[wooderson]

Hi, a bit of information about me, i'm 28 male with no children, disabilities or partner, i've just got my student finance through to sign and return.

The amount i'll be receiving is £7125 which is less than i'd accounted for, i've done my best to save as much as possible but it's looking like it's going to be a struggle.

Does the amount seem about right?

Thanks

[Alexander94]

Have you checked out if your university offers other bursarys/grants?

[evening sunrise]

Sounds correct. 1 x maximum loan as your independent, plus one maintenance grant, which then reduces the loan a bit and you get the 7.1K total.

Your gender is not material, but as a single student, with no dependents or disability then that is your lot I am afraid unless the university offers a bursary. You will need to check at your uni as all the bursary schemes are different. Some just reduce fee loans, there is no cash, some are all cash, the amount also vary considerably. At some unis the bursaries are unlimited, at others there is a limited number and they prioritorise based upon various factors.

Good luck

[wooderson]

Thanks for the advice, I was worried because I accidently did the household income part of the form when it really isn't relevant.

[Elle408]

Yeah, that's your lot... not a whole lot for a year is it? lol

Definitely check your own uni though, Exeter (my firm) do an Access to Exeter scheme, which will give me an extra £1500 a year, plus a £3000 a year fee waiver (of which you can opt to have £1000 in cash) and a one off £1000 for the first year for beating my offer... so really rather generous!

[ashtoreth]

(Original post by Elle408)
Yeah, that's your lot... not a whole lot for a year is it? lol

Definitely check your own uni though, Exeter (my firm) do an Access to Exeter scheme, which will give me an extra £1500 a year, plus a £3000 a year fee waiver (of which you can opt to have £1000 in cash) and a one off £1000 for the first year for beating my offer... so really rather generous!

dayum! i'm goin to the wrong uni! loool

i also looked into what's on offer after loans etc and there's not a great deal for me, and this despite going some way towards beating my offer.

i'm just lucky that i get a social work bursary but, i'll deffo have to get a pt job (which i'd always planned to do) in between placements if i wanna do more than survive.

[Elle408]

(Original post by ashtoreth)
dayum! i'm goin to the wrong uni! loool

i also looked into what's on offer after loans etc and there's not a great deal for me, and this despite going some way towards beating my offer.

i'm just lucky that i get a social work bursary but, i'll deffo have to get a pt job (which i'd always planned to do) in between placements if i wanna do more than survive.

Hahah... I know, and originally I didn't think it was a lot! I really want to attempt getting into Durham on Adjustment day, but they're not nearly as generous so part of me thinks I should just stick to Exeter and the extra £2500 i'll be better off and I'm still worried about surviving off that! I'll be getting a part time job too I think, plus working the entire summer to help for the following year... I'm really not looking forward to purposefully making myself incredibly poor.

[ashtoreth]

(Original post by Elle408)
Hahah... I know, and originally I didn't think it was a lot! I really want to attempt getting into Durham on Adjustment day, but they're not nearly as generous so part of me thinks I should just stick to Exeter and the extra £2500 i'll be better off and I'm still worried about surviving off that! I'll be getting a part time job too I think, plus working the entire summer to help for the following year... I'm really not looking forward to purposefully making myself incredibly poor.

oddly enuff, i was doin the maffs earlier and i'm dreading being as poor as i'm gonna be. there are church meeces with more cheese than i'm gonna have

that said, it will be an improvement over this last year where i didn't qualify for ant help/support at all!
finally got a job a couple of months back but, it came too late in the day to make any significant difference. just now i'm trying to save as much as i can before i gotta move, cos that's gonna cost me a fair whack.

i'm just fortunate that my fees will be capped to the 3yrs, which is the concession i'll qualify for being an english student in scotland. so a saving of 7k.

were i u, i'd stick to exeter like glue! looool...it's an attractive package and not to be sniffed at!
tho funny u should mention durham cos they along with cardiff were 2 of the unis i spoke to, regards applying.

just to add, the SW bursary will actually mean that if i don't manage to find a job, i'll still be ok(ish) so long as i'm careful (summat i've never been good at where money is concerned!) but i'm desperate to get up to glasgow asap so i can land a job. *pls GOD*

[ashtoreth]

(Original post by wooderson)
Thanks for the advice, I was worried because I accidently did the household income part of the form when it really isn't relevant.

mebbe by accident but u did the right bit, so that u know

it's why u have been awarded top whack.

[pinkangelgirl]

wow thats more than non-mature students!!

i get the full of everything- bursary and grant and its only £6,000!!

[Elle408]

(Original post by ashtoreth)
just to add, the SW bursary will actually mean that if i don't manage to find a job, i'll still be ok(ish) so long as i'm careful (summat i've never been good at where money is concerned!) but i'm desperate to get up to glasgow asap so i can land a job. *pls GOD*

This is my concern! I really wanted to move down to Exeter early and start looking for part time work. I'm going to be staying in Exeter for the full 3 years (not just term time) so wanted something nice and permanent but now due to work that I've signed up to over the summer, I won't be able to move until the start of September... along with everyone else!

How much is the SW bursary? I should just about be ok too, with what i'll earn over the summer and the £9600 i'll be getting from loans/grants/bursaries, but I don't want to struggle if I can help it! I wasn't entitled to anything last year either, and as a result am already £600 into my overdraft! Luckily i'll be out of that by September and back into the black, but i don't want to find myself in that position again! It's too scary!

