Student Finance

Original post by Kandiah

Good afternoon,
My daughter has been in the UK since July 2016, applied for student finance to do her Bachelor's degree at the Nottingham University. Is she eligible to apply for student finance?

Hi Kandiah,

What nationality is your daughter?

Regards,
Stuart

Reply 2

I am a British citizen and she holds an Indian passport

Original post by Stuart SFE

Hi Kandiah,

What nationality is your daughter?

Regards,
Stuart

Reply 3

Indian citizen. Has leave to remain in the UK

Indian national

Hi Stuart,
My daughter is an Indian national holds leave to remain in the UK. Has been in the UK since July 2016 and did her A/L in the Midlands and have got admission to the University of Nottingham as a home student

Reply 6

Original post by Kandiah

Indian citizen. Has leave to remain in the UK

If that's Indefinite Leave to Remain and she can show it was granted prior to the 1st day of the 1st academic year of her course, can show evidence that she has lived in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the 1st day of the 1st academic year of their course and will be ordinarily resident in England on the 1st day of the 1st Academic Year of her course she would be eligible to apply for funding.

Regards,
Stuart

Reply 7

Original post by Stuart SFE

Hi Stuart,
On the bio-metric card the UKVI has stated leave to remain and work permitted. It doesn't say indefinite leave to remain. As stated above, my daughter joined me on the 31st July 2016 and on the 20th September 2019 (when she starts the University), she would have completed three years in the UK . Does this qualify for her to apply for student finance please?

Reply 8

The university of Nottingham has granted her the home student fee status.

Original post by Kandiah

Reply 9

Original post by Kandiah

Yes, if she meets the requirements she will be eligible to apply for funding.

Regards,
Stuart

Reply 10

Hi Stuart,
That is exactly what I am trying to understand. If the university has granted a home student fee status, would the student finance England accept the same or is there any other process involved in making a decision please?

Reply 11

Original post by Kandiah

The university may use the same criteria as us. You would need to ask them directly if they match as we don't have any information about individual universities policies.

Regards,
Stuart

Reply 12

Good Morning Stuart,
My daughter applied to three universities via UCAS and got admission to all three of them offering home student fee status. She has chosen to study at the University of Nottingham and the university has confirmed that she has been accepted to study her first degree on a home student fee basis.

On that grounds my daughter applied for student finance last week and SFE responded very quickly and today she received a letter with the following statement:
"We have considered your application and based on the information provided, you are not eligible to receive student finance because you do not meet the below criteria:
* Aged 18 years of age or above and have lived in the UK for at least half your life or at least 20 years before the first day of the first academic year of your course"

I have gone through the criteria in the Student Finance web site for the details of the above criteria and wasn't able to find that criteria - at least 20 years before the first day of the first academic year of your course. My daughter will be 20 years of age on the 14th November 2019. She has been living in the UK since 29th July 2016 and when she starts her course on the 20th September she would have completed three years in the UK with leave to remain in the UK (permission given by the UKVI). On that basis the University of Nottingham considered my daughter's application as a home student.

There seems to be some confusion here with regards to the criteria required for getting the student finance.
Please advise.

Reply 13

SFE Dean

Original post by Kandiah

Hello,

In order to qualify for funding from us, a Rest of the World (ROW) national has to hold indefinite leave to remain/enter (permanent settled status) or spent over half their life or at least 20 years before the first day of the first academic year of their course living in the UK.

If your daughter has limited leave to remain that needs to be renewed in the future we can’t offer the home funding unless she is here on Humanitarian Protection grounds - for example Refugee Status.

You have mentioned that you are a British national. Does she have any other family members that are EU nationals (not UK nationals) that are living and working in the UK?

Another option is as a family member of an UK national for the EU Tuition Fee Loan only. The criteria is as follows:

- Be a family member of an EU National (this includes UK nationals), a family member is defined as the spouse, civil partner*, parent, step-parent, adoptive parent, child, step-child, grandparent and grandchild
- Have lived in the EEA or Switzerland for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course (EEA Family Members must have held a valid residential status for any periods of residency in the UK)
- Be living in the United Kingdom on the first day of the first term of their course
- Be attending a course which attracts funding

Also they will need to have to hold a valid status of leave to remain for the three years prior to the first day of the first academic year of the course such as leave to remain. If they don’t hold a valid status at any time, they will need to show the family member has been exercising their treaty rights.

EU Tuition Fee funding can be applied for using the paper form on this page – http://ow.ly/wMhG30o7xc6

Warm Regards, Dean.

Reply 14

Thank you Dean for the prompt reply.
Stuart in his earlier response did mention about being 20 years of age - at least 20 years old before the first day of the first academic year of your course. My daughter will be 20 on the 14th November 2019. Will she be eligible to apply for Student Finance once she is 20 years of age?

Reply 15

SFE Dean

Original post by Kandiah

Hello,

Her age is only relevant in that she has to be under 21 years of age before the start of the academic year (which she will be) to be automatically classed as being financially dependent upon you as her mother.

That means you won’t need to send evidence of her being financially dependent upon you if she chooses to apply as a family member of an EU national.

Warm Regards, Dean.

Reply 16

Good Morning,
Thank you for the reply. What my confusion is that the university has accepted her application and classed her as a Home Student fee status on the grounds that she has completed three years of stay in the UK prior to starting her degree course. She has also been granted to live and work in the UK for another 2.5 years from April 2019. She will be eligible to apply for British passport at the end of that period because she is the daughter of a UK national.
Why is the rule different for the student finance as both the University and the Student Finance are supposed to be following the UK government guidelines.?
Thanks

Reply 17

SFE Nihad

Original post by Kandiah

Hi there,

We -Student Loans Company- do not govern universities so you would need to speak to them directly to see what requirements they ask for and which policies they follow. To qualify for finance under our government policy, your daughter would need to meet criteria from the first academic year of the course in terms of having permanent residency granted prior to the course commencing. As you are a UK National and she will have lived here for three years, she can submit an application as a Family Member of an EU National to ask for a Tuition Fee Loan.

Regards,
Nihad

Reply 18