Student Fees Question

Former Member

There's this girl in my halls of residence at uni who's one of these filthy rich, pony obsessed daddy's girls who I didn't particularly like before but fucking hate now. I've been told that her dad is this wealthy businessman who doesn't take a wage from his business so technically he's unemployed (same goes for his wife). This means this girl can and has taken out the fullest possible student loan she can (something like five grand!) even though her family are stinking rich anyway.

Is this illegal or is there some kind of loophole in the law with regards qualifying for student loans? And are there anymore student benefits she may have taken? It seems she told some other people that "mummy hired a very good accountant" to scam the taxman.

It put me in a fucking foul mood. :mad:

Former Member

But if it's a loan, wouldn't she have to pay it back?

Former Member

That's what confused me so I thought daddy just mustn't want to pay her fees with his own money right away. Other than that, it could just be a necessity to keep the tax man away. And if it's all true her family would be classed as a low income family so wouldn't she be entitled to government grants that she doesn't need to pay back?

Former Member

My family is low based income but I'll still have to pay mine back, its a loan not a present :no:
Dont know about the grants though...they may be totally unrelated to loans and she may not have to legally pay them back. :mad:

Former Member

You don't have to pay grants back.

Loan wise there are four words to explain that if mummy and daddy really are loaded.

High interest savings account.

Former Member

Good for her. Everyone should be entitled to the full student loan and not assessed on their parents incomes.

I see the point about them being wealthy enough to afford it, but as it's a loan, she's not scamming anyone. And you don't necessarily know all of her personal circumstances...

Former Member

Kentish wrote:

Good for her. Everyone should be entitled to the full student loan and not assessed on their parents incomes.

I see the point about them being wealthy enough to afford it, but as it's a loan, she's not scamming anyone. And you don't necessarily know all of her personal circumstances...

Most people only get the 'maximum' 75% of the full loan if they can get support from parents. People who cant get support from there parents, i.e. those from a poorer background are entitled to an extra £1000. Or so I beleive.

littlemissy

Renzo wrote:

Most people only get the 'maximum' 75% of the full loan if they can get support from parents. People who cant get support from there parents, i.e. those from a poorer background are entitled to an extra £1000. Or so I beleive.

:yes:

All students can get a loan but it is just that: she will have to pay it back after uni.

Former Member

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Former Member

get as much off the government while you still can, cause they'll spend your entire working life getting as much as they can off you.

the only thing that used to annoy me about tuition fees and loans is that they assess you on your parents income, but pay no attention at all to whether your comfortably well off parents actually will help you out.

Former Member

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Former Member

[QUOTE=kaffrin
]get as much off the government while you still can, cause they'll spend your entire working life getting as much as they can off you.

the only thing that used to annoy me about tuition fees and loans is that they assess you on your parents income, but pay no attention at all to whether your comfortably well off parents actually will help you out.[/QUOTE]
:yes:
You knows it cos you grows it

Former Member

Renzo wrote:

Most people only get the 'maximum' 75% of the full loan if they can get support from parents. People who cant get support from there parents, i.e. those from a poorer background are entitled to an extra £1000. Or so I beleive.

I meant everyone should get the full loan, not the 75% if they are unfortunate enough to come from a family where the combined gross income is over an arbitrary level.

Former Member

She could also have taken out a student hardship grant, which is for people who's parents cannot afford to pay the fees (which most parents have to pay at least a little bit of, regardless of how much loan the student gets), in which case, she would have to pay back the loan, but not the grant. But be safe in the knowledge that when she has a career, she will have to pay back a huge loan.

Former Member

Kentish wrote:

I meant everyone should get the full loan, not the 75% if they are unfortunate enough to come from a family where the combined gross income is over an arbitrary level.

I'm not sure they should, those loans arent free, the whole student loan thing costs quite a bit to run because they are effectively interest free.

Former Member

My parents are divorced and the thing that annoys me is that they won't take my Dad's income into account - it's my Step-dad's income who they take into account. Yes, he helps me but it's unfair to assume that he wants to.

I agree with what Kaff said, it's so annoying how they take into account their earnings but not the money actually going out or the 'disposable' income that they have. They can't just get it out of anywhere.

My Step-dad is self-employed and they take into account last years earnings which were more than he's on right now (he's been out of work for a while). But I spoke to my LEA about this and the man was very helpful.

Former Member

girl with sharp teeth wrote:

But some people do get grants which are not repayable, of up to a grand I do believe.

My friend is in a similar situation, and I don't blame her for taking advantage for a moment, because I would if I was in her place. She technically lives with her retired father and is assessed on his non existent income, yet her mother is filthy rich and has given her a sizeable allowance throughout university. So she gets the maximum loan, an allowance from her mother, a grant from the government, no tuition fees to pay and a hardship bursary from her university. And I get the minimum loan and full tuition fees. Ce la vie.

and its annoying because they get enough money such that they can live whilst their loan is in a high interest savings account so theyre making money off a subsidised loan, thats why its unfair :mad:

some girl in my halls done it last year, got 6% interest on a loan with interest rate of about 2% at the moment

Former Member

lucifer devil wrote:

My parents are divorced and the thing that annoys me is that they won't take my Dad's income into account - it's my Step-dad's income who they take into account. Yes, he helps me but it's unfair to assume that he wants to.

I agree with what Kaff said, it's so annoying how they take into account their earnings but not the money actually going out or the 'disposable' income that they have. They can't just get it out of anywhere.

My Step-dad is self-employed and they take into account last years earnings which were more than he's on right now (he's been out of work for a while). But I spoke to my LEA about this and the man was very helpful.

Double-check this, same thing happened to me until I sat down and read the small print and discovered they couldn't do this as my stepfather has no legal obligations to me and is not my legal guardian. They could only take my Mother's income into account.

Now this did happen years ago but I can't see why anything should have changed.

Former Member

or failing that, go and live with your poor father for a bit.

easy to arrange.

placebo: aww, diddums. it's not fair! *stamps foot*

Former Member

Its unfair with all this student loans business. It should take into account our own financial situation but that will never happen as everyone would be gettin paid tutition fees as most 18 yr olds are skint.
Its those cheeky madams which just dump the money in a high interest savings account which pisses everyone off.... when other struggle like anything, maybe they could make the student loans bigger by taking the money away from the exploiters and pump the money to people which actually need it

Former Member

Kentish wrote:

I meant everyone should get the full loan, not the 75% if they are unfortunate enough to come from a family where the combined gross income is over an arbitrary level.

I agree, I think everyone should be entitled to the full student loan.