Levitate Student: Estranged Students

Just a quick post to flag up progress regarding how the Student Loan Company process applications from Estranged Students. 

When aged under 25 most students are regarded as financially dependent upon their parents for student money purposes. This means that the student's entitlement to mean tested finance will be assessed on their household income including the income of the parent they live with (and that parents partner if applicable).

Life isn't quite that simple though is it? So there is provision in the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 for when a student is aged under 25 but wishes to be assessed as Independent from their parents. These are outlined in Schedule 4 Financial Assessment paragraph 2 of these regulations .

( Please note Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 have been subject to various amendments which are not included in the version on www.legislation.gov.uk )

This provision for independence includes for example 

• Where the parents are dead.
• Some circumstances where the parents can't be found; or that contacting them may put them at risk; or it wouldn't be reasonable to expect them to send funds to UK. 
• When a student is or has been married or in a civil partnership.
• When the student has a child or care of a child under 18 years old.
• Some circumstances when the student was in care after the age of 16.
• If the student can demonstrate financial independence for an aggregate of at least 3 years before the course began. 
• Then criteria often called being "estranged" - and in the regulations it states....... 

(e) the student has communicated with neither of the student's parents for the period of one year before the beginning of the relevant year or, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the student can demonstrate on other grounds that the student is irreconcilably estranged from the student's parents; 

In reality a student may be estranged from their parents for many reasons; domestic violence or abuse; issues of acceptance relating to sexual orientation; religious differences; you name it the list could go on and on!!

The problem students face is trying to persuade the funders such as Student Finance England that they are in fact estranged and therefore assessed as independent of their parents.  

SFE relies on evidence in order to be satisfied that a student fulfills any of the requirements laid out in the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011. The same is true for all the other agencies administering the funding for higher education.

If only life came with a documented narrative signed off as "the truth" by some trusted authority that could be submitted as evidence later when needed. Unfortunately in reality the many reasons that result in a student becoming estranged are not reported, documented or even shared with others.

For example how and who do you tell, that you have suffered sexual abuse from a close family member, a parent maybe? Perhaps the trauma of it (now you are older) has only just started to fully impact you. Perhaps you are still struggling to understand what it all means, how you feel, what you want to do. Maybe you have never lived apart from that parent but no longer feel safe in the home. What evidence would you send to a funder to explain this was your circumstance? How would you confirm each year that your situation hasn't changed?

Students who find themselves "estranged" often struggle to prove it. Reaching out to teachers, police, social workers, advisers, religious leaders, family, friends to help can be a very daunting, a barrier. You want to go to university, your funding depends on your parents, your relationship with them is fractured, broken, but the time isn't right for you to share the struggle you are facing with others. What do you do?

Fortunately work has been taking place on behalf of students left vulnerable by the regulations and evidence requirements by the likes of National Union of Students, National Association of Student Money Advisers and over recent years the charity Stand Alone

The Student Loan Company  have now implemented application processing changes in support of estranged students applying to Student Finance England and Wales (follow the link for info) which is definitely a step in the right direction. 

If you need help and guidance relating to being estranged from your parents then please consider contacting one of the organisations mentioned or the Student Service department at a higher education institution. 

Hey Students - Sunday Night Soap Box

Watch, Care, Share and #Shout



Music courtesy of Mizudori Dreamer

Levitate Student: Freshers Do Buy, Don't Buy

Time for more Money B’s!

This time it's what to Buy and what Not to Buy when leaving home for university (#DoBuyDontBother)

We know not all students are traditional school/college leavers but many are and in September they will be leaving to live away from home for the first time.

Planning what to buy for that transition can be tricky. Many universities and other websites provide guides to assist new students to plan, For example there is a really comprehensive checklist on Studential.com .

A list is it doesn’t really tell you what to Buy and what not to Bother with.

So we have asked a few students for their thoughts and added a few of our own for good measure.

Levitate Student: Freshers Talking Heads - Accommodation

Freshers Accommodation Video

Two students discuss their experience of living on campus and in private rented accommodation as a first year student.

Payday Loans - guidance from Debt Camel

A survey last year found that “26,400 undergraduates and 5,400 postgraduates depend on payday lenders and could be paying annual interest rates of up to 1,500%” – so if you are a student who has fallen into the payday loan trap, you are not alone! Payday loan companies make their profits from people with money problems and students are an obvious target for them. At least one lender has students as its main market.

You may have seen that some lenders such as Wonga were made to write off loans that had been defaulted on. But even if you repaid your loans on time, you may be able to get a refund if your loan was “unaffordable” by making a complaint to the lender first, and then going to the Financial Ombudsman if the lender rejects your complaint.

A loan is “unaffordable” if you couldn’t repay it on time and still have enough money left to pay your rents, bills, and everyday living costs such as transport and food. For students, this means looking at what your expenses would be before your next student loan or grant payments arrive. If you repaid £300 at the start of October it may have felt easy, but as a result you didn’t have enough to live on and had to borrow again before the next term started – in this case the loan you repaid in October wasn’t “affordable”.

