The Student Room Group

Leaving uni - maintenance loan?

I'm leaving uni before Christmas (pretty much in the next few days or so) and I wondered what happened with my maintenance loan. Obviously my tuition fees wont be paid to the university but my student flat is on a 10 month lease, and no maintenance loan means I'm stuck without a paddle. I hate my course so I don't want to stay just to get the money, but the next load is due on the 17th Jan, do I have to cancel it myself or will they know that I've dropped out?
I do have a job, but it's 30 miles away back home and there's nothing available here, so I'd be working full time to barely afford a flat I wont be living in.
Also, does the loan arrive depending on whether I attend the first few days in January or do I just get it (If I stay on)?
Thanks guys, this whole thing confuses me :/

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Your contract with SFE clearly states that it is your responsibility to inform them. To leave and not tell them, thus getting another tranche of loan is fraud. The uni may still charge you the year's tuition fees.
Ah, thank you! I was worried about that, didn't want angry SFE shouting down the phone at me for not telling them!
If I'm transferring to a different Institution in January, I don't need to reapply do I? I know that they need to know I've changed, but it only mentions what to do if you swap course, not Uni :/
I'm so rubbish at all of this
If your transferring (where to?) it shouldn't be a problem.
I left my old uni in march of my second yr and have to pay them 1700 which they paid me.
I'm dreading reapplying for student finance this year.
Tbh, this sounds wrong - but most people would would stay enrolled till the next payment comes through. in other words take the loan even though you are leaving. you can still pay it back later on and if your not earning more than ~15k you don't have to return the payment. think it through.
Original post by Peace0fM1nd
Tbh, this sounds wrong - but most people would would stay enrolled till the next payment comes through. in other words take the loan even though you are leaving. you can still pay it back later on and if your not earning more than ~15k you don't have to return the payment. think it through.


If u take loan then leave (as In not transfer) you will have to pay it back asap!! Youl get a letter from student finance. What happened to me. (wasn't a calculTed thing, I was Ill and didn't sort uni **** out)

if I was the op I'd do. Everything properly
Original post by moomin-matt
If u take loan then leave (as In not transfer) you will have to pay it back asap!! Youl get a letter from student finance. What happened to me. (wasn't a calculTed thing, I was Ill and didn't sort uni **** out)

if I was the op I'd do. Everything properly


Not true. i know so many people who left half-way and took the loans. SF may send letters out but just ignore them, but let them know your not earning above ~15k and ther's not much they can do since thats the loan payback conditions. its a loophole but not many people realise it.

p.s. its totally legal so take advantage is what i say
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by I-am-not-a-robot
Ah, thank you! I was worried about that, didn't want angry SFE shouting down the phone at me for not telling them!
If I'm transferring to a different Institution in January, I don't need to reapply do I? I know that they need to know I've changed, but it only mentions what to do if you swap course, not Uni :/
I'm so rubbish at all of this



If you're transferring then you should just need to fill in a change of circumstances form.

I transferred at the start of last academic year (so September last year) and that was all I had to do, but I don't know how it works with transferring in the middle of the year so may be best to ask student finance themselves?
i think if your transferring you will be fine. im always wary about people saying that itl be fine and you can get away with it... just that if you leave and find yourself wanting to claim student loans and grants in future you may not be allowed. im saying that out of experience. im going to have to try and beg them to let me have four more years worth when i try to go back to uni. they have already given me 1 year 2/3s worth already haha.
They have really toughened up this year. You won't get any future funding until you've paid it back.
I phoned up and was told it would be cancelled straight away, and that you were only allowed a total of 3 years funding, plus 1 bonus year [Which counts even if it's just half a term, like me] So for any of you wondering, you can claim a maximum of 4 years loans and grants, no more, and they are cancelled the moment you leave, but you MUST tell them yourself.
im gonna phone up tomorrow and try sort it all out
Original post by I-am-not-a-robot
I phoned up and was told it would be cancelled straight away, and that you were only allowed a total of 3 years funding, plus 1 bonus year [Which counts even if it's just half a term, like me] So for any of you wondering, you can claim a maximum of 4 years loans and grants, no more, and they are cancelled the moment you leave, but you MUST tell them yourself.


You were misinformed or you misunderstood.
Your entitlement isn't 4 years.
It is the length of the course plus 1 year.

This is as true for 4 year undergraduate masters students or vets whose courses are longer than 4 years as it is for traditional 3 year undergrads.
Original post by hypocriticaljap
You were misinformed or you misunderstood.
Your entitlement isn't 4 years.
It is the length of the course plus 1 year.

This is as true for 4 year undergraduate masters students or vets whose courses are longer than 4 years as it is for traditional 3 year undergrads.



arr thats calmed me down a tiny bit. see.
i did 1 and 1/2 years at uni... dropped out because of personal stuff... (but got given 1 and 2/3rds worth of student loan/grant etc)

but now want to go back to uni and do a four year MA at edinburgh or aberdeen in scandinavian studies.....

dunno what they are gonna say im entitled too.
Original post by moomin-matt
arr thats calmed me down a tiny bit. see.
i did 1 and 1/2 years at uni... dropped out because of personal stuff... (but got given 1 and 2/3rds worth of student loan/grant etc)

but now want to go back to uni and do a four year MA at edinburgh or aberdeen in scandinavian studies.....

dunno what they are gonna say im entitled too.


Oh, you're still f***ed I'm afraid. If you did even 1 week of your second year, even if you got no funding, it still counts. So you want to do a 4 year course, you'd be entitled to 4 years - 2years already taken + 1 bonus year = 3 years, so you'll have to fund the first year yourself.
Reply 15
So I'm confused. I want to leave uni after Christmas but my mom is telling me to stay till 2nd term( of my first year) just to see if it is any better as i do dance so its really unpredictable.

My 2nd lot of maintinace loan is due the 13th of January and I am already in my over draft.
If I do decide that it really is t what I want to do and quit will student finance take away the whole of the terms maintance loan leaving me in debt with the bank

Or will they take the remainder of the amount in my back back

Or do they leave it in your back but you have to pay it back when you pay your tuition fees back... I'm confused!
Reply 16
Original post by adelex321
So I'm confused. I want to leave uni after Christmas but my mom is telling me to stay till 2nd term( of my first year) just to see if it is any better as i do dance so its really unpredictable.

My 2nd lot of maintinace loan is due the 13th of January and I am already in my over draft.
If I do decide that it really is t what I want to do and quit will student finance take away the whole of the terms maintance loan leaving me in debt with the bank

Or will they take the remainder of the amount in my back back

Or do they leave it in your back but you have to pay it back when you pay your tuition fees back... I'm confused!



See your other thread for replies (it's in the same TSR section).

Beware the info in this thread, which is three years old. Student Finance had different terms and conditions then, so the info in posts above, isn't current.
Im still wondering if you still get it can you keep it?
Reply 18
Original post by barnabyking
Im still wondering if you still get it can you keep it?

Student Finance all has to be repaid at some point (unless you never reach the repayment income threshold, or you have outstanding SF debt when you hit the point at which the loans are wiped out 25 years later).

If you leave before the end of your course, Maintenance Loans and Tuition Fee Loans will be repayable from your wages once you're earning at the repayment threshold.

Maintenance Grants are repayable in full as soon as you leave (although I believe that SF will agree individual gradual repayment plans).

Funding direct from universities such as bursaries or scholarships, would be up to the individual university.
Reply 19
ETA: I've just read you other thread. As you officially left uni in November and have just been sent a loan, you should expect to pay it back in full immediately. Don't spend any of it. You're no longer a student and are therefore not entitled to Student Finance.

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