[We follow along a talking presenter webinar]
Rob:
Good evening everyone. Welcome to the, Undergraduate student funding webinar at the University of Derby.
My name's Rob Fowler. I'm senior student money advisor in student services. And this evening we'll be having a look at undergraduate student funding. We'll have a look at what's available, how you apply when you apply. We'll have a look at how you receive the funding. We'll have a look at repayments and then we'll be able to take any, any questions at the, at the end of the, of the presentation.
So looking forward to doing that for you this evening. And if I can of the first slide please, Charlotte.
Okay. So just a little bit of an introduction. As background to the University of Derby. So just a few headlines for you.
So we're top five for employability. We're top 20 in England and Wales for social inclusion.
Top five for course quality. Top 15 UK university. 96% of graduates are in work or in further study.
And overall, we are a top 25 university for student satisfaction. Next slide.
Okay. So just again, a little bit of information just as an introduction before we jump into the student funding.
So just as a general rule. On average individuals who attend university will earn substantially more
over their lifetimes compared to compared to people who do not go to university. By age 31, graduates in the East Midlands will earn
37% more than non graduates from the same region. And graduate skills are estimated to have an economic impact of 95 billion
pounds nationwide and as much as 7 billion just in the East Midlands area alone.
So a little bit of information for you. Next slide please.
So funding and money and university. So the two main costs each year will be your tuition fees and your living costs. Tuition fees. That's the amount of money you need to pay the university to be on the course that you're studying. So that's what pays for the course itself. And then everything else, comes under the, the header of living costs. So living costs essentially means everything that isn't the tuition fee. So living costs can be, accommodation, accommodation and bills or accommodation in the university halls. It can be private rented accommodation. You may be living at home and commuting to university. So any, any accommodation costs the the relate to you even if you're living in the parental home. So if you're paying any boarding lodge anything that that comes under you know accommodation and bills. So utility bills, food as well is a quite important living costs. Travel clothes, books and equipment. So study equipment, anything you need, stationery, anything you need to pay for whilst you're studying at university.
Just as an idea of average costs. Accommodation. In University Hall starts around 115 pounds. You just go up. It can increase to around 168 I think is the there's some of the premium rooms which are the premium on suites.
So it depends on what you want. There's, you know, there's, there's affordable accommodation, to suit most budgets.
In university halls again, private rented accommodation will be the will will be whatever you're paying in rent there.
And again if you're living at home, you'll have maybe accommodation costs there as well. As an average would say, you know, weekly food shop anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds a week just for your basic food. What you spend on food is, is, you know, is very specific to you, really. But as a general, as a general rule, just for a weekly shop of basic food is stuff that you need, to eat rather than the stuff that you want to eat. You're looking at 30 to 50 pounds per week. There are laptop loans, available from the university library if you don't immediately have a laptop. The student gym membership, some 15 pounds a month. You can get some hot food on campus, starting around 2.50 pounds. The Derby Theatre, tickets there if you want to go to the theatre, 5 pounds for students. And again at the court at the cinema in town, around 8.50 pounds. So something like that. As a general idea, again, your living costs will be, you know, specific and personal to you, but as a general idea, that's that's what you should be looking at. And next slide please.
So support available. And we'll have a look at each of these individually in detail as we go through.
So there's the tuition fee loan which is the loan that pays the tuition fee. And there's the maintenance loan, which is the living costs loan.
If you're doing an allied health course, that could be nursing, occupational therapy, diagnostic radiography. And I think it extends about midwifery and physiotherapy. You can get additional support from the NHS and Learning support Fund. And also university bursary is something that will have a look at as well and as, as a wider, national, you know, bursaries and scholarships,
all universities are bursaries and scholarships. But it's important that, you know, you know what to look for when you're when you're looking at those. Next slide please.
Okay. So starting with the tuition fees. So like I said the tuition fee is the amount of money you pay to the university to be on the course that you're on. And you can take our tuition fee loan. The fees from September 2025 will be 9,535 pounds.
That just increase slightly from 9 to 50 after many years sticking there. But nine, five, three, five is the tuition fee from September
and the loan is 49535. So the government will always lend you, the maximum amount of, you know, they will always lend you enough to cover the tuition fees. If the fees are nine, five, three, five, the loan will also be 9535. If you take up the loan. It just means that you don't have to pay the fees upfront. We'll have a look at repayments at the end of the presentation.
So you'll see what happens when it comes to paying the money back. But it just means that when you enrol in September, if you've taken out the loan, it just means that your fees are paid at the point of a point of entry. So you don't have to find the money to come to university.
So it's not a barrier to arrive at university having that tuition fee loan, or having the tuition fee there because you can take out the loan.
It's non income assessed. There's very few elements that are non income assessable. The tuition fee loan is, is that so there's no assessment of household income. So regardless of household income everyone can have that tuition fee loan of 9535.
So it doesn't matter whether it's a you know it's a low household income. Doesn't matter if it's a very high household income. That loan is still available to all students. Again, it's important to say that you don't have to apply for a tuition free loan. Just as you don't have to apply for any student funding if you don't want to. But if you want to, is there to apply for. But just be mindful. If you're not applying for the tuition fee loan,
then you will have to pay your tuition fees, to the university, on an annual basis yourself.
So just bear that in mind. Next slide please.
The maintenance loan, which is the loan for living costs. There's a few figures that I'll be throwing at you in the next couple of minutes. For this one. There's two bands, essentially, available to students. So there's the living at home rates, and there is the living away from home. Right? There is a third rate, which is for students that are studying in central London. And that's a slightly higher maintenance loan based on the higher cost of living in the, in the central London area. But what we will narrow down to for this evening is just the two, the two main bands which are living away from parental home and living at home. So there you two bands, the maximum for living at home.
Oh, sorry. Maximum. I'll start from living away from the maximum. From living away from home for next year is 10,554 pounds.
The maximum if you're living at home and commuting to university is 8877. So even if you are living at home and you've got, you know, little or no accommodation costs, you can still get a loan of up to 8877. Expectation being that if you're living at home, even though you're not paying rent, you may have greater travel costs. So if you're commuting into university, A, you know, a larger proportion of your loan will be taken up by travel costs as opposed to when you're living in derby.
