student finance way too low

5

idk what to do but i just got my sfe letter and they’ve said im eligible for only like £4900 of sfe for the year 😭😭 even if i got the cheapest accommodation at my uni it will be too costly and is way more than my entire sfe for the year so won’t even begin to cover my food/phone/etc

my dad works in manual labour while my mother is a nurse so i feel bad asking for over a couple thousand and no part time job will help me cover the gap

Reply 1

shayanchouhan

9

Original post

by happylondon

idk what to do but i just got my sfe letter and they’ve said im eligible for only like £4900 of sfe for the year 😭😭 even if i got the cheapest accommodation at my uni it will be too costly and is way more than my entire sfe for the year so won’t even begin to cover my food/phone/etc
my dad works in manual labour while my mother is a nurse so i feel bad asking for over a couple thousand and no part time job will help me cover the gap

did you not apply for the extra loan? that could explain the low figure

Reply 2

happylondon

OP

5

Original post

by shayanchouhan

did you not apply for the extra loan? that could explain the low figure

what extra loan? i said that i wanted the maximum maintenance loan i think but im honestly not too sure

Reply 3

ageshallnot

21

Original post

by happylondon

idk what to do but i just got my sfe letter and they’ve said im eligible for only like £4900 of sfe for the year 😭😭 even if i got the cheapest accommodation at my uni it will be too costly and is way more than my entire sfe for the year so won’t even begin to cover my food/phone/etc
my dad works in manual labour while my mother is a nurse so i feel bad asking for over a couple thousand and no part time job will help me cover the gap

Try asking here, where SFE can reply...

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=910

Reply 4

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post

by happylondon

idk what to do but i just got my sfe letter and they’ve said im eligible for only like £4900 of sfe for the year 😭😭 even if i got the cheapest accommodation at my uni it will be too costly and is way more than my entire sfe for the year so won’t even begin to cover my food/phone/etc

my dad works in manual labour while my mother is a nurse so i feel bad asking for over a couple thousand and no part time job will help me cover the gap

Unfortunately, the system is designed with a parental contribution in mind - even if your parents aren't earning very much.

As for your "no part time job will help me cover the gap" comment, have you done the maths? I don't know exactly how much you need, but you've mentioned "over a couple thousand" above - so let's work with £2,500. The minimum wage for 18-20 year-olds is now £10 per hour, so you need to do 250 hours of part-time work across the year. If you opted to work during term-time only, you'd need to work about 7 hours per week (assuming 3 x 12 = 36 weeks). That's a Saturday job in retail. Or two 3 to 4-hours shifts in a coffee shop. Is that unreasonable?

If you're worried about having no social life, or not having time to study, then perhaps you'd rather work outside of term-time - i..e in the other 16 weeks (or so) per year? If you did a four hours per day, five days per week, for just 12.5 of those weeks you'd be at 250 hours, or £2,500. Would that work for you?

So are you sure that "no part time job will help me cover the gap"? (There'll be no Income Tax or National Insurance to pay at this level, by the way.)

Reply 5

shayanchouhan

9

Original post

by happylondon

what extra loan? i said that i wanted the maximum maintenance loan i think but im honestly not too sure

try withdrawing your application and making a new one and reading through carefully. im pretty sure i remember clicking maximum loan then there's another option for the extra loan (might not go exactly by that name). Also, check a few things:

- total parental gross income
- have you selected "living out" on your application
- where will you live (if london, then your loan is extremely low)

Reply 6

normaw

20

Original post

by happylondon

idk what to do but i just got my sfe letter and they’ve said im eligible for only like £4900 of sfe for the year 😭😭 even if i got the cheapest accommodation at my uni it will be too costly and is way more than my entire sfe for the year so won’t even begin to cover my food/phone/etc

my dad works in manual labour while my mother is a nurse so i feel bad asking for over a couple thousand and no part time job will help me cover the gap

Have your parents been asked to submit their household income details? If not, you've not requested the maximum loan. You need to go back into your account and change it.

If your parents have submitted their income, then SFE awards the minimum loan first and then reviews household income evidence. It can take a few weeks to do this but your loan will be adjusted once complete (as long as your household income isn't above the threshold).

(edited 10 months ago)

student finance way too low

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