Student Finance way less than I expected...

And keep paying for it? More than I'll get? Not really a solution...

That's what I thought, I really expected more and others have told me they received more. It also states on my letter that it is NOT based on household income, whatever that means. I intend to ring them, I just wanted to know if I was being an idiot or missing something, it surely shouldn't be so little?

So I applied late for my student finance, because I was waiting to hear back about whether my place on the course still stood after 2 years. As soon as I heard I had a place, no-problem, I applied and finally got my letter yesterday. The letter says I will receive the full amount for my tuition but only £2871 in maintenance. That's only £900 per term. I got more on that when I was caring for my Dad, and before that, when I was on jobseekers. I took out a loan for £750 from the college, to buy supplies (a lot of supplies, I'm on a Graphic Design course), clothes which didn't have holes in them, a new bag and to pay for bus and food up until I got my loan. Of that, my mother took £200 to pay for the food, electric and bus she paid for while I waited for my loan. I am now well into my overdraft and upon paying back my loan and buying an annual bus pass and I will have a mere £791 overdraft left. I've worked out my expenses weekly at £20 minimum a week (I also have a monthly £40 payment to my sister for a PS4 I bought on her credit and a £30 payment for my phone contract, both of which I got when I had a steady reliable cashflow as my dad's carer), and by the time I get my next payment I will still be £171 within my overdraft and that is without accounting for any course payments such as prints, supplies, or inevitable trips. When it comes to my final payment I will be only £150 above my overdraft which is supposed to get me through the summer, which fair enough I might have something by then. I did expect more and have heard nothing regarding the extra grant I applied for. My mother is at my throat about paying rent which I frankly can't afford to do and I know no number of excel documents is going to help me here. I'm basically screwed and have no idea where to go from here. It's easy to say 'get a job' but my best qualification is a HND in Graphic Design (the most unemployed job in britain) which is only useful in getting me onto the uni course I'm on, and my last paid job was over a year ago. I've made several attempts at getting a job and in the area I live it's damn near impossible, I dont see how being in uni will change that. So basically I've spent all day stressing and shivering and pannicking and grinding my teeth and twiddling my thumbs and I can't see a way out of this predicament short of a miracle, what the hell do I do?

So I applied late for my student finance, because I was waiting to hear back about whether my place on the course still stood after 2 years. As soon as I heard I had a place, no-problem, I applied and finally got my letter yesterday. The letter says I will receive the full amount for my tuition but only £2871 in maintenance. That's only £900 per term. I got more on that when I was caring for my Dad, and before that, when I was on jobseekers. I took out a loan for £750 from the college, to buy supplies (a lot of supplies, I'm on a Graphic Design course), clothes which didn't have holes in them, a new bag and to pay for bus and food up until I got my loan. Of that, my mother took £200 to pay for the food, electric and bus she paid for while I waited for my loan. I am now well into my overdraft and upon paying back my loan and buying an annual bus pass and I will have a mere £791 overdraft left. I've worked out my expenses weekly at £20 minimum a week (I also have a monthly £40 payment to my sister for a PS4 I bought on her credit and a £30 payment for my phone contract, both of which I got when I had a steady reliable cashflow as my dad's carer), and by the time I get my next payment I will still be £171 within my overdraft and that is without accounting for any course payments such as prints, supplies, or inevitable trips. When it comes to my final payment I will be only £150 above my overdraft which is supposed to get me through the summer, which fair enough I might have something by then. I did expect more and have heard nothing regarding the extra grant I applied for. My mother is at my throat about paying rent which I frankly can't afford to do and I know no number of excel documents is going to help me here. I'm basically screwed and have no idea where to go from here. It's easy to say 'get a job' but my best qualification is a HND in Graphic Design (the most unemployed job in britain) which is only useful in getting me onto the uni course I'm on, and my last paid job was over a year ago. I've made several attempts at getting a job and in the area I live it's damn near impossible, I dont see how being in uni will change that. So basically I've spent all day stressing and shivering and pannicking and grinding my teeth and twiddling my thumbs and I can't see a way out of this predicament short of a miracle, what the hell do I do?

The maintainance figure you have quoted is far too low. Unless your on a healthcare course you should be getting at least £3.8k and thats if your parents earn £60,000 a year or more.

Okay thank you all for this information, I was panicking a bit there, I'll throw a call their way as soon as I can on Monday, this is certainly effed up.

The maintainance figure you have quoted is far too low. Unless your on a healthcare course you should be getting at least £3.5k and thats if your parents earn £60,000 a year or more.

The £2.8k figure is for those who live at home. The £3.5k is if you live away from home, which isn't London.

Going to move this to Student Financial Support

Wait, so, this IS what I'm expected to receive?
Oh man, my head is all over the place. I dont receive any special treatment for living with my parents, I still pay for food and electric and gas and rent just as if I had roommates. I can't afford this :/

I asked my mother earlier and she said she wasn't sure of an exact figure at that time but that it's definitely less than 40k per year.

Hello, I put your details into this calculator https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator/y/2014-2015/uk-full-time/9000.0/at-home/40000.0/no/none-of-the-above

off the figure you gave me I just put in 40k income as a best bet guess and the figures I got were that you should be entitled to £4,145 in maintenance loan so much more than you are getting now and £547 maintenance grant though of course if you have an income of less than 40k that will change and you will get more.

Thank you, I'll quote you on this when I call them on Monday.