Although you can make accommodation costs will be higher. Your travel costs would be, you know, anticipated to be to be lower.
Now you can get slightly more than these headline figures. Again if you're doing one of the NHS, one of the healthcare courses.
So nursing, occupational therapy, midwifery as we, as we mentioned previously. And that's because these are classed as long courses. So that there's more weeks in the academic year. So the more weeks in the academic year and the more maintenance loan
you get essentially pro-rata for that number of weeks. So bear that in mind. If you're looking at a figure of ten, five, five, four, but you're doing nursing that, that might increase that to somewhere around 11 and maybe even approaching 12,000 pounds, depending on the number of weeks in the academic year. The minimum amounts that you can see, in brackets, which will have a look, in a moment, that's essentially the lower right.
So if the household income is above around 60, 62,000 pounds, you'll only be eligible for the lower rate. But it doesn't get any lower than that. So even if the income household income is is high, you can still get the maximum tuition fee loan and you know a proportion of the of the maintenance loan. So if you can have the next slide please, that might give us a bit more of an idea on figures.
Okay. So two bands away from home living at home. And again, just to clarify with the asterisks there that whenever the student loans company or student financing band use the word home, they mean parental home.
It can be a bit confusing sometimes for mature students who have their own house and they live at home, but they would be classed as by student finances. Living away from home because home always means parental home.
So looking at the two columns, and the, the top, the the top sells. So the maximum for household income under 25,000 pounds. So up to 25,000 pounds is the ten, five, five for and the eight eight, seven seven other end of that spectrum. If the household income is over 60,000 pounds, if you're living at home, or 62 350 if you're living away from home. The lower rates of 4915 or the 3907. Now all of the numbers in between. They're not set as those numbers because the the household incomes aren't set at 30, 35, 40, 45,000. You do receive a maintenance loan, calculated pound for pound. So if your household income is, for example, 42,150 pounds, you'll get a maintenance loan for that figure. So these are just to give you an idea. They're not set bands of entitlement. They're just to give you an idea. But if you do want to get a really clear idea of what's available, if you're going to the next slide, please, that will show,
the student finance calculator. So this is available on Gov.uk. So you can navigate manually through Gov.uk through education and learning. Student finance. And then there's the student finance calculator or any kind of internet search on, any of the keywords student funding, finance calculator will take you to this calculator. You only asked you about five questions. It just needs to know, when you'll be going to university. It will need to know, you know, where you're going to be living. So home or away from home, it will ask you, what the tuition fee is. That's just so you can calculate the tuition fee loan. The tuition fees £9,535, whatever number you put in that box, it will transfer that to the amount of the tuition free loan. It's just how that works. So the key, the key questions in the calculator really are where are you going to be living. So it establishes whether you're at home or away from home. And it asks what the annual household income is.
So if you put that income figure in then it will give you an amount of maintenance loan based on that income figure.
So if you say I'm living away from home and household income is 18,000 pounds, then you'll give you the figure of the 10,500.
If you sell the house and then can be 70,000 pounds, you'll get the minimum figure. But if you put your household income into that calculator, it will give you an accurate, figure of the maintenance loan. So it's really useful to take a couple of minutes to put the numbers in.
But it just gives you a really clear idea of what you can expect, to get for your student funding.
And this is something you can use, you know, prior to applying for student funding, if you apply for student funding, then at the end of that process you'll know anyway.
But if you just want to have a look, for example, after this session tonight, if you just want to have a look this evening just to give yourself an idea, go into the student funding calculator and just, just have a look at that. Like a really clear, really useful, simple tool to use.
Next slide please. Okay. So the assessments. So for like we say for the tuition fee loan is no means tested. So there's no assessment of household income. But the maintenance loan is means tested. So they do. And by their student financing and they do assess, the household income. So for dependent students that students under 25 years of age. So if you're coming to university and you're under 25, student finance will automatically be looking, for your parental household income. So a lot a lot of times students will think, well,
you know, at 21 is when you become a mature student is 25. For the purposes of household income assessment, for student funding.
So what do they mean by parental household income. So it's the household income of the of the of the parent or parents.
So the natural parents that you normally live with, the parents are separated or divorced. It's the income of the parent that you live with.
If that parent has remarried or lived with a partner. So there's their income in the household as well, then it's their income that is assessed as well. It's essentially whatever whatever equates to, you know, to to parent or parents in that household.
That is what SFA will look to assess anyone else in the household. They're not interested in siblings, even if they're working full
time, living in the household, they're not interested. It's purely the the income of of the parent or parents. Sometimes students, if parents are separated or divorced and they're living between houses 5050, so they share their time between parental homes, it's at the discretion of the student to nominate their sponsor or sponsor.
So student financing will essentially ask you to, to give the details of the parent or parents that you want to be assessed.
So it's only one household. So if you've got one parent in one household, one parent and the other household, they won't assess both households.
But you just need to nominate, which one you want to be assessed. And that's at the discretion of the student.
So I suppose there's an argument that if you've got two households and one parent has got a very high household income
and one parent has got a very low household income, then you would nominate naturally, the the student, the the parent
with a lower income, because that would maximize the funding available to you. And that's absolutely fine.
SFA are perfectly happy for you to do that because they will always leave it at your discretion to to nominate your sponsor when it comes to that.
There are exceptions to, to that for assessment purposes. And that's if a student has independent status.
So independent student status, there are various criteria for that. If a student's over 25 on the first day of the academic year,
so they'll be in the 1st of September in any academic year. If you're over 25, then they don't assess parents.
Similarly, if you've been self financially self-supporting for three years prior to the start of the course,
you can be independent if you're married, if you have a child, if you're estranged, me, parents if you have no living parents,
then SFE will assess you as an independent student. As an independent student, they will only ever assess the income of a partner.
So if you're an independent single student, then your income will always be assessed to zero because SFE will never assess your income even if you're working full time or part time. They're not interested in the income of the student. It's only ever the income of the sponsor, and the sponsor can only be a parent or parents or a partner. So just to give you some information there, if there's any queries about your status, about your dependent or independent status, you can have a conversation with that for you about, you know, about the in the specifics of your, of your status.
And they will they will talk you through any, any assessment and any evidence or information that they need, to assess that for you.
