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No Maintenance Loan?

I'm a 24-yo English student starting a long-distance (due to health issues) undergraduate course in psychology on the 7th of October.

I received the written confirmation of my student loans, and have been made aware of a £0 maintenance loan.

My and my families income last year was £0 due to everyone being unemployed and have little savings.

They were provided of all financial information and evidence from all of us and yet I have been awarded less money than can be found on the floor while going for a walk.

What is the reason for this? And as I cannot stay with family (due to personal issues) how exactly am I meant to survive while studying full-time?
Maintenance loans for distance learning are only available if you have a disability preventing you from attending a course in person. It may be that they’ve not accepted your health issues as meeting their criteria?
(edited 4 years ago)
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Atlas0
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Original post by sophia5892
Maintenance loans for distance learning are only available if you have a disability preventing you from attending a course in person. It may be that they’ve not accepted your health issues as meeting their criteria?

They had no guidelines on what specific disabilities were considered.
Their guidelines specified only that physical and mental health disabilities were considered. Mine falls into this category, and is considered medically by the NHS as a disability.

Perhaps SFE use different measurements, but that sounds like a terrible way to judge disability if you don't define what you do and don't consider a disability..
Original post by Atlas0
They had no guidelines on what specific disabilities were considered.
Their guidelines specified only that physical and mental health disabilities were considered. Mine falls into this category, and is considered medically by the NHS as a disability.

Perhaps SFE use different measurements, but that sounds like a terrible way to judge disability if you don't define what you do and don't consider a disability..



I don’t work for SFE and am only recently disabled so didn’t apply for SFE as a disabled student so I really don’t know how that process works. But given you should get some maintenance loan even if your household income was incorrectly assessed, being awarded £0 suggests to me that there was an issue with your disability assessment.

Hopefully someone more knowledgable can advise on that specifically.

My understanding is that you need to be able to prove you can’t attend the course even with adjustments. So if you’re disabled, but your disability could be accommodated, then I don’t think they’ll consider it.

So for me, as an example, although I have a disability (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), and I receive PIP for it, I likely wouldn’t qualify for SFE as, with adjustments, I could attend classes. (e.g. taxis, reduced timetable, accessible campus/classes so I could use my mobility scooter etc).

Therefore I’d suggest speaking to them to find out exactly what they require. It may be that they’ve accepted your medical evidence and agree you have a disabling health condition... but still think you could attend classes.

I hope you’re able to sort it out! I have read about others being able to submit further evidence and have the decision looked at again so 🤞🏻
Done a forum search and an SFE advisor posted this a year ago in response to a Q about disability requirements for distance learning maintenance loan:

“We would need you to send evidence to prove that you are unable to attend campus-based learning due to your disability. This may be in the form of medical letters.

The assessors may also ask for copies of correspondence you have had with other universities that show they are unable to make adjustments to accommodate you on a campus-based course.”

And this post was also from an SFE advisor 7 months ago:

“Please see below acceptable evidence for consideration for the Part Time Maintenance Loan:
• Medical evidence from your GP or Consultant confirming your condition prevents you from travelling to/from your university, as well as physically attending.

• Evidence that you have had discussions with multiple universities about the facilities available, accessibility and why the universities cannot accommodate your requirements. This could be in the form of emails/correspondence between you and the universities.

We need to receive a piece of evidence from each of the above.”

I hope that’s helpful!

Also not sure if you’re aware/already applied but Disabled Students Allowance is awarded separately which can help cover extra disability related costs. And as a student you can still claim PIP :smile:

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