The Student Room Group

A Drop Out's Student Finance Fears

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has had an experience like mine with SFE after dropping out?

I dropped out of uni after my first term. At this point I had already received my maintenance loan for term 2 but not started it. I repaid this second maintenance payment immediately as I was not studying, with the option to pay the rest of the loan off as a graduate would.

So I have a loan remaining for 1 term's tuition and maintenance (so around 6k). Now, here is where the trouble starts. When I attempted to clear this debt, the SFE man on the phone gave me a much higher figure than what was on my account. When I attempted to explain this, the person was completely unwilling to listen. He insisted there was a grant on top of the rest of the loan. I never received a SFE grant. I did get a scholarship from my uni, but this had nothing to do with SFE and I was told by the uni I wouldn't have to pay it back after leaving. As this conversation with SFE was over the phone I had no way of showing the details to him of my correct loan amount.

This situation was so distressing to me that I have now left the debt to continue to accumulate for several months. I have high anxiety, and am now incredibly worried I am going to be forced to pay more than I owe (around £3k more).

I did receive DSA equipment, but everything I have read on here and elsewhere says people who drop out don't have to pay it back, but may be required to hand back equipment. I was never asked to do this.

I'm now completely terrified of ringing up again, as someone who is already nervous on the phone and dealing with such a large amount of money.

Any advice would be much appreciated to help get me out of this horrible situation.
Original post by ErinS42
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone has had an experience like mine with SFE after dropping out?
I dropped out of uni after my first term. At this point I had already received my maintenance loan for term 2 but not started it. I repaid this second maintenance payment immediately as I was not studying, with the option to pay the rest of the loan off as a graduate would.
So I have a loan remaining for 1 term's tuition and maintenance (so around 6k). Now, here is where the trouble starts. When I attempted to clear this debt, the SFE man on the phone gave me a much higher figure than what was on my account. When I attempted to explain this, the person was completely unwilling to listen. He insisted there was a grant on top of the rest of the loan. I never received a SFE grant. I did get a scholarship from my uni, but this had nothing to do with SFE and I was told by the uni I wouldn't have to pay it back after leaving. As this conversation with SFE was over the phone I had no way of showing the details to him of my correct loan amount.
This situation was so distressing to me that I have now left the debt to continue to accumulate for several months. I have high anxiety, and am now incredibly worried I am going to be forced to pay more than I owe (around £3k more).
I did receive DSA equipment, but everything I have read on here and elsewhere says people who drop out don't have to pay it back, but may be required to hand back equipment. I was never asked to do this.
I'm now completely terrified of ringing up again, as someone who is already nervous on the phone and dealing with such a large amount of money.
Any advice would be much appreciated to help get me out of this horrible situation.

Hi Erin, you've left your response in the 'Ask Student Finance England' section of The Student Room. If your query is regarding what you were awarded then you can contact us on 0300 100 0607 or via the live chat in your account. If it's regarding the repayment of your loan (including the interest accrued) it would be 0300 100 0611 and we can further assist. Thanks, Jason

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