Okay. Next slide please. So when it comes to applying for student funding, the application for 2025 six is open. Now. It opens on the 10th of March. Sorry, 11 on the 10th March. It's been open a couple of weeks now. So the application is there so you can apply now. You know, this evening, tomorrow you can apply, you know, as of you know, as of now, the application is open. There is a deadline that everyone will talk to you about, and SFE will talk to you about and your school in the college may talk to you about. And they will always say that the deadline is the end of May.
And so you've got to apply by the end of May, or you won't be able to apply for student funding. That's not that's not actually correct.
There are deadlines and there are deadlines. Now, the deadline of May at the end of May. What they mean by that is that if you want to guarantee that your student funding is in place and fully assessed and ready to go in September,
they give a deadline of the end of May, which gives them enough time to complete, any, any complex assessment of household income.
So it just gives them enough time. Bear in mind that the, in the in the first four weeks
of the application being open. So the first four weeks of March and going into the beginning of April,
that's when they get the fewest applications for student funding. So if you apply in the first four weeks, your application will go through very quickly as you go through the months.
April, May, certainly into June and July, that's when the applications peak. So if you start applying in July and August,
it can take eight, 12, 16 weeks for your application to get assessed. If you apply in March, in April, you might take 2 or 3 weeks as a maximum.
So apply early is always the key message there. Again, you don't have to apply before me, but if you want to get your funding in place, we'd always advise that you do that. What's important to note is that you don't have to either confirm place on a course to apply for student funding. Student funding is the same nationally. It matter which university you go into. What course you're doing in student funding is the same. So you don't have to have a confirmed place at university to apply for student funding. They will ask you the question on the application. You will say they will ask you to give the name of the university in the name of the course. So you've got to put something in those two boxes. Otherwise it won't, it won't let you proceed with the application. So if you're pretty sure where you're going to go and you think this is where I'm going, that's what I'm doing 100%, put that in with confidence and you're okay if you've only narrowed it down to half a dozen universities and half a dozen courses, just put down your best guess. Put down the university you think you're going to, and the course that you think you're going to be doing that will allow you to to complete the application process. If those details change at any point, you know, from submitting the application, that's fine. You can just log back in and change the name of the university and change the name of the course, and you can do that and it will update overnight. So you can do that as many times as you want during the summer. And it will just update overnight, but it won't affect, you know,
your eligibility or your entitlement or any of your student funding.
But just don't wait until August until you know exactly what you're doing, where you're going to apply for funding, because you may not get it through until October November. So apply on your best guess. If it changes, go back in and change it. The only really important thing to bear in mind is, on the day of enrolment. And that's what triggers your student funding on the day of enrolment, the university details on your application have to match the university that you enrol at.
So if you wrote down University of Derby and you enrolled at the University of Derby at the end of enrolment, the university will send
an electronic file to Student Finance England to say that you've arrived. That message goes to Student Finance England and that will
that will release your student funding. If you've got a different university on your application to the university that you enrol at, then that message won't reach Student Finance England because they'll be waiting for an electronic notification from one university.
But it won't come because you've enrolled at a different university. Doesn't mean to say that you won't get your funding. It just means to say that you might take a few weeks for you to realize that it's not coming, and then to go in and, you know, submit a change of circumstances to change the university details.
Once you've enrolled, you can't change the details on your application. It's got to be the university that does it. So if you want to change your details, you've got to do it before you enrol. But just bear that in mind. As long as on the day of enrolment, the university that you enrol is the same as the university on your application, then there will be no issues. With the funding being released.
Next slide please.
Okay. So, you've applied for your student funding, you've enrolled at university, and, so now you're looking to receive the payment of your loans as soon as you're your student funding has been approved, and is being calculated by student finance. So that will be done. You know, if you apply in April, that will be done. You know, in in a few weeks, you will know exactly what you're getting and when you're getting, you'll get a payment schedule, which will tell you exactly when you get your money in September and January and April. So you will have set set payment dates. The April payment will be set. There will be a date and an amount. The January payment equally will be set. There will be a date and amount. The September payment can change slightly in that, there will be a date for
September, which will be the first possible date of the academic year. So that will be the date on the form. But your funding will only be received 3 to 5 days after enrolment. So you're funding your funding use or your funding statement may say the again, your first payment on Monday the 10th of September. But if Monday, the 10th of September is the date you enrol, you'll probably get your money on the Thursday. So just bear that in mind. Whatever date it says for September, it will be 3 to 5 days, 3 to 5 days after you've enrolled, but January will be set and April will be set. January is always the same. It's always around between the second and the 4th of January. The April payment does vary and it varies depending on when Easter is. For example, this year it's a really late Easter. So the the April payment is the 28th of April. Whereas in previous years, if it's an earlier Easter, then the payment is normally in the first week of April. So you'll still get it in April, but depends on when Easter falls. But you will know prior to the start of the course, you know when you're going to get it, because they will have already calculated that payment date.
So you get your payments three instalments September, January, April. And you don't pay anything back until after the course is completed. And that kind of leads, naturally on to, to repayment. So again, you can apply for student funding.
You've received your student funding, you've completed your 3 or 4 years at university. And then in the April after you've graduated, that's when repayments kick in. You pay, 9% of your income over the threshold of 25,000 pounds, and all remaining balances are written off after 40 years. It's essentially a graduate tax. It's an extra amount of money you'll pay for a 40 year period based on what you've borrowed and based on your future earnings. And so it's important to put that into some kind of context, because 9% of 25,000 pounds over 40 years doesn't make a lot of sense just in a, you know, just in itself. So if you can have the next slide, please will start to have a look at what the repayments look like in the real world. So what it means is that up to 25,000 pounds gross income
and you're paying nothing back to the student loans company. Doesn't matter what you borrow it. You can have three years of tuition free loans, three years of maintenance loans, and that could be anything, you know, as was three years of tuition, three years of maintenance at the maximum amount, it could be around 60,000 pounds, something like that.
That's what that's what will be on a piece of paper. That's what will be on the screen, is what you owe to to the government from your from your student loan. It's all put into one into one amount so you don't pay back separately. Tuition free loan on your maintenance loan. It's one amount. And that one amount, is subject to, the repayment terms of 9% of income over 25,000 pounds. So what it means.
