Tag: FAQs

Student Finance FAQs 2021/22

Throughout this blog, we are going to answer some of the most frequenlty asked questions we get at the start of term in regards to Student Finance and how you can get in contact with us.

I haven’t received my Student Maintenance Loan, what can I do? 

If you have been assessed for your funding by Student Finance England (or your regional funding provider) and have recently enrolled, it could be that the University has only just confirmed your attendance. This usually triggers your loan payment, however it can still take up to 5 days for any money to reach your account.  

If you have enrolled, but you haven’t yet been assessed by Student Finance England (or your regional funding provider), then we would encourage you to call them or check your online account for an update on your application. You may need to provide further information to support your application.  

  • Contact Student Finance England (SFE): 

For general information and to apply visit: www.gov.uk/student-finance 

Telephone:  0300 100 0607   

Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm    
Saturday and Sunday: 9am to 4pm   

  • Contact Student Finance Services (EU students): 

Telephone: 0141 243 3570  

Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm  

Saturday and Sunday: Closed  

 I’ve only recently applied for student finance, how long will it take to be assessed?  

Applications usually take approximately 6 – 8 weeks, however, the start of term is a very busy time for processing applications and additional information. We would encourage you to check your online account for updates and call SFE (or your regional funding provider) if you have queries.  

Can I apply for any short-term loan until my student finance comes through?   

Students can apply for a short-term Bridging Loan of up to £500 (eligibility criteria apply). For further details and to apply online, click the button below.   

Bridging loan

I’m not sure I have been assessed correctly for my Maintenance Loan, how can I check?   

f you’re worried and want to check if you’ve been assessed correctly for your funding, please use the Student Finance calculator to estimate the level of loan available as well as any extra student funding, for example if you have a disability or children. Please note this calculator is for students from England and EU students starting a new undergraduate course in 2021/22.   

Student Finance Calculator

Can the Financial Guidance Team contact Student Finance England (SFE) on my behalf?  

Yes. We would however encourage students to call SFE initially as this may resolve your query quickly. If you still require help and would like the team to contact SFE, you will need to set up a ‘consent to share’ to give permission. This allows the Financial Guidance team (or other Student Services team) to contact SFE (or your regional funding provider) to discuss your application on your behalf.   

  

To arrange this, please call SFE on 0300 100 06 07 and advise them that you would like to set up a ‘consent to share’ for the University of Northampton – they will usually ask for the institution name, as well as our relationship to you, which is ‘Higher Education Provider’ or HEP. They may also ask for the postcode of the University (NN1 5PH).   

  

You will then be asked for a password, which the Financial Guidance team will need to know to access your account – please contact us afterwards with this password.  

Is there additional support available from SFE for those with dependents or disabilities?   

Yes. SFE have additional support available for those with children or dependent adults as well as support for those with a disability, long-term health condition, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty (such as dyslexia), eligibility criteria apply. Please see a summary below:    

  • Parents Learning Allowance - up to £1,821 a year depending on your household income.  
  • Childcare Grant - up to 85% of weekly childcare costs (up to a maximum of £179.62 per week for one child or £307.95 per week for more than one child). 
  • Adult Dependents’ Grant – up to £3,190 a year depending on household income. 
  • Disabled Students Allowance  

For further information, visit the following Student Finance pages: Extra Help or Quick Start Guides

I’m studying a health professional course and I’ve heard about an additional training grant from the NHS, what is this and where can I find out more?  

Students who are studying on certain pre-registration undergraduate and postgraduate health professional courses such as nursing, midwifery, occupational therapy, podiatry, physiotherapy or paramedic science may be eligible for additional financial assistance from the NHS Learner Support Fund (eligibility criteria apply). Students may apply for this support in addition to the funding available from Student Finance England.

For further details and to apply, click here.

Useful contacts

Financial Guidance Team:    01604 893299   money@northampton.ac.uk   

Fee queries (Income Team):   01604 892327   income@northampton.ac.uk   

Scholarships Administrator: Scholarships@northampton.ac.uk  

If you need to contact the Financial Guidance Team to discuss your funding query, we would encourage you to call or email initially. If necessary, we can arrange a follow-up appointment.  

Come and see us!

The Financial Guidance Team, will be running drop in sessions on the ground floor of the learning hub between 10am and 2pm from Monday 4th October through until Tuesday 12th October. Feel free to come and see us with any questions or queries that you have surrounding your Student Finance.

Moved back home for the January term? What does it mean for me?

Like the majority of University Students in the UK, you will be spending your first term of 2021 at the University of Northampton working from home. That is unless you’re on an allied health professional course. With so many students now moving back home the Student Loans Company (SLC) have released new guidance.

Throughout this blog post we’ve broken down the information in an easy way to help you understand it quickly. (This information is for those who receive their loan from Student Finance England)  The full information in regards to it can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-students-who-have-moved-back-home-in-the-january-term

No matter where you live during your period of study your Tuition Fee loan is exactly the same. However your Maintenance Loan is dependent on where you live during term times. They are the following:

A screen shot of the 2020 to 2021 academic year Maintenance Loan table. Living at home - up to £7,747. Living away from home, outside London up to £9,203. Living away from home, in London - up to £12,010.
A screen shot of the 2020 to 2021 academic year M;aintenance Loan table.

For individuals studying at the University of Northampton, you only need to worry about Living at home or Living away from home, outside of London. The approve image shows the maximum amount of loan an individual can get. Maintenance Loans are means tested dependent on household income.

Take a look at this really useful article by Save The Student which explains Maintenance Loans and how they work: https://www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html

Under normal situations, if you were to move back home during term time you would be reassessed and your loan amount would be reduced to the ‘Living at home’ rate. Currently, the UK Government has made the decision for those students who are still having to pay accommodation costs – both in on and off campus/private  accommodation will not be reassessed. This is to provide students who are still paying rent the financial support that they need during these extraordinary circumstances.