[ashtoreth]

(Original post by pinkangelgirl)
wow thats more than non-mature students!!

i get the full of everything- bursary and grant and its only £6,000!!

yeah, i do appreciate that we get more as 'independent/mature' status students. can't complain really.

i think what some of us feel tho is cos we've all been in ft work etc, it's quite a shock to try an adjust to frugal living.

for example...i am PANTING after a macbook pro and air and ipad but i gotta wait for shiny fings now till i get out of pauper land loool

[ashtoreth]

(Original post by Elle408)
This is my concern! I really wanted to move down to Exeter early and start looking for part time work. I'm going to be staying in Exeter for the full 3 years (not just term time) so wanted something nice and permanent but now due to work that I've signed up to over the summer, I won't be able to move until the start of September... along with everyone else!

How much is the SW bursary? I should just about be ok too, with what i'll earn over the summer and the £9600 i'll be getting from loans/grants/bursaries, but I don't want to struggle if I can help it! I wasn't entitled to anything last year either, and as a result am already £600 into my overdraft! Luckily i'll be out of that by September and back into the black, but i don't want to find myself in that position again! It's too scary!

dunno if i'm gonna make it up early enuff meself atm. snot lookin good tho - mid aug at the latest is what i've said, tho ideally, start of aug.

SW bursary is 4575 (loooool) and this is where ur gonna screech at me innit? i'll total 11700 pa.
but we get the bursary cos we do unpaid placements which means if i cannot find a sympathetic employer that will release me for placements from rotas etc, i'm gonna be scrabbling for a job come summer.
and like u, i'm moving there to live, so the sooner this 'minor' detail is sorted the bloody better! lol

worse for me tho is crap credit rating means i don't merit a student acc with an overdraft. no bad thing since i know how easily bad money management and the recession (which meant i lost my job) landed me in bother before - so i'm really looking at being as sensible as poss. but yeah, i HATE money troubles cos it means i get stressed an stop studying cos i'm too busy worrying instead!

[evening sunrise]

(Original post by Elle408)
Hahah... I know, and originally I didn't think it was a lot! I really want to attempt getting into Durham on Adjustment day, but they're not nearly as generous so part of me thinks I should just stick to Exeter and the extra £2500 i'll be better off and I'm still worried about surviving off that! I'll be getting a part time job too I think, plus working the entire summer to help for the following year... I'm really not looking forward to purposefully making myself incredibly poor.

If you get a full maintenance grant then the Durham Bursary is 3000 p.a, if you get a partial maintenance grant it is 1000 p.a.

Cannot wait to get there.

Exeter is also very nice I visited and had an offer of Exeter back in 1981.

[evening sunrise]

(Original post by pinkangelgirl)
wow thats more than non-mature students!!

i get the full of everything- bursary and grant and its only £6,000!!

It is nothing to do with being mature it is about having independent status, you can be independent at 18, the criteria are on the .gov website.

The 7.1K the student is getting is the same as an 18yo get if their parents income is less than 25K p.a.

The reason the independent student appears to get more is that they cannot go back to their parents for free board and lodgings for 3.5 months each summer, and if they are single and without a kid they cannot claim JSA, so they must work.

The argument is therefore actually reversed. Why can an 18yo get the same funding when they do not have support them selves during the summer break.

A total of 6K, yet eligable for bursary, sounds to me as if you will be living at your parents home whilst at Uni.

[Hippodamos]

Haha. How lovely for you all! I am not eligible for public funding until my final year, so all I get is a £5500 maintenance loan, no grants, no bursaries. I have to pay my own tuition fee (£9000) and college fee (£4500), so if any of you rich people want to send me some money, please do feel free.

[evening sunrise]

(Original post by Hippodamos)
Haha. How lovely for you all! I am not eligible for public funding until my final year, so all I get is a £5500 maintenance loan, no grants, no bursaries. I have to pay my own tuition fee (£9000) and college fee (£4500), so if any of you rich people want to send me some money, please do feel free.

Ouch. What happened to your fee loan ?

[Hippodamos]

(Original post by evening sunrise)
Ouch. What happened to your fee loan ?

Previous incomplete study means I am ineligible.

[Alexander94]

(Original post by Elle408)
Yeah, that's your lot... not a whole lot for a year is it? lol

Definitely check your own uni though, Exeter (my firm) do an Access to Exeter scheme, which will give me an extra £1500 a year, plus a £3000 a year fee waiver (of which you can opt to have £1000 in cash) and a one off £1000 for the first year for beating my offer... so really rather generous!

Could you direct me to the exceeding the offer grant thing? I have found the others, but not that one, and if I do it would be nice!

[Elle408]

(Original post by evening sunrise)
If you get a full maintenance grant then the Durham Bursary is 3000 p.a, if you get a partial maintenance grant it is 1000 p.a.

Cannot wait to get there.

Exeter is also very nice I visited and had an offer of Exeter back in 1981.

I thought the £3000 was only ever in the form of an accommodation discount, except for in exceptional circumstances, which it would then be a fee waiver (which Exeter give you as well as the access bursary) I probably would qualify for the exceptional circumstances, being 27 and all... but if what I read is correct, i'd still be a little out of pocket. It's not enough to deter me from attempting Durham through Adjustment though, as it would definitely suit me better in terms of location and job prospects!

(Original post by Alexander94)
Could you direct me to the exceeding the offer grant thing? I have found the others, but not that one, and if I do it would be nice!

It was an email that I received shortly after my offer, called 'Excellence at Exeter' - due to their belief in my ability to flourish at Exeter (their words) they have given me a low offer, but to encourage me to aim for high grades, they'll give me £1000 if I exceed my offer. Part of the conditions being that I make them my firm choice.