So I've been to university for three years about the maximum loan for tuition fee and for maintenance loan. So I've left university and I owe the government 60,000 pounds for the pleasure I'm working. I'm earning under 25,000 pounds on a monthly basis. I'm paying nothing back to the government. I'm paying nothing back to my to my student loan. If I pay nothing back for the first two years,
it means that, you know, there's only 38 years of repayments left. If I pay nothing back for the first five years, there's only 35 years of repayments left.
The 9%. What it means in real terms is that for every thousand pounds that you earn over the threshold, you pay 9%.
So if I'm earning 26,000 pounds, 9% of. So that's 1,000 pound over the threshold, 9% of 1,000 pounds is 90 pounds. Divide that over 12 months of the year. That means I'm paying back 7.50 pound a month against my 60,000 pounds student loan.
If I'm earning 30,000 pounds, I'm 5,000 pounds over the threshold so that 5,000 pounds is subject to 9% and over 12 months, that's 37.50 pounds a month.
The more you earn, the more you'll repay. And so if every thousand pounds you earn over the threshold is 7.50 pounds a month. So it just goes up in multiples of 7.50 pound. You know, I'm learning 60,000 pounds. Yeah. I'll be paying a bit more to the student loan to me. I'll be paying 262.50 pounds. But that's based on on the higher income. And if you can have a look at the next slide please.
That again just puts a little bit more context into what what the student loan repayments mean. You know again in real terms. So again you know, anything else that you're going to be paying for. So again I'm earning 25,000 pounds on paying nothing back
against my student loan, but I'm paying 207 pounds a month in income tax, and I'm paying 104 pounds in National Insurance.
If I'm earning 30,000 pounds a year. Yeah, I'm paying 37.50 pounds against my student loan, but I'm paying 290 pounds in income tax. I'm paying 145 in National Insurance. So again, the more you earn, the more you'll repay.
And in this in this sense, it's essentially is it's a graduate tax. It's another tax that you will pay for a 40 year period. So you'll always pay income tax forever. You'll pay National Insurance forever. But your student loan will be, you know, limited to those 40 years.
Most students, most students will pay some of their student loan back. Some students will pay it all back. Absolutely. If they're earning enough and they're paying back enough, they will pay it all back. Some students will pay nothing back because they'll never they'll never reach that threshold of a repayment of 25,000 pounds because of circumstances. You know, they're personal to them, but most students will pay, you know, will pay some of their loan back. But again, compared to what you'll pay in income tax, national insurance
and other, other costs, you know, going through your life, it's certainly the, the least of the deductions that will be made, you know, you know, against your gross income. So again, bear that in mind.
It's not going to be the most significant thing that you'll be paying back A is through your wages. It's not seen as debt by the government. No one sees is that banks don't see it as debt. Mortgage companies don't see it as debt, just as they don't see what you pay an income tax as debt or what you'll pay National Insurance over a lifetime as debt. It's just what you pay to the government based on your based on your earnings. So bear that in mind. Don't let it be a barrier. If you're earning, you'll be paying you back. Absolutely.
But you'll be paying other things as well. So just just be reassured by that. Next slide please.
Okay. So if we're, if we're studying, a nursing or allied healthcare course. So again, I think the list of the University of Derby. So we've got all the nursing courses, diagnostic radiography, occupational therapy, midwifery and physiotherapy. If you're on any of those courses, then you can also apply to the NHS for the learning Support Fund. So this is in addition to any of the funding. So you can receive a tuition free loan. You can receive your maintenance loan based on your household income. And if you do in one of the allied health courses, you can apply for the, the NHS Learning Support Fund, which is the training grant of 5,000 pounds a year. If you've got any children at university, I think if they're under 59, you can get a 2,000 pounds additional support in parental support. Also, whilst you're doing these courses, if you're on placement, you can get a reimbursement or part reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses. So there's additional support from the NHS to cover those courses.
Now importantly this funding is non means tested and it is non-repayable. So for example if you come into university you don't have any dependency, just you on, you know, on BSc in nursing, you apply to the NHS and on top of all of your student funding, regardless of what your student funding is, you will get a 5,000 pounds training grant. You'll get that every year, paid in three instalments over the academic year. So over three years you'll get 15,000 pounds extra from the NHS. And you won't pay that back. So unlike the tuition fee loan and the maintenance loan, the training grants with it being a grant is non-repayable.
So, if you're on those courses, you should be aware of it. You'll probably get, signposted to this support anyway. But just bear in mind, be mindful of it. If you if you're looking at any of the allied health courses, just be mindful that you can get this support. Now you can't apply for this support until you've applied for your funding through Student Finance England, because the only eligibility criteria for this support essentially is that you're eligible to receive support from Student Finance England. So at the point of application for the NHS support, you'll be asked to provide evidence of your and of your student funding, which is why I don't think this application goes live until around July. So don't worry. If you apply for student funding in April and then you can't find the application for nursing for 25 six. I don't think it goes live until July. And because it's no means tested, and there's very, very little, evidence requirement in other than it's you, this is the course that you're on and you're eligible for student funding.
It's a very quick process. So don't worry that you're going to miss it. You can apply for it in plenty of time before September.
Okay. Next slide please. So when it comes to getting information, hopefully you found, this evening, useful. And there will be a Q&A session. After the presentation is finished in a couple of minutes, but just have a look at information, university websites, a great source of information, information on Gov.uk.
So, for example, a student finance calculator, student finance England, loads of information on their pages which exist on the cycle.
The student room. Sorry, it's all there. What I mentioned at the beginning about bursary scholarships. Like I say, they're all individual to they're all individual to the individual universities.
It's the only element of support that isn't statutory. So it's not like the tuition fee loan and the maintenance loan that you can get
at all universities. Regardless, bursaries and scholarships are specific to individual universities.
So, at the University of Derby, we've got the university that a university bursary is currently under review, as it will be every year.
And any updates to that will be available on the university website. But if you were to look on that now, so you go on the university website, type in the word bursary. In the search you will take you to the current bursary page. We have a university bursary.
It's a cash bursary paid into a student's account and it's based on household income. Household income. We use the information from Student Finance England. So they will assess your household income as part of your student funding application. And we use that information to assess you automatically for a bursary.