Do you need to tell the SLC if you have moved back home?

You only need to do this if you have moved back home properly. By that we mean that you are no longer having to payout for accommodation costs such as rent. If you are still having to pay for accommodation costs, please do NOT update your SLC account as they will re-asses you to the ‘Living at Home’ rate of loan for this January.

However, if you have moved home properly make sure to update you account to reflect your new living situation. This will allow your rate of loan to reflect your living situation and will amend the amount that you will potentially pay back.

To update your information about you living accommodation and to make any changes, visit you SLC online account here.

If you are undecided about your accommodation in the future and plan on moving away from home in the third term, due to the uncertainty of how Covid-19 will affect face to face and remote teaching and learning, the Government advice and guidance will be updated accordingly. As soon an we know anything else, we will update this blog accordingly.

Can you get any extra funding costs to cover the costs of moving back home and studying at home?

For many people working from their ‘home’ home is not as effective as whilst working at University. For many people they have experienced some new costs and unplanned expenditure. For many students who have had their income reduced due to being furloughed or because of their loss of employment this can be an extremely challenging time.

However, you cannot get any extra funding from the SLC to cover the costs of ‘living at home’ For those receiving the Maintenance Loan for living at home, should be able to cover the costs associated with living at home. For those of receiving the ‘living away from home’ rate of Maintenance Loan will continue to do so to cover costs such as accommodation.

The University of Northampton, has received money from the Office for Students (OfS) and is able to provide a Covid Hardship Fund which all students are eligible for provided they meet the requirement criteria. The Covid Hardship Fund, can be used for students to purchase equipment that they may need to work effectively from ‘home’ home or to cover short fallings brought in by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To find out more about the Covid-19 Hardship fund, take a look at our recent blog post here.

Money matters covid-19 hardship blog

If you’re still to apply for Student Finance this year, what should you put on your application for living arrangements for this term?

If you are going to be at home for the majority of this January term – with the current uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, this could be extremely likely. Yet, you’re still having to pay accommodation costs for you accommodation away from home such as rent. You should still put ‘living away from home’ for this term on your application. If you won’t have these costs, then put ‘living at home’.

If you still have accommodation costs, even through you’ve moved back home and don’t want the higher rate of loan?

You must inform the SLC in regards to any changes to your contact address by logging into you account. If you do not want to continue receiving the higher Maintenance Loan of ‘living away from home’, you’ll need to update the extra step when updating your contact address to tell us about your change of living arrangements fo the majority of this January term.

Once that change has been made, they will re-asses your student finance and reduce your entitlement for the January term. If you have already received the higher rate as your January Maintenance Loan payment, the SLC will recover the ‘overpayment’ from future payments.

If you receive your student finance from Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland?

The current information about the ‘living away from home’ loan rate mentioned throughout this blog, focusses on those receiving funding fro Student Finance England. However, the rules are pretty much the same, if you are still having to pay for accommodation costs whilst living at home due to Covid-19 restrictions, you will still be entitled to the ‘living away from home’ Maintenance Loan.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions or concerns about your student finance, feel free to contact the University of Northampton Financial Guidance Team by either emailing money@northampton.ac.uk or visiting the Financial Guidance page of the Student Hub.

money@northamptoN.ac.uk
Financial Guidance

The SLC has a team of expert advisers available on their social media channels, so if there is anything you need to contact them about you can submit your questions via either Facebook and Twitter.

A Covid-19 Hardship Fund is now available for all eligible University of Northampton Students.

Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the entirety of the world. The financial implications of such have been felt by many, but especially by University Students. With many students struggling with the loss of part time work, being placed on a reduced income because of furlough and the increased expenditures that often come with being at home.  

The University of Northampton have received additional funds from the Office for Students (OfS) to support students through this extremely difficult and uncertain time. The OfS Covid-19 Hardship Fund, is available to all students studying at the University of Northampton, to support those who are facing financial hardship as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The OfS Covid-19 Hardship Fund can offer short term support only, with its intended purpose to be a contribution towards essential costs for those who have had a reduction in earnings or have lost their income, or those who have additional costs due to the result of the current pandemic. The Financial Guidance team will not consider requests for support towards the cost of fines issued by the University or the Police as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Fund will be available to all University of Northampton Home, EU and International students who are enrolled on a full-time or part-time, Undergraduate or Postgraduate course or studying with a University of Northampton Sub-Contract partner. Please be aware that the OfS Covid-19 Hardship Fund is limited and applications will be processed in date order by the Financial Guidance Team. 

The awards available will be capped as follows: 

  • ‘Home’/UK students without dependents: £300 
  • ‘Home’/UK students with dependents: £500 
  • EU students who are eligible to receive the Tuition Fee Loan support only/International Students: £500 

To apply for the OfS Covid-19 Hardship fund, please complete the application which can be found on the Student Hub: 

Covid-19 hardship fund application

The deadline for all applications is Wednesday 17th March 2021. The Financial Guidance Team will not be able to accept any applications submitted after this date. Please be aware that funds are limited and may be fully allocated before this deadline date. 

The Financial Guidance team have created a Frequently Asked Questions document, which can be found here:

covid-19 faqs

Coronavirus and student finance – FAQs

The Coronavirus pandemic has changed everyday life dramatically – it’s a very confusing and anxious time for many, and although the primary focus is health, there is likely to be an impact on money too. 

However, we have compiled some Frequently Asked Questions which can help if you have any queries about finances during this time.

Continue reading “Coronavirus and student finance – FAQs”