[whatareyoucrazy]

I'm international student, and yeah, so I've got the last university accommodation rent of £1,400 and I can't afford to pay it. COMPLETELY FAILED with making a budget.
I have £50 right now.... I get my student allowance 4 of June, but that's only £390.... I filled in and returned a Hardship fund application, and it's been like 6 weeks with no decision.... I have also notified Student Finance like ages ago that this will happen!! and they just won't help me. I also asked the Fee office if they can advise me how to act from now on, they emailed me something like: "I have made a note about this in your student records. Can you pay at least something towards the accommodation fees?"

ARGH! I mean seriously, I have made it so clear that I AM SORRY but I can't pay it! Why don't they tell me what to do?

What should I do?!!

[Shani]

(Original post by whatareyoucrazy)
Why don't they tell me what to do?

Because you're an adult and you are responsible for your own bills?

As an international student there is no help towards living costs or tuition fees from public funds, and, correct me if I'm wrong - but aren't you supposed to be able to show you can support yourself financially during your course before starting?

Tbh, I'd be fairly peed off if universities in the UK handed out financial help to international students when there are so many UK students themselves struggling with little help.

[Nightstar-27]

Try and find a part time job to clear your overdraft, cause that's what going to happen. Can you ask friends or family to loan you money until you can pay them back? Also aren't international students meant to prove they can afford to live here before coming over? How bad was your budgeting? Do you have anything you can sell on ebay or whatnot?

[hvh]

Student finance will not give you any more money than you are entitled too (I didn't even know international students got student finance!)

The university are not going to help you - you need to find the money. A job? Parents? Family friends? Overdraft?

Student hardship fund - you cannot rely on this as an escape as you may not receive it.

It's a **** situation but your only choice is to ask friends and family and get a job.

[whatareyoucrazy]

I am an EU student, by the way... We are just as entitled to help as UK students... I never had to prove that I can support myself.

I heard that you can make a payment schedule and pay the rent until next academic year starts. I already have a summer job that starts in July, and I could definitely pay it with that money, so that, for me at least, would sound the most sensible solution, but if the University isn't willing to cooperate that's a whole different matter...

[Feefifofum]

There isn't anyone who can really help you with this. You've admitted that this has been caused by lack of budgeting. You must have known that you would have to pay for your accommodation, and allowing yourself to spend more than £1000 MORE than you can afford is a serious problem.

You said you are an international student - does your visa (if you needed one to move here) permit you to work, as well as study? If it does, then try to get a job and work as many hours as you can get. No-one is going to give you that money for free, you need to earn it.

Your only other option would be a loan, but unless you have a job lined up already for the summer and can pay it back very soon, then I would avoid this at all costs, because you will be stung by the interest, and unless you can pay back the loan, you'll find yourself in an even worse situation than you are in now.

Edit: as an EU student, you should be able to work legally.

Hardship funds are limited, and usually only given to those who are put in circumstances that they can't control (sudden change in family circumstances, job loss, etc), not to those who can't budget and spend £1000 more than they can afford.

[Shani]

(Original post by whatareyoucrazy)
I am an EU student, by the way... We are just as entitled to help as UK students... I never had to prove that I can support myself.

I heard that you can make a payment schedule and pay the rent until next academic year starts. I already have a summer job that starts in July, and I could definitely pay it with that money, so that, for me at least, would sound the most sensible solution, but if the University isn't willing to cooperate that's a whole different matter...

You said international student, not EU student. But still, you get a tuition fee loan only - no help with living costs.

Neither SF or the university have done anything wrong, so it's not wrong of them "not to cooperate". You ballsed up your finances so you need to be responsible for your own actions and come with arrangements to people you owe money to, and work to pay off your own debt. Why on earth would you expect cash handouts from UK public finances (which UK taxpayers have to fund) when it's your own poor money management that's got you into this situation?

And, neg me all you like OP, truth hurts?

[prayforbetterdays]

Rob a bank then go hide in Finland and only come to England for your uni exams

[aeterno]

I sincerely hope that hardship funds and the like are not reserved for students who simply can't budget - that would make a mockery of the whole system.