So there's no application requirements if your household incomes under 25,000 pounds, you get 1,000 pounds bursary. If is between 25,000 and 36 592, you get a 600 pound bursary over 36 592, then you won't get a bursary, but there's no application is assessed automatically. And if that is the still the same bursary, in September 25th, then that's what, that's what we will do. But any changes then we will assess the bursary appropriately based on any changes. But as you're looking at other universities, if you're looking at universities nationally, make sure you know what's available. So just again, type in the word bursary or scholarship into their website.
See what's there. You just need to be mindful that sometimes they're based on household income, sometimes they're based on other criteria.
So it could be academic achievements. It could be, you know, something geographical. It could be could be something specific to the course that you're doing. And also equally important, sometimes they're automatic and sometimes they're an application based bursary. So if there's an application based bursary and you're eligible for it, make sure you apply for it. Because if it's there
and you're eligible but you don't apply, then obviously you won't get it. So again, do your research on bursaries. Just see what's out there.
Type in the word bursary to to any university website and it will tell you what's there. So if you do that to the University of Derby tonight, it will show you the university bursary.
Okay. Next slide please. Okay.
So summing up essential tips. One of the most important ones is apply for student funding as soon as possible. Don't wait until clearing. Don't wait until you know you've completed study. Don't wait until you know exactly you know what university you're going to. You know what course you're going on. Don't wait until you've got a moving date for holes. Nothing like that. Apply for your student funding as soon as you can if you can apply this week, fantastic. Next week? Fantastic. It's green. It's a sizable application, but it is. It is a one stop shop. It is a single point of application for tuition fee support and for maintenance loan support.
For your first application, as if you have never met you before. So they will need to know everything about you. So start off with your name. They are birth, your address, National insurance number, all that kind of thing. So it just needs to identify. So it will ask you a lot of questions. But just take each question one at a time. You know, keep answering the questions until they stop asking asking the questions. That's the best thing to do. At any point during the application, you can save. And then you know, you know, you can, you know, just to save your progress and then go back to. So if you if you feel that you've done enough for one evening, you can save it and come back the next day.
But realistically, if you just go through the the questions methodically, it shouldn't take more than an hour to get your student funding application in, so apply as soon as possible. Key message try and work out a budget plan before you start.
So again, if you apply for funding or you've been on the calculator and you know how much you're going to get, just sit down and try and work out a budget. You know, if you know what your accommodation costs are going to be, you know, put that down and then look at it against what your student funding is going to be. And just try and work out, you know, what, what funding you've got and what outgoings you've got. So it's just really just the simple budget really income and outgoings. Just give yourself an idea. So when you arrive in September, you've got a relatively good idea of what your income is and what your outgoings are.
Again, make sure you've got your bank account ready to go because student financing, on the details of a bank account,
if you're happy with the account you've got, fantastic. Just stick with that. But have a chat with your bank. About student bank account.
See if there's anything that they will give you. You know, because you going to university, they might just give you an interest free overdraft, which again is a useful and put into, but just see if, if there's anything and any benefits to having a student bank account then, then then go with that.
But if you're happy with where you are, then just just stick with where you are. And don't panic I suppose is the key message.
It can feel a little bit overwhelming. You're coming to university, you've got your funding to sort out, you're still at school or college, you still got a lot of stuff going on there. You might be moving out for the first time again. It can be overwhelming for parents because you've got kids that are moving out for the first time, and you're going to be worried about them and their finances and how they're going to be. But but, you know, try not to panic about it. You know, when it comes to student funding, see it for what it is.
You're coming to university, you've got to pay tuition fees. You've got to you've got to fund yourself for, you know, for your living costs. So you can apply for student funding for that. You know, for all of those costs. So just see it, see it as it is. Try not to be overwhelmed, but if you are overwhelmed, then you can you can contact us. And I'm hoping that we've got some contact details on the next slide.
Yeah. So you can contact us. A student money advice team in Student Services email address is smart derby.ac.uk. So if you want to give us a call, want to drop us a line. There's only myself and two other money advisors in the team, so we're quite easy to get hold of, quite easy to talk to. If you've got any questions at all, just drop us a line email smart@derby.ac.uk and we'll be happy to answer any questions and give you any, any information, advice, guidance that you that you may need. Okay. Next slide okay.
So if you want to come and visit us at the university we do this weekend have an experience day. So Saturday the 29th March from 930 until two. So if you're going to the university, website after this event, there is a big button in the middle of the screen that you can click and you can sign up for that events. We've also got an open day on Saturday the 21st of June. So at any of these events, you can go on a campus tour.
There's virtual tours available anyway, on online and you can have a, you know, you can look through the halls of residence and there's 360 tours available there. At the open days or the experience day this weekend, you can come and talk to us, you know, within the student services team, you can have a look at taster sessions again. Campus tours have a look at accommodation so you can actually go and physically look around some rooms and just see what's there and see what see what's right for you. Because that's the most important thing that is right for you. But yeah, come and join us and I'll be there Saturday. So yeah, come and join us on Saturday or in June, if you get the opportunity. Okay. And next and next slide, please.
That's it. So just to say thank you. Thanks for bearing with me for 37 minutes. I hope you got something out of it. Hope you're not too overwhelmed by all. And I'll pass back to Charlotte, and I think we may have some questions.
Charlotte:
Hi, Rob. Thank you for an excellent presentation. We do have some questions. The first one is, from a student saying I haven't received my offer yet. Can I still apply for student finance?
Rob:
Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. We would absolutely, tell you to do that just again, bear in mind, like we we spoke about when it comes to the point of what's the name of the university and what's the name of the course, put down your best guess.
It doesn't matter that you've not got that. You've not got a confirmed place. And like I say, if it takes a few weeks, even months, you know, until you know exactly what you're doing, you can log back in. You can change that information yourself.
It will update overnight. It probably what you will if you still living away from home. It doesn't matter what university you're going to get, funding will still be the same. So do that just like we said. Just make sure that on the day of enrolment,
the university that you're going to and you're about to enrol, that you've got those, those details up to date on your application,
that's just the key thing. But 100% doesn't matter whether you know or not. Get your application in as soon as you can.
