The Student Room Group

How much is your student loan/grant?

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Original post by Elle408

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.


Thank you! I knew I had read it somewhere, I will have a trawl through my emails now!

EDIT: Thanks! I found it, had forgotten about that!
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by evening sunrise
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.


thats wrong actually. when i went to uni i applied with full means tested because my dad only earns about 10k a year. And i dont get 7.1, i get around 6k.

furthermore, i dont have a home to go to i have to live at uni, but because how the system works, i cant be classed as an independent student because you have to have been supporting yourself for 3 years- and ive only been doing it for 2.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by pinkangelgirl
thats wrong actually. when i went to uni i applied with full means tested because my dad only earns about 10k a year. And i dont get 7.1, i get around 6k.

furthermore, i dont have a home to go to i have to live at uni, but because how the system works, i cant be classed as an independent student because you have to have been supporting yourself for 3 years- and ive only been doing it for 2.


It is, I'm 18, I get 7.1K. But people a year younger (my brother) get less, because of the fee changes I think, the amount also raises every year.
Original post by Alexander94
It is, I'm 18, I get 7.1K. But people a year younger (my brother) get less, because of the fee changes I think, the amount also raises every year.


maybe its cos im going into my 3rd year. But i honestly get max everything and its only 6k :frown: thats annoying
Original post by pinkangelgirl
maybe its cos im going into my 3rd year. But i honestly get max everything and its only 6k :frown: thats annoying


Yeah, quite possibly, my brothers want to throttle me with how much more I get! At least you don't have 9000 fees
Reply 25
As a mature student (I'll be 28 next month :biggrin: ) I'll be studying in London. My loan amount is £6368 and the grant is £3250... So a grand total of £9618 per year.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
Original post by pinkangelgirl
thats wrong actually. when i went to uni i applied with full means tested because my dad only earns about 10k a year. And i dont get 7.1, i get around 6k.

furthermore, i dont have a home to go to i have to live at uni, but because how the system works, i cant be classed as an independent student because you have to have been supporting yourself for 3 years- and ive only been doing it for 2.


What your getting based upon the income you stated does not match any of the detailed contribution tables for 2012 entry, if your already at Uni then the old system was different. But the OP is applying under 2012 entry.

At a residual income of 25K it would be full loan plus full mainteance grant = 7.1K (different in London I believe) same for an independent student like the OP without kids, partner or disability.

No idea really about the old system, my son graduated last summer but he only got the absolute minimum loan.
I only get 3575 for the year

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by NirvanaFighters
I only get 3575 for the year

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App


good grief! how the devil do u survive? i couldn't afford to go if that was all i got. terrible as that may sound.
Original post by ashtoreth
good grief! how the devil do u survive? i couldn't afford to go if that was all i got. terrible as that may sound.



That is what my son got. Didn't even cover his self catered, shared bathroom halls.

However as a mature/indepentent student, that minimum amount is only possible if you have a partner who is on somewhere between 42 and 50K per annum, depending upon pension contribution levels and the number of kids.

Unfortunately, the system takes no account, especially for parents, of the commitments they may have entered into years before. It takes no account of one parent driving 50 miles each way to work and another doing 5 miles each way to work.

It is not means (to afford) tested and it is not based upon what a household can afford, it is calibrated against gross income. Neither does it differentiate between the fiscal imbalance of multiple incomes. A house hold with income X has signifcantly less disposable income than a house hold with two incomes each of X/2. The discrepancy increases as the income increases.

As the whole system is meant to be based upon what a house hold can afford it is completely unbelieveable that it is not based upon income net of tax and does not take off uncontrolable and volatile costs such as cost of getting to work.

Family A has 2 x 25K pa and works 5 miles from home. Family B had a a single earner of 50K p.a who pays a season ticket into London from Milton Keynes, which they have to pay for after tax.
The student finance system states they should contribute the same amount yet their net incomes are vastly different by several thousand pa. Guess who suffers ? The younger siblings of the student from family B who suddenly find they are no longer getting a family summer holiday whilst the same from family A are.........some what ironic given family B is making a greater fiscal contribution to our national debt crisis.

Next I will get a responses from some, not old enough to vote twit who actually understands nothing, who will state, "the parent should get a job nearer home and get a smaller mortage so they can support their kid".

One day middle England will wake up and say "enough is enough".

Separate taxation for partners is correct because the past situation was stupid where if a one partner returned to the work place after caring for children they would pay everything at the higher rate, even a few hours part-time. But anything, such as student finance, that is based upon household income must address the assessment from income net of tax.
Original post by evening sunrise


Unfortunately, the system takes no account, especially for parents, of the commitments they may have entered into years before.


ditto here

I look at the price of the season ticket that better half pays and the fact that it is more than my daughter will get as a grant scares me
Reply 31
Hi guys, thanks for the replies, will definitely be checking on bursaries, i'm still deciding between 2 unis so that may be the deciding factor.

Am I right in thinking that the only way to qualify for the full £5500 maintenance loan is if you only qualify for a reduced maintenance grant so nobody will actually receive the following.

Maintenance Loan £5500
Maintenance Grant £3250

Cheers
Can you apply for as much financial support as you want, like a maintenance grant and loan with tuition fee loan and a bursary? Or is there a limit on what you apply for?
Reply 33
Original post by wooderson
Hi guys, thanks for the replies, will definitely be checking on bursaries, i'm still deciding between 2 unis so that may be the deciding factor.

Am I right in thinking that the only way to qualify for the full £5500 maintenance loan is if you only qualify for a reduced maintenance grant so nobody will actually receive the following.

