my household income will be when I start uni.
Basically, do I declare the current household income or the household income I will have when I start university?

Does that make a difference? I thought it was just earnings from a job they counted - in the summer between 6th form and uni my dad stopped paying maintenance and tax credits stopped and it didn't make a difference to my application

EDIT: I'm almost certain that they don't take those into account when applying, because I have the maximum UCL bursary which is awarded to those with a household income of less than £12,100, and if they had included tax credits and maintenance my household income would have been higher than that.

[hypocriticaljap]

You apply now using the financial info required that for year 2009-10. Then in April you download and send off a current year assessment form. This is not the same as a change of circumstance form and you will be reassessed. You will need to prove your circumstances in April 2012.