Charlotte:
Perfect. Thank you. We had another question. Someone saying I currently in around 30,000 pounds a year as an 18 year old dependent. If I only intend on working part time during my degree, will that be 30,000 pounds be included in my household income?
Rob:
If you're the student, then then that income won't be counted.
So, the student's income is always defaulted to zero. Always. Default is zero. So doesn't matter. What you've earned in the past, doesn't matter what you were, you're earning now when it doesn't matter what you're earning when you're at university, you know some students will continue to, you know, to work. You know, you know, you know, you know, possibly even full time whilst they're studying, if that fits in with their studies,
most students will either not work or work part time. That's kind of what we what we see. But a student's income is always defaulted to zero. They, like I say, yes, if you will only assess the income of the sponsor. And a sponsor can only be, a parent or parents.
Or if you're an independent student, then a sponsor can only be your partner. So if you're the students, disregard your income completely because it won't be assessed.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone else has asked if the student loan repayment rates change after I start my degree. Will the new ones still apply to me?
Rob:
You'll be at the point of the first enrolment and the point where you first apply for student funding. You're signing essentially
a contract with, with student financing, you'll be the student loans company. You're the kind of interchangeable student financing.
They do the assessment, the student loans company pay the money, and they work with the with the repayments as well.
So when you apply the student funding, you deal with Student Finance England after the fact you're dealing with the student loans company.
If anything changes, it will it will normally just be applied to the new group of students that are coming through.
Student funding and repayments have always, always changed. I mean, student loans, they came they started in 1992.
And at that point, repayments were essentially over a set period of five years. So students reached the average income threshold, which at the time was about 20,000 pounds.
And as soon as you as you hit that mark, you paid back all of your student loan over 16 months over a five year period.
Again, loans were you know, I think students could only get about. I thought I only got about 1,000 pounds a year when I was at university in the 90s. Then a student loans go up and repayment plans changed and thresholds change.
Then the those rules stick with the students that are signed up to those rules. So if you're applying in in September then you will be paying, on that threshold. So you threshold is 25,000 pounds and it's 9%. If there's any significant changes, you won't be bound by them. You'll be bound by the rules that you're signed up to. If they do change the thresholds, then you know you'll you'll get appropriate notification.
But as far as we know, and what has always been the case is that is that you are contracted or you, you know, you contracted
to the repayment terms that, that you stick with for that period. So there shouldn't be any changes to those. And we haven't seen any changes certainly for, you know, for the last 30 odd years, if they've changed, they've only changed with the new core cohort of students.
And the students that have come before have always had their repayment terms, you know, honoured. And they stick with them.So you shouldn't see any changes of that.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone else has asked, I've read about some support for low income areas.
And if I'm the first child to attend university, my family do I do this after I apply for finance?
Rob:
So before again, this, this, this will be whatever support is available specifically from, an individual university.
So it may be the, the, you know, there's a university out there that has got a first in the family bursary, maybe that they've got,
you know, a local bursary, certainly of the university even going back for about 20 years. We used to have a post go bursary.
So if you were, if you were local to the university in a certain, you know, certain area with a certain postcode,
you got a, you got a but I think we are all postgrad bursary was about 300 pounds. That has now existed for about 16 years, but
there may be some universities out there that have got it depends on, on what they're trying to target and who they're,
you know, who their audience is and what their student population is. But that's why it's important to look at all the different universities in the universities that you're looking at to see what's available. At the University of Derby, we've got one bursary which is the university bursary based on household income automatically assessed and that's that. But yeah, absolutely. There may be other universities out there that have got a first in the family.
They may have a a postcode bursary or regional bursary. So make sure that you have a look at them, see what's available.
And if it's an application process have a look at that criteria. There will be application dates. There'll be closing dates, opening date. So just make sure that you that you're aware of it and just, you know, have a look at what's available.
Thank you. Someone has asked are there any extra support available. Is there any extra support available for students with disabilities? Yeah. So, if you're if you have a specific, you know, learning difference or a disability, physical or mental disability, there is, support available again through student Finance England, which is DSI. So disabled students allowance, the point where you apply for student funding, there will be a question that will ask you to identify, you know, you know, you know, disability, your long term health condition and that will that will take you through to the stage of the application, which is for disabled students allowance. And that will be that will be automatic. And it will, it will kind of lead you through that process. You'll get contacts, with the university.
Pre-entry. Because they will get the information from Student Finance England. You'll, you'll have a study needs assessment.
The university has set up a support plan, and it's part of that support plan. You need some additional financial support.
Now. Important to know the financial support is never paid to the student. The financial support is to cover additional costs that the student needs due to their disability. So if they need some 1 to 1 support whilst at university, and so the university needs to employ someone to support that student or provide the student with so additional software or hardware based on their student needs assessment, then DSA can pay for that equipment or pay for that support. So it's never additional support that's paid to the students. The students don't get money from DSA, but DSA can pay for any additional support that the student needs, you know, for their specific needs. But if declaring a disability on your application and that will happen, it's an automatic process that will happen.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Thanks. Someone has asked, how does it work with assessing household income if my sibling is also starting university this year?
Rob:
Okay, so there is certain disregard. So if if the sponsors so parent or parents have got multiple children it's a multiple, you know, if you have multiple children at university. So one or more, of their children at university at the same time, they do apply a disregard to the household income. They don't do anything is as fantastic a split the household income in half and give half to one student and a half to the other. But they do apply a disregard. I couldn't tell you how much that is, but they do apply a disregard to the household income. If you've got, multiple children at university.
There is also if in the household there are any children. So so if students got siblings who are still at school or in further
education, there is an equivalent disregard to the household income. It's around. I think it's around 1,030 pounds a year that they will deduct off the gross household income if there is another child in the household in in a school, further education. But additional to that, if there's another child at university at the same time that there's another calculation, there's another disregard to the household income. Like I say, it doesn't it doesn't cut it in half or anything like that, but they will acknowledge that there are more there are multiple, you know, children at university and reduce the gross income accordingly. You can speak to Student Finance England. They may or may not have specific information to give you, but they're the people, as the assessors, that may be better placed to answer that question. But yes, there is a disregard how much there is. I couldn't I couldn't give you a number.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Dawn has asked. It's a nontaxable income taken into account?
Rob:
They take into account any earned on unearned income.
