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Formal appeals?

I'm a mature student that has already done a year on another course in 09/10. I applied for student finance as a self supporting student and sent off evidence for my whole working life which is from 08-14. I received a letter telling me that I was only entitled to the standard, non means tested loan amount and when I called to question why, I was told that to be self supporting I had to have earned £7500 per year for 3 years. Two of my years were accepted and the others rejected, in two of those years I was under 18 and was working around college for minimum wage. The year I was at university, I made between £3000-£4000 ontop of student finance and they wont accept that year because they won't accept student finance as income. The year they have rejected I worked temp jobs and had a few gaps in employment and earned around £6000 and supported myself. I spoke to 3 different people and all 3 said the same thing, to make a formal appeal but weren't too helpful about what I needed to include and couldn't tell me how long it would take to get an answer.

I know its a case by case thing, but how long roughly does it take to get an answer from appeals? and What information do I need to include?