Grant eligibility

pesky_jones

Last year I started a part-time foundation degree in construction management. At the time I was not employed by a construction based company willing to sponsor the fees, so i paid it myself (£1688). I did this as it was the cut-off year for an increase in fees and I also believed that there was a fair chance that I would be able to find employment within a company willing to sponsor at a later stage in the course. I receieved a £265 maintenance grant from Student Finance just after the start of Year 1 of the course.

I managed to find a job with a company willing to sponsor my course just before the start of Year 2. Currently in Year 2 I have recently recieved a letter from Student Finance asking me to re apply for loan/grant. Up untill the point of recieving the letter I had forgotten about the grant and maybe assumed that as my company were paying the fees, I would not be eligble for the £265 grant.

My question is - am i eligible?

Thanks in advance.

snoopsmydogg

Is it a loan or a grant?

I am by no means an expert but a member of my family works within slc and from what I recall there are means and non-means tested applications. One of which is worked out against income but the other is basically available to anyone in education regardless.

pesky_jones

Thanks for response.

It’s a grant. The reason for paying the fees myself the first year as well as taking the part time day release degree was to avoid a student loan. I don’t like the thought of a mortgage let alone a student loan! Hopefully it is the latter of the two types you mentioned. Hmm that money would go very well towards the new frame I’m orderi... er...I mean books.

Gazlar

my advice for what its worth is apply, they've invited you to do that and are you going to lose anything or have to pay them anything if you are no longer eligible.

If the biggest risk you have is you waste half an hour on a form and an embarrasing reply saying no then thats worth it for a couple of hundred smackers in your sky rocket

Greer_

I took out the full amount for my student loans (fees and maintenance) and you may as well too - its the cheapest loan you will EVER get and if you don't use it, just stick it in a savings account.

pesky_jones

Greer_ wrote:

I took out the full amount for my student loans (fees and maintenance) and you may as well too - its the cheapest loan you will EVER get and if you don't use it, just stick it in a savings account.

Im doing the part time (one day at week) degree in Cambridge and the company I work for (on the remaining four days in the week) are paying my tuition fees, so I don't need a loan. I know its a good interest or even no interest loan but it is still a loan which I dont want. I just didnt know whether I would get a grant now I have a company paying the tuition fees. I've sent off the form now anyway so its a case of wait and see.

snoopsmydogg

definately not a no interest loan PJ. Grants are free but the loan never comes without interest.

Greer_ The interest rate is favourable compared to the high street but when you take into account the interest starts when you take the money and is repaid as a % of your income for no fixed term just until it is paid off then is it really a good deal? My guess is the savings account it is in will gain a lot less interest than the actual interest being added by slc while it sits there.

Use the loan if need be or don't take it in the first place. I have dealt with quite a few people who are still repaying their student loan in their 40s because they deferred payment. It also has an adverse effect on other future borrowing you may actually want/need - loans, mortgages etc.

pesky_jones

snoopsmydogg wrote:

definitely not a no interest loan PJ. Grants are free but the loan never comes without interest.

Yeah that's why i'm after the grant and not the loan. It could be no interest as far as i'm concerned, as you still have to pay back the amount borrowed at the end of the day.

I know people say "You don't have to pay it back untill you earn a salary of 'X', or after 'X' years", but surely there's no point doing the degree in the first place if you have the view that your're not going to earn a salary above 'X'.

njee20

I took out the full student loan, the interest rate on it is 1.5%, and has been for a few years, before which it was 0.

The thing to watch out for is that even though your employer takes payments every month SLC only actually applies them to your outstanding balance anually. So if you have a balance of £5000 on the 1st April then make a payment of £5000 on the 2nd it won't cover it - you'll still incur the additional £75 interest for the full year.

Still very cheap money, I'm glad I took all mine out, look forward to paying it off though, taking almost £200 a month out of my salary!

pesky_jones

njee20 wrote:

The thing to watch out for is that even though your employer takes payments every month SLC only actually applies them to your outstanding balance anually. So if you have a balance of £5000 on the 1st April then make a payment of £5000 on the 2nd it won't cover it - you'll still incur the additional £75 interest for the full year.

Not sure I completely understand that bit.. what do you mean employer takes payments? whos SLC?

Greer_

Pesky Jones wrote:

njee20 wrote:

The thing to watch out for is that even though your employer takes payments every month SLC only actually applies them to your outstanding balance anually. So if you have a balance of £5000 on the 1st April then make a payment of £5000 on the 2nd it won't cover it - you'll still incur the additional £75 interest for the full year.

Not sure I completely understand that bit.. what do you mean employer takes payments? whos SLC?

You don't pay it back like a normal debt, your employer takes a set amount (depends on how much you earn) out of your salary each month and gives it to the SLC. The SLC being the Student Loans Company.

njee20

You don't pay it back like a normal debt, your employer takes a set amount (depends on how much you earn) out of your salary each month and gives it to the SLC. The SLC being the Student Loans Company.

Exactly, but SLC don't deduct that amount every month, just once a year.

The other thing to watch out for on repayment is that if you have £100 outstanding on April 1 and you pay £150 a month you will continue to make the payments automatically every month (ie you'll overpay by £1700 (less the interest) and have to claim it back which is a ballache).

snoopsmydogg

Greer_ wrote:

Pesky Jones wrote:

njee20 wrote:

The thing to watch out for is that even though your employer takes payments every month SLC only actually applies them to your outstanding balance anually. So if you have a balance of £5000 on the 1st April then make a payment of £5000 on the 2nd it won't cover it - you'll still incur the additional £75 interest for the full year.

Not sure I completely understand that bit.. what do you mean employer takes payments? whos SLC?

You don't pay it back like a normal debt, your employer takes a set amount (depends on how much you earn) out of your salary each month and gives it to the SLC. The SLC being the Student Loans Company.

Do they take a set amount? I was always under the impression it was a percentage of your earnings so if you earned bonus or worked overtime you would pay more than when you have a flat week/month.

njee20

Correct, it's something like 9% of everything you earn monthly over £15850 or something. So yes, if you do loads of overtime or get a bonus or whatever they take a bigger chunk.

Greer_

It just means the more you earn, the quicker you pay it off.

There's handy guides etc here - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/studen ... es-changes - I found them very useful.

pesky_jones

Hm I'm still not following, I don't pay my employers back anything, they pay the tuition fees and that's that. I've never had any dealings with SLC I got my grant in the first year from Student Finance England.

snoopsmydogg

by the looks of the website student finance england are part of student loans company

http://www.slc.co.uk/students.aspx

Northwind

snoopsmydogg wrote:

I am by no means an expert but a member of my family works within slc

I hope you've disowned them!