Switching to Part Time in 3rd Year and Losing Maintenance

I’ve got myself in a horrible situation really. I started my undergraduate degree when I was 58 and have very successfully completed two years full time. Due to health issues and bereavement I was forced to go to part time in my third year. I could not have completed the work full time, so it was my only option. I received a lot of advice from the uni - including that I had a case to transfer to full time as part time meaning I would receive full time funding for both years. Then the uni deemed my medical evidence as not strong enough to apply for this and I had to switch to part time. This means a new application even though it is the third year of the same course and as I am over 60 now I do not qualify for any maintenance loan. This is very bad news. I was messed about so long by various uni departments that I received two thirds of my maintenance loan for the third year before it was sorted. Now I owe over £6k in overpayments.
My question is - does anyone have any experience of appealing such a decision from Student Finance? It feels downright unfair and punitive.

Reply 1

Stephen SLC

Official Rep

Hi there, If you wish to appeal against how any funding has been calculated then you can appeal by sending an email to: [email protected] This is currently taking an estimated 20 working days and a full response will be provided. However, formal appeals can't make any changes to assessments where the correct regulations have been applied.
So you may be better raising a complaint via email.
Please include:

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Your Customer Reference Number (CRN)

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Your date of birth

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Your full name and address (this should be the same as the one we hold in our systems for you)

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Details of what happened and when – include everything you want us to consider or investigate

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What you think we should do to put it right.

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A contact number and a convenient time to call you.

By providing these details this will allow us to deal with your complaint as quickly as possible.
Please send this to: [email protected]
Once received this is currently taking 5 working days for an automatic response, and then a full reply will be issued within 20 working days. Thanks, Stephen.