Finiacial crisis, cant afford to go to university

I live in Northern Ireland and have applied through student finance NI as i have got m,y consitional offer at the university of Portsmouth to study marine biology. The only problem is that my loan and grant from student finance NI doesn't even cover all of my accommodation costs in England never mind transport, food and every other essential. If i aplied thorugh student finance england i would have enough but i have checked and i am not allowed due to where i live and i am not entitled to ant disability or hardship related loans and im just facing the fact i cant afford to go to university. As much as i think this is unfair that an irish or english student gets nearly double than what i get in loans where i cant even financially support myself is disgraceful, has anybody been in a similar situation or know what i can do to try and scrape together more money for university? i do work but even with a job i can not afford it and its beginning to me make consider just dropping out before i even start. Thanks

I live in Northern Ireland and have applied through student finance NI as i have got m,y consitional offer at the university of Portsmouth to study marine biology. The only problem is that my loan and grant from student finance NI doesn't even cover all of my accommodation costs in England never mind transport, food and every other essential. If i aplied thorugh student finance england i would have enough but i have checked and i am not allowed due to where i live and i am not entitled to ant disability or hardship related loans and im just facing the fact i cant afford to go to university. As much as i think this is unfair that an irish or english student gets nearly double than what i get in loans where i cant even financially support myself is disgraceful, has anybody been in a similar situation or know what i can do to try and scrape together more money for university? i do work but even with a job i can not afford it and its beginning to me make consider just dropping out before i even start. Thanks

Are there not any universities in Northern Ireland that you could attend, or are you just trying to be stuck up by choosing an institution that is so far from home?

stuck up essentially. The universities in Northern Ireland are the same and i would not have enough money to live unless i stayed at home for the next 3 years with my parents. I wasn't even offered a place at the northern Ireland universities i applied for but why should i be financially limited to staying in my own country when the vast majority of students get to move out and start their own life at uni.

Would you get more money if you studied in Ireland? You'd have to decline your offer and apply to Irish universities through clearing, though of course you're not guantaeed to get a place that way.

stuck up essentially. The universities in Northern Ireland are the same and i would not have enough money to live unless i stayed at home for the next 3 years with my parents. I wasn't even offered a place at the northern Ireland universities i applied for but why should i be financially limited to staying in my own country when the vast majority of students get to move out and start their own life at uni.

Life isn't fair, that's why you should be financially limited. If nobody was financially limited then money would cease to mean anything at all. If you really want to go to university then live with your parents if you can find a place at an Irish university through Clearing.

I have essentially got my place in England already as i have gotten my grades from college already.I dont know how it works if i study in Ireland but if i come from the Republic to England i am classed as an EU student and therefore entitled to English student finance.

Because as the poster above me correctly pointed out, life is not fair. I presume that your parents' household income is limited for you to be resorting to such posts on this forum. You therefore have no place to be stuck up.

Unless you have demonstrated a high degree of academic competence, which would justify a scholarship, you essentially must take what you are given.

Why not work for a year or two, save up, and then go to your first choice University? This is not uncommon.

Yes so i should be held back on my education and end up with whtat i get throug h clearing while anyone who is from any other part of the uk gets a huge loan given to them to waste on drinking for 3 years when i get virtually nothing from my loan. Unfortunately i dont have a bank of mummy and daddy like some rich kid to just take money from i actually work my ass off to get into uni. And i am certainly not waiting for a left over course in clearing when the course i have worked for is right there offering me a place.

Unless you become the education secretary after the election there's nothing you can do about it. You can have a strop about it all you like, but it won't change anything about your situation. Most people don't get a 'huge loan', the majority of it goes on accommodation and travel costs, then anything left over is spent on what they want, like food and drink. There's a thread on here about how people try to survive on £10 a week for food.

People who waste money on drinking aren't individually spending £100 a night, a lot of people buy drinks in multipacks from supermarkets for pre-drinks, then go out and spend (considering the student deals on drinks in bars it's not as much as you think). There are usually some good places in Clearing every year at good universities, as the places have been released due to people not meeting their offers.

I just want to point out that there is a difference in the amount of funding between SASS, SFE and SF N.Ireland, and the N.Irish funding has the lowest maximum funding, if you get what I mean.

Even with that, it comes down to the fact that the OP wasn't born in England and therefore cannot expect the same financial support as somebody who was. I wouldn't apply to university in America and expect to receive the same financial support as an American national. Even though Northern Ireland is very close geographically to England, the OP is still expecting to study in a different country and as such should be prepared for the financial implications of this decision.

Is there other accommodation you could stay at? Or rent privately?

I'm afraid I don't know much about the NI system but I thought the max loan and grant for NI students was around £6.5k?
If your accommodation is more than 6 grand then that's just ridiculous!

I wouldn't be spending more than 4.5k on accommodation as a maximum. That'd then leave you just under £50 a week to live off which is doable (provided I'm right about the 6.5k!)

It's just under £6.5k. £6428 to be precise

Thanks! Sucks that you guys get so much less than the max SFE amount. Although I guess at least you still get grants so you owe less after. Not that that helps when you need the money now!

Even with that, it comes down to the fact that the OP wasn't born in England and therefore cannot expect the same financial support as somebody who was. I wouldn't apply to university in America and expect to receive the same financial support as an American national. Even though Northern Ireland is very close geographically to England, the OP is still expecting to study in a different country and as such should be prepared for the financial implications of this decision.