Ask your parents to loan you money if they can afford it. Sell some things. Get a job like every other student with financial difficulties. Otherwise, you'll likely have to go into your overdraft then pay that off.

I'm not even sure why you're contacting Student Finance and expecting extra money from them. They're hardly going to do that, are they?

[whatareyoucrazy]

Oh my God... I did not say I expect "cash handouts". Seriously, when did I say that? What I mean by University cooperating with me is that they could actually reply to my messages properly: the messages in which I apologise for this very unconvenient situation, and suggest to them plan of action. If their only reply is "could you still pay some amount right now?", that doesn't really help - neither me nor them. I don't expect money from University - only some sort of an advice when I have asked for it. If someone lives out of home for the first time, in a different counrty with a different currency - the exchange rate really sucks btw and has been a part of the development of this problem - and ends up in a difficult situation, asking help, I don't think that's completely unheard-of...

[Sommerfugl]

Maybe check if you can loan/ apply for money in your home country? Or maybe a loan from your bank ? Otherwise tell them you will have a job from july and can pay it off by august or whatever.

[DaveSmith99]

(Original post by Shani)
Because you're an adult and you are responsible for your own bills?

As an international student there is no help towards living costs or tuition fees from public funds, and, correct me if I'm wrong - but aren't you supposed to be able to show you can support yourself financially during your course before starting?

Tbh, I'd be fairly peed off if universities in the UK handed out financial help to international students when there are so many UK students themselves struggling with little help.

Why on earth should nationality make a difference when it comes to getting financial help from the university? They pay to be there the same as you, in fact they probably pay a lot more.

[Finbarr]

(Original post by whatareyoucrazy)
I'm international student, and yeah, so I've got the last university accommodation rent of £1,400 and I can't afford to pay it. COMPLETELY FAILED with making a budget.
I have £50 right now.... I get my student allowance 4 of June, but that's only £390.... I filled in and returned a Hardship fund application, and it's been like 6 weeks with no decision.... I have also notified Student Finance like ages ago that this will happen!! and they just won't help me. I also asked the Fee office if they can advise me how to act from now on, they emailed me something like: "I have made a note about this in your student records. Can you pay at least something towards the accommodation fees?"

ARGH! I mean seriously, I have made it so clear that I AM SORRY but I can't pay it! Why don't they tell me what to do?

What should I do?!!

The way they put the request to you ("can you pay at least something towards the accomodation fees") suggests a willingness to be generous toward you right now. If you need most of the money for food, don't be afraid to discuss in person (or on the phone) with the person who emailed you, try to suss out what the expectation is, whether they want a token payment or something more. The thing NOT to do is to act on the basis of second-guessing or making an assumption about what they mean and what their position is: you may make your life more difficult the latter way.

I think they are trying to take a compassionate view, and it is probably the best thing for you to make verbal contact with them or have a meeting in person so you can both work out what each others' position is, and you can hopefully come to an arrangement which suits both of you best.

[Shani]

(Original post by DaveSmith99)
Why on earth should nationality make a difference when it comes to getting financial help from the university? They pay to be there the same as you, in fact they probably pay a lot more.

Because the funds come from UK taxpayers, and there are plenty of UK students struggling financially. Why should UK taxpayer money go to helping international students when UK students, who's UK taxpaying family has provided the funds, are struggling?

And, you do realise you've just ressurected a dead thread?

[DaveSmith99]

(Original post by Shani)
Because the funds come from UK taxpayers, and there are plenty of UK students struggling financially. Why should UK taxpayer money go to helping international students when UK students, who's UK taxpaying family has provided the funds, are struggling?

And, you do realise you've just ressurected a dead thread?

Why do you think this money is coming from the tax payer? International students pay tuition fees, higher tuition fees, this is where the money will come from.

Refusing financial help to foreign students because they are foreign is like making all foreign students students sit at the back of lecture because "There are plenty of English student who can't hear at the back, why should the best seats go to foreign students?".

Yes I know it was dead, you just annoyed me.