The Ombudsman is often looking at cases where people have borrowed on a regular basis and deciding perhaps the first loan was OK because the lender couldn’t have realised the borrower had problems. But students have a pretty low income, and so any indication of repeat borrowing should have made the lender stop and think whether they should lend to you again… but all too often they didn’t, just handing out more loans.

There are some template letters for making an affordability complaint on my website at Can you get a payday loan refund? You will need to change these to tell your story, for example mentioning when you get your grant money and what your expenses are until the next instalment.

Where a complaint succeeds, the lender is normally told to refund all the interest and charges that were added, plus 8% interest. And also delete the loans from your credit record, as they should never have been made.

This is a guest post by Sara Williams, a CAB advisor who blogs about debt at Debt Camel. 

Note from Levitate Student - thanks to Sara for this excellent post. Some students face challenges trying budget on student finance much of which is  paid quarterly, and this can lead to pressure to find funds in the short term. High cost credit is unlikely to be the right solution and could lead to long term problems. Always seek advice from your institution money advisers or other trusted money advisers about income maximisation and debt issues. See Know Where to Look page.

Levitate Student - Accommodation Protest

UCL Students protest accommodation costs

Students at UCL are working up to a rent strike regarding the soaring accommodation costs as reported here by The Independent 

This is an important matter for the students, their families and the institutions themselves.

University halls vary widely in quality and price. The contract terms too vary with respect to number of weeks the tenancy runs, times when the room needs to be vacated, bills & extras included and so on. Universities vary too in the housing stock available, some able to accommodate all their freshers, others directing their students to private halls of residence or the private landlord sector.

Student in accommodation

Universities vary in when and how they take the rent payments. Many take the rent in termly installments. Some front load their accommodation charge such that the first installment of rent is perhaps 40% rather than a third of the full cost. This strategy can leave a new student with little no student finance left in their bank account. Starting their student life overdrawn or turning to family for extra help. This can certainly diminish the excitement of the start of their new journey. Also it can come as a shock to a new student, who after a week or two decides they do not like the university & wants to withdraw, that they are tied into that legal tenancy. They didn't realise they would still expected to pay the rent or find a replacement student for their room. 


New students may feel a pressure to move into halls or risk miss out on the full student experience. They may worry that the option of looking for a room in a student private rented is too scary for a first year especially as they wouldn't know their housemates.  

How much does the pressure on the students give confidence to the senior managers, responsible for the accommodation income, to hike the rent tariffs? We recall one such manger saying - "well they keep on signing up which is good". That's the bottom line, if they "sell" every room then that understandably affords them confidence. 

The student consumer is not really empowered in this transaction. Many must feel like they have no option but to sign up. That then leads to the collective consumer grievance now being expressed by students at UCL and expressed by many students up and down the UK. As consumers some feel they have to buy into a service which they don't consider value for money or affordable based on their circumstances. 

Money Bee

The growing dissatisfaction will not be going unnoticed by university senior management teams. Universities have shifted to calling students customers and now need to respond appropriately to that customer voice. 

Students need to be confident and empowered consumers, be fully informed and raise their concerns to seek the changes in the student industry that they want.

See our Know Where to Look pages for Housing Advice

Levitate Student: EU students -

EU students - changes to residency rules

On March 1st 2016 Joe Johnson MP (Minister of State for Universities and Science) announced a significant planned change to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011 which will change the residency requirements for EU national students.

Currently an EU national is entitled to apply for

• Tuition Fee Loan only if they come to UK to study in Higher Education
• Tuition Fee Loan and Living Cost Support (currently loans and grants) if they have lived in UK for 3 years prior to the start of their course.
• Tuition Fee and Living Cost Support if they are a EEA Migrant Worker or Family Member of a Migrant Worker

The proposal is to increase the residency requirement from 3 years to 5 years before an EU national can be eligible for the living cost support in their student finance package.

The government cite the increasing pressure on the student finance budget due to the level of EU applicants and their desire to manage the burden on the tax payer as their reason for the change. The changes will impact students starting a new course in academic year 2016/17.

Many EU nationals of course fall into the category of an EEA Migrant Worker and pay taxes themselves to the UK. These changes will not affect the entitlement of Migrant Workers and their families according to the statement. Neither will it affect "those who are already studying". 

If you are an EU national living in England and thinking of starting a Higher Education course please seek advice on this change before starting the course.

It will be interesting to see how the devolved government and assemblies of Northern Ireland, Scotland an Wales respond to this change and whether they follow suit. 

Useful information and guidance is available through UKCISA

Money B

Time for another Money B! 

Be ready to apply for your funding as soon as possible if you are starting a new Higher Education course in September 2016.