By unearned income. What? What they talk about, what they look normally is, any money that you that you earn from investments, you know, private pensions. So if, if someone, for example, has got a couple of properties that they rent out, it's not a value of the properties, obviously, but it's, it's any income that you get from those properties.
And again, with any investments, any stocks and shares. It's the, it's the income that you earn from that rather than the capital itself.
So yeah, any, any earned or unearned income. But they check it all with HMRC. And the certain information that they will ask parents or sponsors for on the application. So yeah, any, any earned or unearned income is is the mantra for that.
Charlotte:
Yeah. Thank you. Someone has asked if my parents receive universal credit and benefits for my siblings. Is this taken into account again?
Rob:
Yep. They'll they'll take into account any, any income. There are there are certain benefits that they don't take into account. There's things like, you know, Pip and you know, other, other allowances that they don't take into account is income, but universal credit, they do take as income. But again, if the, if the, if the, if the significant income into a household is universal credit, it's unlikely to be, you know, higher than the, than the lower threshold. But yeah they will take universal credit into account as, as income.
But if Universal credit is the only income, if it's under 25,000 pounds, then it won't it won't affect, you know, the calculation of the maximum maintenance, low.
Charlotte:
Thank you. I'm just building on that. Someone has asked a similar question, but ask it anyway, just to be sure. Someone has said I work 20 hours a week. I'm on Universal Credit and I receive child benefit. Will this sum up as household income?
Rob:
Again, if it if it's the student asking the question, then then that income will be disregarded.
You know, you know entirely if it's a sponsor asking the question then again child benefit isn't taken into account.
Universal credit is what was the other one? Sorry, just the hours of work.
It was 20 hours work. Universal credit and child benefit. Yep. So child benefit. No, that's not assessed.
If it's the sponsor asking the question, then absolutely. The income and that income will include universal Credit.
If it's if it's a student asking the question and that's their current income, then all of that will be disregarded.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has asked, do I have to reapply for student finance on a year by year basis until I graduate?
Rob:
Yeah. Good question. You do? It's not quite as arduous for year two, Year three. It's what they call a reapplication for student funding in year two and year three. So the first year is the big one because they've never met you before.
They don't know who you are or the first pointed application. So they need to ask you every question in the world, and they will ask you every question in the world.
But that's that's just a bills, you know, it's it's a create, you know, your application in the first instance. Yeah. Year two, year three. As soon as it's open you can just log back on and reapply. You, I imagine you'll get some contacts is all automated now. You'll get some kind of email notification from SFE every year to say it's time to reapply, but it is exactly that. It's a real application. So you log into your accounts, it will present you with the previous year's application for the a long list of information and answers. And essentially it will say, has anything changed? And if nothing has changed, you click the submit button at the bottom and that's you done. They will go back to the sponsor. So parent parents or old partner and again reassess household income for the new academic year. But the the general so long as your course hasn't changed you're progressing as normal from stage one stage to stage three. So you just progressing through study is normal. It's a reapplication for student funding. Nothing's changed. You just click the big green submit button at the bottom and then you're done. So yeah, a very, very quick process in future years. So one has asked how soon will the NHS bursary be paid. It's it's different. It's always different payment dates to student funding. So student funding is September, January and April. The NHS funding is I think it's it's November February and I think around June. So it's it's paid slightly differently.
So you'll get a student loan payment in September, NHS in November, student loan in January. And it's just I think it's February and then student loan in April. And then at the final NHS one will be I think it's around June time.
So, you know, just before the summer, but again, you'll get a payment schedule so you'll see a date and an amount for,
for each of the payments. So which which is why again, when it comes to applying because the first payment isn't made until November. There's loads and loads of time to get the application and you can apply, you know, it's the one. It's the one thing that you can apply for. You know, once you've enrolled because it's a quick process. There's no real assessment. It's not been tested. And the first payment isn't on November. So you can be you can be you can be all relaxed about the NHS funding.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has asked do you offer bursaries for students from low income households.
Rob:
Yeah. So again university bursary currently and as we anticipate no significant changes for next year is entirely based on household income. So it's automatically assessed based on the household income details that we will receive from Student Finance England.
So household income up to 25,000 pounds, is 1,000 pound bursary and between 25,001 and 36,592, it's a six and a pound bursary.
So automatically assessed. We start assessing once students have enrolled. So you enrol in September. So say second week of September. It takes us about six weeks. To assess. We have about 13,000, you know, potential students through to assess every year for bursary. So, it takes us about six weeks to complete the assessment process. We normally notify students by late. It's the end of October, and the first payment isn't normally due to the end of November. So again, you know, have a look at the university bursary. I've a at the criteria. If it looks like you're eligible then you'll probably be eligible. But it just takes us a few weeks to crunch all the numbers and make sure that everyone's getting what they're entitled to. But first payment ends in November. So again, don't, you know, don't be ever concerned about it. If you're not had anything for a few weeks, you will you will hear if you're eligible.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has asked do repayments increase with respect to inflation?
Rob:
Well, it's well there's a couple of things that if we mean, if what you borrow is subject to any, you know, any interest, you know, based on that then yet it's subject to interest.
So there'll always be an interest amount this added to anything that's outstanding when it comes to repayments. The threshold is 25,000 pounds. It's been 25,000 pounds for a number of years. So no there's no inflationary increase to that threshold of 25,000 pounds. It is currently set at 25,000 pounds. And that's, that's the starting. That's the starting threshold. So it's 9% of your income over 25,000 pounds.
That's what it is currently.
Charlotte:
Thank you. We've got five, five minutes left and a lot of questions.
So we'll try and get through as many as we possibly can. Someone has asked what happens to my student loan if I leave my course before graduating.
Rob:
Okay. So, if you leave your course, so you end your course, it's essentially the same thing. So they wait until the new tax year.
So the April after is either the April after you've completed study or the April after you've left your course.
So that's again, you'll just you'll just fall into repayments as normal if you do one year and then you leave and you never go back to university, then whatever you borrowed for that one year will just be subject to the repayments, which again will be 9% of your income over 25,000 pounds for 40 years. So whatever that means to you.
