Maintenance Grants - RIP
How the UK governments choose to fund students in Higher Education is very dynamic. It has changed many times over the years.....This week saw the House of Commons debating the plan to remove Maintenance Grants (the grant that helps with living costs) from the funding package of support for HE students. The proposed changes will affect students who ordinarily live in England and who will be starting a UK full-time Higher Education course after 1st September 2016.
The Ayes had it so the change will go ahead.
This is life, this is politics, if you are not happy with the changes, and many are not, then complain to your MP.
It all serves as a neat reminder that it is the law that determines what student finance you can receive not Student Finance England or the other student funding agencies.
But DON'T PANIC!!
This is a change to funding not a removal of funding. As ever Levitate Student likes you to Know Where to Look for information yourself.
The Maintenance Grant part of the support package is to be replaced by increasing the Student Loan (for living costs) available.
If you started your course before 1st September 2016 then this change will not affect you and you will still be entitled to be assessed for Maintenance Grant, so if you received it in the prior year (s) of your course and your household income hasn't changed then it's likely you will receive it going forward - Phew! Move on nothing to see here.....
For New Students (the 2016 Cohort) the package of support will be different and at the moment there isn't much information on www.gov.uk which is always a good place to start.
However on the Student Loan Company website on the Practitioner pages there is a useful
Resource Finder which has a simple leaflet outlining the changes
Student Finance - New Students 2016/17
The government will no doubt want to point out that the total loan for living cost for the 2016 cohort is over 10% higher than the loan and grant combined for those who started their course in 2015.
The Law
The legislation that covers eligibility for student finance for students living in England
is The Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011
When changes are approved this legislation gets amended and the removal of Maintenance Grants is covered by this Amendment Regulation
Neither of which are an easy read but it's useful to know.
So at this early stage where can you get an idea of what loan you might receive without reading the law above?
Well each year The Department for Business Innovation and Skills publishes the following
Again its not an easy read but it can be effective in giving an indication of how much living cost loan you might get.
Pages 3 to 16 apply to the 2016 Cohort.
There are two tables
- Table A6 (on page 9) - for 2016 Cohort who are not eligble for welfare benefits
- Table A7 (on page 10) - for 2016 Cohort who are eligible for welfare benefits
So for example.......
Imagine a single student, settled in UK, lived in England all his life with his parents. Their household income as assessed by Student Finance England is £35,000. Student will be living away from home but not studying in London. The student is not disabled and has no children and is under 25.
Go to table A6 - find the section Studying outside London - find £35,000 follow table across to the Loan for Living Cost figure of............£7,023
This is an indication to what living cost support the student would be eligible for along with up to £9,000 Tuition Fee loan.
Another example.......
Imagine a single student and a lone parent, settled in UK, lived in England all her life. Her household income as assessed by Student Finance England is less than £25,000. Student will not be studying in London, she is not disabled.
This student will have an entitlement to welfare benefits, even if she does or does not receive any.
Go to table A7 - find the section Studying outside London - find £25,000 follow table across to the Loan for Living Cost figure of.............£9,347
This student will also be eligible to the £9,000 Tuition Fee Loan. She will also be eligible to be assessed for Parents Learning Allowance and is likely to receive the maximum of £1,573 and help toward her child care costs if need - see page 42 of the Memorandum.
All these figures are annual amounts.
Most full-time Higher Education students are not entitled to any welfare benefits but there are some exceptions, including lone parents. Content coming soon on the What Benefits pages.
How Household Income is calculated is complex - information on Know Where to Look page soon
Part-time HE students currently only get the Tuition Fee Loan - more changes on this for Sept 2016 starters - post coming soon.
Remember: If in doubt always seek advice from a Student Money Adviser at a university or college or visit www.gov.uk.
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