We are hoping Student Finance England will open for business this week for any 2016 Cohort student's applications.

But depending on where you live keep your eye on all the funder websites for their go ahead on when to apply.

Don't worry that you are not completely sure where you will be going to study yet. Just put the most likely institution on your application, this can be changed later if necessary. Changes happens all the time so its not a problem.

Scotland - SAAS
Wales - SFWales
Northern Ireland - SFNI

NHS Courses - NHSBSA


Be the first to apply!

Previous Study Rules

Higher Education Undergraduate Previous Study Rules for English Domiciled 2016 Cohort Students

Levitate Student: Council Tax, Rent and moral dilemma

Students, Council Tax and Rent

We are great fans of the Money Saving Expert .....but sometimes we don’t agree with all their advice to students.

This is the case with their article on Students and Council Tax where they suggest students who live in a property with a non-student might have a “moral dilemma” and go on to make suggestion of how much contribution a student should make to a bill they are not legally liable to pay.

So let us put our context on the matter of Rent, Council Tax and entitlement to welfare benefits for these expenses.

As you know Levitate is all about Rights and Responsibilities and it is important to understand them.

So let’s start with....

Rent

What is rent? Rent is a payment (of money or other means as agreed) to use a property.

What is included in the rent depends on the tenancy agreement whether that is in writing or a verbal agreement.

For detailed information about rent and tenancy agreements we recommend www.shelter.org.uk

Help to pay rent

Housing Benefit is to help people to pay their housing costs. Claimants under pension credit age must have savings under prescribed level, have the right to reside in UK and pass a habitual residence test and crucially for most students be regarded as liable to pay rent for the property.

Housing Benefit and Students

Most full-time Higher Education students are not entitled to claim housing benefit. There are some exceptions for example some lone parents, student couples with children and some disabled students may be eligible for help toward their rent (seek advice).

This may seem strange when for many, student income is very low. They way the government get around that problem is to define in the regulations who is regarded as “liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling” for the purposes of housing benefit entitlement – and guess what? - Full-time Students are not regarded as eligible to pay rent.....even though of course they do.

A non-student (living in a shared property with students), could apply for Housing Benefit help to pay their rent liability if they are not working or on low income.

If awarded Housing Benefit would the non-student have a moral dilemma to share this to help their student housemates pay their rent.....? We don’t think so...it’s the non-student Right to financial help not the students. All the tenants have a Responsibility to pay their rent but it could be that only the non-student has the Right to claim Housing Benefit.

Council Tax

What is Council Tax - in simple terms it is a local tax set and administered by a local authority. The tax has two elements; half is for the people based on two adults sharing; and half is for the property. There is one bill for each separate residence on the Valuation Office Agency valuation list and the charge falls into one of 8 or 9 valuation bands. The local authority decides what charge applies to each band. The local authority will outline to residents what it has spent the Council Tax on each year. Local authority websites are often a good source of information about Council Tax

Some residences are exempt from Council Tax liability and this includes hall of residence and properties with only full-time students living in them. Universities will issue you with Council Tax exemption certificates or tell you how to inform the local authority that you are exempt - check the university/college website for information.

It’s more complex than this though so always seek advice if you are not sure or are told you are liable for the bill.

Help to pay Council Tax

Local authorities are responsible for running their own Council Tax Support schemes to help people on low income with their Council Tax bills. Again local authority websites are a useful source of information. The schemes vary across local authority areas and can change from year to year.

Student income is very low and therefore on the maths alone many could be eligible for Council Tax Support. The government make it easier for everyone though by making most full-time students exempt from paying council tax  - less hassle all round. So it’s a student’s Right not to pay council tax....No moral dilemma here!

When students live with non-students (or even a part-time student), the residence is not exempt so someone will be liable for the council tax. Any non-student living with just all students could apply to the local authority for a discount (e.g. 25% discount on the bill) and if their income is low help to pay in the form of council tax support.

If the non-student is also exempt from paying council tax for other reasons, then, the discount on the bill would be 50%. Who would be liable to pay the bill can be complex and depends on a hierarchy of liability – seek advice if you are not sure.

A student may have to pay the council tax even though they are disregarded when calculating the discount for the bill. This can happen to a student who is the only tenant or who owns their own home but lives with an adult who is not a student.

For example, a mum who is a full-time student, owns her own home and her adult (not in education) son lives at home with her. The property is not exempt, mum as a full-time student is disregarded so the bill is discounted by 25%, but as she is the owner occupier she is liable for the bill. We would agree that in these circumstances there is a bit of a moral dilemma regarding the son helping mum out with the bills.

It can be complex too in household where non-student does not have recourse to public funds.

From a financially capable perspective we would recommend that you don’t pay bills you are not liable for. If you are unsure about whether or not you are liable for a bill then always seek advice from you University Money Adviser or community advice such as Citizens Advice.