So, you know, regardless of what you want, you have what you borrowed and how many years you've studied. It's the same rules apply.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has asked as a mature student if I retired before the 40 year time cap, when it come out of my pension,
Rob:
If you're if you're pensions over 25,000 pounds, again, it doesn't matter. You know. You know age isn't a limited to the to the 40 years.
It's purely on your income if you're if you're if you if you pensionable income.
So the income that you receiving once you've retired is over 25,000 pounds, then it's 9% of your income, over 25,000 pounds.
If your pension is below 25,000 pounds and is always below 25,000 pounds forever, then you'll never you'll never make another repayment again. Your student loan. They will. It will just be, you know, you just again, regardless of what your circumstance is, whether you're working, not working or you're retired, it's the 25,000 pounds, a 9% above, above that threshold.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has asked, what happens if I have my finance approved and then I decide not to go to university?
Rob:
Okay, so the only thing that releases your student funding is, is enrolments. So you can apply for student funding. And again, if you're if you're only if you're not quite sure whether you're going to go or not for the sake of an hour of your life, apply for student funding and then it's in place if you need it. The only thing that releases your student funding is, is the physical process of your enrolment. So you go to university, you sit down with an enrolment officer, you enrol at university.
The university then sends that message to student financing them to say, yep, they've arrived and that releases your student funding.
So if you don't go to university and you don't enrol, all that will happen after a period of time, after a couple of months student financing, you will take your application. They'll see that there's no enrolment attached to it, and they'll just put it away in a virtual filing cabinet and that's it. If you then decide to go to university the next year, you'll just go through the process again and apply for student funding again as a new student for the next year.
But yeah, if you don't go to university, you're not going to get the money. Unfortunately. Thank you.
Charlotte:
Someone has asked, how do I apply for the NHS grant?
Rob:
Yep. So you go through its application through the NHS. So if you look again you can go on if you just google NHS LSF. So Learning Support Fund LSF, if you google NHS LSF then it will take you straight to that site. At the moment, because you can only five six months after the start of the call. So at the moment the probably won't be an application process there unless there's something there for March cohort students, but you certainly can't apply now for September 25th if you want to have a look. If you want to see what it looks like, just Google in that long hand NHS Learning Support Fund or Google NHS LSF, click enter and it takes you straight that
what you should go live in about July.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Dylan has asked, if deciding to do a deferred entry, what do you need to do if you have already applied for student finance?
Rob:
Okay, so again, if you apply for student finance, you're deferring for a year. You can either tell us if you're not going to university and they'll just, you know, cancel your application or you can just leave it alone. Just leave it alone. If you're not enrolling, it won't release a student funding. It'll get filed away. And then next year, this time next year, you just apply again as a new student.
So like I say, the only thing that triggers you student funding is the physical the physical process of enrolments.
So if you don't enrol, you don't get student funding activated.
Charlotte:
Thank you.
Someone has said if you only want the tuition loan, can I apply online or does it need to do I need to do it by form through post?
Rob:
No no. Same application. So single point of application. So it takes you through tuition fee loan and maintenance loan. And it will ask you at every step. Do you want to apply for this. Yes/No. Do you want to apply for this. Yes/No.
So and you and it will ask you how much do you want to apply for. So you don't have to apply for the full amount. So if you wanted to apply for the tuition fee loan but not the maintenance loan or the tuition free loan and only a proportion of the maintenance loan, that's fine. There will always be an opportunity to say yes or no to the supports.
And once you if you've said yes, there's also a second opportunity to apply for all of it, none of it or some of it.
So you can always do that. And if your circumstances change during the academic year, you can always go back,
and request a bit more up to the maximum that you're entitled to. So if you only want the tuition fee loan, apply for the tuition fee loan. Say no thanks to the maintenance loan. And then and you don't.
Charlotte:
Thank you. A couple of questions around this we'll just go back over it. Should I still apply for my student loan, even if I haven't received an offer yet?
Rob:
Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Yep. Do that.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has said do they assess sponsor's income based on the current previous tax year?
Rob:
It's two previous tax years of September 2025. Is the tax year 20 2324. So it's two previous tax years. Now importantly, if the household income is reduced by more than 15%, they will do a current year income assessment.
So they look at the tax year two years ago. If the income's gone up, then fine, they'll catch up with you in two years time if the income's gone down by more than 15%. So if two years ago income was 40,000 pounds, it's now 25,000 pounds.
They will assess you from two years ago. First because they need they need a benchmark. But if your income has gone down by more than 15%, let them know they'll send you a current year income assessment form. Sponsors fill it out, and then you can get assessed on the current year income. But as a default setting is two years ago. But if it has gone down, they will reassess you.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Someone has asked do they take savings into account?
Rob:
No. Again. Only. Only if you, are receiving an income from those savings. But the actual capital amount itself now.
Charlotte:
Thank you. Another question. Someone has said I am a cancer survivor, mature student, currently not working my husband's income is 32,000 pounds a newly. It doesn't allow me to apply for any benefits regarding to the financial support with my disability. I was refused to get you see. Would I be able to get financial support at the University of Derby?
Rob:
Yep. So tuition free loan is not means tested.
Maintenance loan will be assessed on partner's income. So that 32,000 pounds will give you, you know, a maintenance loan based on that, you know, on that income. So again have a look at the calculator if you want to, to look at that income amounts.
Before you apply again be mindful that you're, you're looking at the living away from home. Right. Because you're, you're not living in the parental home. So again, it's counterintuitive for even though you live at home, for each one of you, you're living away from home. So yeah, your maintenance loan will be assessed on that, you know, on partners income.
If you need any additional support, you know, through disabled students allowance, that's not means tested. So if you if you need some support through that, that support can be provided through the normal process through a study needs assessment, through a support plan, through support, through Disabled Students Allowance that will support any any additional need, any additional costs.
So it's not money to you, but it is money that supports your additional need at university. And DSA is non means tested is it's assessed based on need rather than ability to pay. So it's no means tested.
Charlote:
Thank you. And that is all of the questions. So I will hand back over to you for final goodbye okay.
Rob:
Yeah. So fantastic. So we've got something out of this evening. If you want to contact us going forward any time.
So I'm Rob Fowler, senior student money advisor. Email us at smart@derby.ac.uk okay.
So look forward to seeing you an open day in the future. Good luck with everything. And contact us if you need any help.
Thanks a lot.
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