Maintenance Loan £5500
Maintenance Grant £3250

Cheers


Yeah, I had this query and got replies that for every pound of grant you're entitled to, they take 50p from your loan... or something similar, which reduces your loan to £3750 (apparently so that you don't have much to pay back later on, which is a little redundant now when your tuition is £9000 a year!)
Reply 34
Do you think they should take your course into account? For example i'll be studying engineering and was told it'll be 60 hours overall per week with around 32hrs in classes.

I would be more than happy to work part time if I had the time which some other degrees allow, for example a mate of mine said he was only doing 10 hours per week on his course.
Original post by wooderson
Do you think they should take your course into account? For example i'll be studying engineering and was told it'll be 60 hours overall per week with around 32hrs in classes.

I would be more than happy to work part time if I had the time which some other degrees allow, for example a mate of mine said he was only doing 10 hours per week on his course.


It is true that some degree subjects have lower levels of contact time, but the students have to do just as much work reading and preparing analysis of the material, for example English Literature and History are often only 10 hours a week contact time, but the total effort will be around the same as yours.

The question you pose is related to another thread elsewhere on TSR, where the English Lit and History students want to know why their fees are 9K pa, the same as hard science and engineering, when they get so little contact time and their subjects do not require any of the expensive equipment that hard science and engineering do.

It is a right old can of wrigglers if one opens that debate up. You end up with English and History students with fees of say 2K per annum and science and engineering with fees of closer to 15k per annum, for example. (just a rough calculation.)

I might be able to put your mind at rest somewhat. My wife and I will studying different subjects at different unis, but detailed inspection of the modules reveals a pattern and structure.

Every 10 credits equals a total of 100 study hours, the break down is given in terms of lab time, lecture time, and tutorial time with some provision for revision and exam. Lab time plus lecture time plus tutorial time equals contact hours and this varies considerably by module. The balance between the sum of the above and 100 hours is then given as self guided study time by the student. A 20 credit module has a total of 200 hours study, it may have the same, less or more contact time compared to a 10 credit module with the difference made up with self guided study time.

The total study effort for a year is 1200 hours. Divide that by the number of weeks in your terms (this varies I have shorter terms than my wife) and you have the overall number of hours per week the average student is expected to need to put in.

How much or how little self guided study effort an individual student actually does is down to them.
Original post by evening sunrise
That is what my son got. Didn't even cover his self catered, shared bathroom halls.

However as a mature/indepentent student, that minimum amount is only possible if you have a partner who is on somewhere between 42 and 50K per annum, depending upon pension contribution levels and the number of kids.

Unfortunately, the system takes no account, especially for parents, of the commitments they may have entered into years before. It takes no account of one parent driving 50 miles each way to work and another doing 5 miles each way to work.

It is not means (to afford) tested and it is not based upon what a household can afford, it is calibrated against gross income. Neither does it differentiate between the fiscal imbalance of multiple incomes. A house hold with income X has signifcantly less disposable income than a house hold with two incomes each of X/2. The discrepancy increases as the income increases.

As the whole system is meant to be based upon what a house hold can afford it is completely unbelieveable that it is not based upon income net of tax and does not take off uncontrolable and volatile costs such as cost of getting to work.

Family A has 2 x 25K pa and works 5 miles from home. Family B had a a single earner of 50K p.a who pays a season ticket into London from Milton Keynes, which they have to pay for after tax.
The student finance system states they should contribute the same amount yet their net incomes are vastly different by several thousand pa. Guess who suffers ? The younger siblings of the student from family B who suddenly find they are no longer getting a family summer holiday whilst the same from family A are.........some what ironic given family B is making a greater fiscal contribution to our national debt crisis.

Next I will get a responses from some, not old enough to vote twit who actually understands nothing, who will state, "the parent should get a job nearer home and get a smaller mortage so they can support their kid".

One day middle England will wake up and say "enough is enough".

Separate taxation for partners is correct because the past situation was stupid where if a one partner returned to the work place after caring for children they would pay everything at the higher rate, even a few hours part-time. But anything, such as student finance, that is based upon household income must address the assessment from income net of tax.


i'm just busy doin the calculations to see what i can't afford and the list is long! and that's with my finance, which i can see now is generous, going by some others.

i'm already stressing with how i'm to cope and praying extremely hard that i get a job asap. the stress for those on less, must be incredible!

as much as i want to moan, i'm reminded of the words of an american poster on here who said she envied our education system cos at least we got 'summat' whereas in the states it's entirely self funded.
think i'll just quietly go away n be grateful for what i'm gonna be getting, cos from the few i've heard on here...it could have been so much worse.
Original post by ashtoreth
i'm just busy doin the calculations to see what i can't afford and the list is long! and that's with my finance, which i can see now is generous, going by some others.

i'm already stressing with how i'm to cope and praying extremely hard that i get a job asap. the stress for those on less, must be incredible!

as much as i want to moan, i'm reminded of the words of an american poster on here who said she envied our education system cos at least we got 'summat' whereas in the states it's entirely self funded.
think i'll just quietly go away n be grateful for what i'm gonna be getting, cos from the few i've heard on here...it could have been so much worse.


I have absolutely no interest in what the americans do, they get what they vote for. The UK is where we pay our taxes and the issue is around sensible, coherent, and just policy, it is currently discriminatory against families where one partner chooses to stay at home and raise children.

Good luck and I hope you find a job quickly.

My son had 12 months experience at Wetherspoons when he went to uni, but he did not manage to find employment until the start of his third year, there was very little work around and lots of applicants. The good news is once he graduated last summer (2.1 BSc Mathematics) he obtained graduate employment in software engineering straightaway.

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