Applying for maintenance loan after tuition loan was approved already

I am in my last year of undergraduate studies, my student loan was approved and is being paid accordingly. I am an international student and I have lived in UK for 5 years now - I got my settled status in September, therefore I should qualify for maintenance loan now. However, I am not sure how to apply and which form I shall use as the only forms I have found are for both student and maintenance loan. I have used the EU23N form before and I don't know if I shall use one of the PN1, PR1, PTL1 and PTMN forms now. Any advice woul be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi there,

It would be the PN1 form you would complete. Are you looking to apply for this for the 23/24 academic year? Thanks, Jason

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your reply! Yes, it is for the 23/24 academic year. Do I need to apply for a tuition loan again in the form as well?

Thank you.
M.

Hi M,

Yes, that's right - you should indicate on the form that you want to apply for the Tuition Fee Loan again.

Just in case you don't have a copy, this is the correct form to use here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1177416/sfe_pn1_form_2324_o.pdf

In most cases we approve applications within 4-6 weeks.

Thanks, Graeme

Hi Graeme,

I finally got to filling the form and I have a couple of questions. I have been living in UK for over 5 years and have been financially independent ever since. Therefore in section 7c, I filled 'yes' for the question if I have been supporting myself financially for a total of three years before the start of the first academic year of my course (I came to UK in September 2018 with savings from my summer jobs, started working in March 2019 when my savings started to run out and I felt acclimated here enough to look for a job, and have been in employment to support myself ever since. The first academic year of my course started in September 2021 - therefore it has been 3 years).

I have provided details for all my previous employments in those 3 years. There is a note on that page saying I might be considered independent student. As it does not say if I am considered an independent student, only that I might be, I am not sure what to fill in section 11 - whether I should tick the first option - dependent student, or the third option - single independent student.

As a result, I am also not sure if I would need my parents to fill section 12 - where it gets even trickier for me. My parents are divorced and before moving to UK, I lived with my father. He does not have a new partner, therefore it is just him. He is disabled and has been on disability allowance for over 30 years and therefore I do not believe he pays any taxes at all and I am not sure how to fill this section (as he does not speak English so I would be helping him to fill it through the phone or something). He also lives in Slovakia so the tax year there is different and I am very lost on what to do here. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

M.

Hi, there,

If you are able to provide the evidence to show that you were self-sufficient for 3 years prior to the 1st day of the 1st academic year of your course then we will class you as an independent student and this evidence can be sent with your application. If you do not think you can provide the evidence then your dad would need to complete the PFF2 form and if he had no income then he can just say zero income to all the questions on the form. Did you indicate that your dad was divorced on your application?

Thanks, Drew

Hi Drew,
What kind of evidence would I need to provide for that? Would listing my old employments in the provided section be enough or would I need to send something else? Also, as I mentioned, I have not worked for the first 6 months as I had savings from my summer jobs, would that 6 month gap be an issue?

There is a section in the form about parents where I mentioned my dad is divorced. I am not sure how these things work in the UK, but in my country, my dad is considered retired with his disability - therefore he gets paid disability allowance, which is sort of equivalent to a pension old people get when they retire (a bit less I believe). So he does have an income, just not a taxable one. Would that mean I would just put zero everywhere? Would I need to provide any proof for that?

Thanks,

M.

Hi there,

If you were working you would send your P60's for 3 years or living off savings you would show bank statements to show this. If your dad doesn't have taxable income then you would put £0.00.

Thanks,
Claire

Hi Claire,

I am not sure if I would be able to track my P60's and statenements, especially as I no longer have that bank account. It might be easier to just fill it as a dependent student and mention my dad. Do I need any sort of proof he is on the disability allowance or anything of that sort?

Thanks,

M.

No we wouldn't evidence of your dad's disability benefit.

Thanks,
Claire

Hi Claire,

I wanted to ask if there was any way to find out if my application is being processed? My student loan was previously approved (for tuition fees), now I have reapplied because I am eligible for maintenance. When I log into my SFE account, I only see the previous, already approved application. I am a bit worried if my application didn't get lost by Royal Mail (I have sent it without tracking as the address is a PO BOX and the tracking option requires signature/proof and I was worried it would not be possible to deliver) or something due to the wait. I know the usual waiting time is 4-6 weeks, however, when I sign into my SFE account, there is a link that takes me to official gov.uk page with the current application timescales. I am not sure which option applies to me - whether it's 'applying for student finance' or 'making change to the application' - however these options vary from 6-16 working days. Given when I sent my application, it should have been processed by the end of December. Could it be delayed because of the holidays? Shall I follow the 4-6 weeks wait rather than the official time scales? Is there any way to find out if my application has been delivered and therefore it's being processed? I am overthinking this a little bit as I am struggling with finances and therefore I am not sure if I should send the application again in case it was lost and I cannot wait another month before sending a new one in case it was not delivered. Thanks.

M.

Hi there,

You're applying as a new student by completing the PN1 Form so the timescale for this is 4-6 weeks once we have everything. We will send you an acknowledgement once the application has been received and data entered onto the system.

Thanks,
Claire

Hi Claire,

It has been roughly 5 weeks since my application should have been delivered. What sort of acknowledgement would you send, as I have previously never received one when applying (in 3 years of uni, all I ever received was the payment schedule letter)? Shall I be worried I have not received anything yet?

I am also enclosing screenshots of the timescale I was previously talking about - when I log into the SFE portal, I can see the yellow frame that mentions timescales for various types of applications.

When I click the link provided in there, these are the timescales it shows me, and according to those, my application would have been sorted a long time ago, hence my concerns.

I have provided links with screenshots as well as in text images as I was not sure if the images would work properly (they don't seem to be loading for me).

Shall I be worried? Shall I send the application again? I could not apply online as I would need to withdraw the current, already approved tuition loan, and I cannot afford waiting for weeks before sending another one, with the 4-6 weeks wait for the approval on top of everything. I am already behind with bills as it is.

Thanks,

M.

Hi Leah,

I have not received any emails, but I have never received any in the past when I was applying. If you mean the 'Letters and emails' section in my SFE account, the last thing I received there was the payment schedule letter in September for my tuition loan.

How can I contact you directly to check if it has been received?

Thank you,

M.

You can contact us on 0300 100 0607 for further assistance. Our opening hours are stated on our ‘contact us’ page. Alternatively, to access our live chat service select 'undergraduate' from your account and then ‘contact us’. From here you will be able to use our live chat service when it is available. Thanks, Leah.

Hi Leah,

I am not sure if we are talking about the same account - I have looked through the SFE portal where I am signed in (the SFE one that ends in gov.uk and can be accessed from https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login) and I cannot see 'undergraduate' anywhere in there - all I can see is 'Your profile' 'Your finance' 'Your Letters and Emails' and 'Log out' at the top right corner, list of my previous applications in the centre, and the options to start a new application or support current one at the bottom. Is that not the correct portal to sign into? I have previously tried to find the live chat before posting here for the first time, but was never able to find it and therefore ended up here on The Student Room.
Thanks.

M.