HELOA & Student Finance Seminar - 9 November 2017 - practitioners.slc.co.uk

HELOA & Student Finance Seminar
9 November 2017

Undergraduate Eligibility & Entitlement
for England & Wales

           Information in this section subject to final policy!

Session  Contents
    Insert slide header

Student Finance England – 2018/19 (TBC)

• AY 2018/19          -   Support & General Eligibility Overview
                      -   EU Nationals Post Referendum
                      -   Independent Student & Migrant Worker Status
                      -   Previous & Repeat Study
                      -   Part Time Study

Student Finance Wales – 2018/19 (TBC)

• AY 2018/19          -   General Eligibility
                      -   Diamond Review

Support  Overview
       Insert slide header

What’s on Offer - Student Finance England

•   Tuition Fee Support       -         Maximum £9,250 (full-time capped until 2019) and
                                        Maximum £6,935 (part-time) at publicly funded providers

•   Maintenance Loans         -         Figures & thresholds all TBC

•   Dependants’ Grants        -         Childcare Grant and Parents’ Learning Allowance
                              -         Adult Dependants’ Grant

...in addition to SFE support, students should discuss the wider income opportunities
and talk directly to university or college...and parents

        i     Bursaries? Scholarships? Part-time work? Parental support?

Maintenance   Support England
       Insert slide header

2016 cohort FT students, not eligible for benefits or aged over 60. All figures shown are AY
2017/18 for illustration, pending DfE policy approval/confirmation of 18/19 rates:

                                      Maximum Loan              Non-Income Assessed
      Full Year Student
                                         (100%)                   (% of Max Loan)

  Parental Home                           £7,097                   £3,124          44%

  Elsewhere                               £8,430                   £3,928         46.6%

  London                                  £11,002                  £5,479         49.8%

  Overseas                                £9,654                   £4,667         48.3%

Maintenance
       Maintenance
       Insert           Support
                     Support
              slide header      England
                             England

2016 cohort FT students, not eligible for benefits or aged over 60. All figures shown are AY
2017/18 for illustration, pending DfE policy approval/confirmation of 18/19 rates:

   Household Income         Home (£58,215)      Elsewhere (£62,187)      London (£69,847)

  £25,000 & under               £7,097                 £8,430                £11,002
  £30,000                       £6,499                 £7,825                £10,387
  £40,000                       £5,303                 £6,615                 £9,155
  £50,000                       £4,107                 £5,404                 £7,924
  £55,000                       £3,509                 £4,799                 £7,308
  £60,000                       £3,124                 £4,193                 £6,692
  £65,000                       £3,124                 £3,928                 £6,076
  £70,000                       £3,124                 £3,928                 £5,479

General  Eligibility
       Insert slide header- Residency

Students need to meet certain residency criteria in order to be eligible for financial
support from SFE:

•   Settled status – can live in the UK without any Home Office restriction

•   Ordinarily resident in England on the first day of the first academic year of their course

•   Been living in the UK for the three years immediately prior to this date

•   Tuition Fee Loans only for European Union (EU) students, who do not meet the five year
    UK residency requirements for maintenance support

•   EU students must have lived within the EEA or Switzerland for 3 years prior to the first
    day of the first academic year of their course

General  Eligibility
       Insert slide header- Exceptions

Students may still be entitled for support if they qualify under any of the exceptions
to the general residency rules:

•   The student, their spouse, civil partner, parent/stepparent are recognised by the UK
    government as a refugee and lived in England since this status was awarded

•   The student, their spouse, civil partner, parent/stepparent, are granted Humanitarian
    Protection to stay in the UK and meet the standard residency requirements

•   EEA /Swiss migrant workers and the children of Swiss nationals and Turkish workers
    who meet the set employment/residency requirements

General  Eligibility
Insert slide header– Long Residency Criteria

General  Eligibility
       Insert slide header– Long Residency Criteria

The long residency regulation extends eligibility for student finance out to students who qualify
under and can evidence one of the following criteria:

•   Applicants under 18 years of age are required to have lived in the UK for at least 7 years

•   Applicants aged 18 years and above are required to have either spent at least half their
    life in the UK, or at least 20 years in the UK

•   This needs to include three years’ lawful ordinary residence before the first day of the
    first academic year of the course for all such applicants

•   Impacts students who have Discretionary Leave to Remain/Limited Leave to Remain
    or some other form of leave e.g. Exceptional Leave to Remain

        i     Beaurish Tigere v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

EU Nationals
       Insert        – Post Referendum
              slide header

EU students beginning study in the 2018/19 Academic Year:

The rules applying to EU nationals, or their family members, who are applying to study a
course attracting student support which starts in the 2018/19 Academic Year are also
unchanged:

•   SFE will assess these applications against existing eligibility criteria, and provide the
    relevant loans and/or grants for the duration of their study

•   EU students beginning study from August 2018, must have been resident in the UK
    for at least five years or be EEA migrant workers in order to apply for maintenance
    support