[Kabloomybuzz]

(Original post by whatareyoucrazy)
Oh my God... I did not say I expect "cash handouts". Seriously, when did I say that? What I mean by University cooperating with me is that they could actually reply to my messages properly: the messages in which I apologise for this very unconvenient situation, and suggest to them plan of action. If their only reply is "could you still pay some amount right now?", that doesn't really help - neither me nor them. I don't expect money from University - only some sort of an advice when I have asked for it. If someone lives out of home for the first time, in a different counrty with a different currency - the exchange rate really sucks btw and has been a part of the development of this problem - and ends up in a difficult situation, asking help, I don't think that's completely unheard-of...

Why don't you physically go in to uni and find someone to talk to about it, rather than relying on email. If you don't know who to talk to, go to your personal tutor, who should be able to point you in the right direction. It will probably get you a lot further than emails.

[Shani]

(Original post by DaveSmith99)
Why do you think this money is coming from the tax payer? International students pay tuition fees, higher tuition fees, this is where the money will come from.

Refusing financial help to foreign students because they are foreign is like making all foreign students students sit at the back of lecture because "There are plenty of English student who can't hear at the back, why should the best seats go to foreign students?".

Yes I know it was dead, you just annoyed me.

In other words, you wanted to pick a fight over something that was written weeks ago. GG.

I don't think the money is coming from the taxpayer. I know it is coming from the taxpayer. UK students might get lower tuition fee loans than the fees international students pay, but that's because the UK government subsidises UK students fees (by a lesser amount from this year, of course). (As is seen when comparing ELQ fees (unsubsidised UK fees) to what international students pay).

International students need to prove they can fund their whole degree before they're allowed to study here, and that is because there are no public funds available to them.

To flip the question back at you, why should the UK taxpaying public pay tax to the government, who then fund the universities pay for international students to study in this country, when there are plenty of UK students themselves, who have at the very least been paying tax in the UK for 3 years (or their families have) struggling to live on the given funding?

[DaveSmith99]

(Original post by Shani)
In other words, you wanted to pick a fight over something that was written weeks ago. GG.

I don't think the money is coming from the taxpayer. I know it is coming from the taxpayer. UK students might get lower tuition fee loans than the fees international students pay, but that's because the UK government subsidises UK students fees (by a lesser amount from this year, of course). (As is seen when comparing ELQ fees (unsubsidised UK fees) to what international students pay).

International students need to prove they can fund their whole degree before they're allowed to study here, and that is because there are no public funds available to them.

To flip the question back at you, why should the UK taxpaying public pay tax to the government, who then fund the universities pay for international students to study in this country, when there are

Why are universities so keen to get lots of foreign students? Is it because they want a multi cultural and diverse university? Perhaps, but its likely because they can charge them higher fees and make more money from them. That's where the financial help would come from, from the profit that universities make on international students.

[iSMark]

(Original post by whatareyoucrazy)
I'm international student, and yeah, so I've got the last university accommodation rent of £1,400 and I can't afford to pay it. COMPLETELY FAILED with making a budget.
I have £50 right now.... I get my student allowance 4 of June, but that's only £390.... I filled in and returned a Hardship fund application, and it's been like 6 weeks with no decision.... I have also notified Student Finance like ages ago that this will happen!! and they just won't help me. I also asked the Fee office if they can advise me how to act from now on, they emailed me something like: "I have made a note about this in your student records. Can you pay at least something towards the accommodation fees?"

ARGH! I mean seriously, I have made it so clear that I AM SORRY but I can't pay it! Why don't they tell me what to do?

What should I do?!!

When you got to the stage that you only had a grand left in your bank what did you think? ...Something along the lines of 'hey ho keep on spending as if its not going to happen'???

[DuncanMono]

(Original post by whatareyoucrazy)
I am an EU student, by the way... We are just as entitled to help as UK students... I never had to prove that I can support myself.

I heard that you can make a payment schedule and pay the rent until next academic year starts. I already have a summer job that starts in July, and I could definitely pay it with that money, so that, for me at least, would sound the most sensible solution, but if the University isn't willing to cooperate that's a whole different matter...

The email you quoted at the top asked if you were able to make a payment towards it. Once your £390 comes through offer then say £200 pounds and then work out a repayment schedule with them over the summer. Idiot it's not a difficult situation to resolve