Independent    Student Status
       Insert slide header

A student can be assessed as being independent if they;

 •   Are 25 or over before the start of the academic year
 •   Are married/in a civil partnership/divorced (even if under 25)*
 •   Have care of a child
 •   Have no living parents
 •   Are irreconcilably estranged from their parents
 •   Have been the subject of a care order (Care Leavers)
 •   Cannot trace their parents or it is not practical or possible to contact them
 •   Have supported themselves financially for at least three years

Estrangement   Declaration Forms
       Insert slide header

Estrangement Declaration forms should be completed by an independent person
with good standing in the community:

•   The information provided within the declaration form will be identical to that we would
    expect to see within a written letter from an independent person with good standing
    in the community

Accessing the Estrangement Declaration form:

•   If students have advised they are estranged on their main application they will be
    able to print the Estrangement Declaration form via the ‘To Do List’ on their online
    account

Estrangement   Declaration Forms
Insert slide header

Estranged
      Insert slideStudents
                   header - Further Information

Charities and Other Support;

 •   Stand Alone                             http://standalone.org.uk/

 •   PROPEL                                 http://propel.org.uk

 •   The Become Trust                       http://www.becomecharity.org.uk

 •   Brightside                             http://www.thebrightsidetrust.org

 •   NNECL                                  http://www.nnecl.org

 •   Care Leaver Associations               http://www.careleavers.com

Estrangement   – Useful SLC Contacts
      Insert slide header

Independent Enquiries Inbox - Darlington Based

 •   E-mail: Independent_student_enquiries@slc.co.uk

Estrangement - Estrangement Assessors - Darlington Based

 •   E-mail: Estranged@slc.co.uk

 •   Tel: 0300 100 0034

Migrant Worker
       Insert slide    Status
                    header

A Migrant Worker is the student, spouse or family member of an EEA National working in
the UK; or has previously worked in the UK but has been made redundant and is actively
seeking employment:

•   If a student is accepted as a Migrant Worker they are eligible to receive the same
    Tuition Fee and Maintenance support as a home student

Proving Migrant Worker Status:

•   Migrant Worker applicants must provide employment evidence up to the start of the
    academic year and throughout their course

•   Evidence will need to be supplied before each term to release payments

Migrant Worker
      Insert slide    Status - Eligibility
                   header

Both their residency and type of employment help determine if a student is eligible
as a Migrant Worker. To apply as a Migrant Worker, students must;

 •   Be an EEA or Swiss National

 •   Be resident in the EEA/Switzerland for 3 years prior to the start of the first Academic
     Year of their course

 •   Be resident in England on the first day of the first academic year

 •   They, their parent/step-parent, or spouse/civil partner must be working throughout
     their studies

Migrant Worker
       Insert slide    Status - Eligibility
                    header

To apply as a Migrant Worker, students must;

•   Show they are pursuing an activity which is effective and genuine and not of a scale
    which would be considered marginal or ancillary

•   Be working throughout their studies and receive remuneration for this work (i.e.
    wages), but students can also have “pocket money” for voluntary employment (i.e. Au
    Pair)

•   The work must be in the UK but can be full-time or part-time

•   If the student gives up work to start a course, they should still be seen as a migrant
    worker if their course is related to their job/area of work

MW  Applications
Insert           – Journey Pack New Resource
       slide header

Migrant Worker
       Insert slide    Applications
                    header

How to Apply:
• If eligible to apply as a Migrant Worker, students should send original identification (ID)
  or passport and evidence along with PN1 Form to;

   EEA Migrant Worker Team
   Student Finance England, PO Box 89,
   Darlington, DL1 9AZ

Means Tested Applications:
• If students granted Migrant Worker status wish to then have their application means
  tested, they need to follow the same process as SFE home students

Supporting Evidence:
• Send as much evidence as possible to support application

Previous  & Repeat
       Insert slide header Study

General Rule – Tuition Fee Loan available for full length of the student’s first undergraduate
course, plus one additional year if needed:

                                                     +   Extra    = 4 years support
              18/19          19/20          20/21
                                                         Year

                      Example based on standard 3 year F/T Course

•   Individual circumstances of the student can affect eligibility

•   If they have previous study and gained an Equivalent Level Qualification (ELQ),
    students will be unable to get full support for a second course at the same/lower
    level, whether they received SFE funding or not

Second   Part-Time
       Insert slide headerCourses ELQ

In 2015/16, student finance regulations were amended, meaning new, eligible students could
receive Tuition Fee Loans for a second part-time Honours Degree in engineering, technology or
computer science subjects:

From academic year 2017/18 this ELQ exception list was extended to include part-time courses
in the following subject areas;

•   Subjects Allied to Medicine
•   Biological Sciences
•   Veterinary Sciences, Agricultural & Related subjects
•   Physical Sciences
•   Mathematical Science
             P/T Tuition Fee Loans are only available to students studying courses with
        i    an intensity level of at least 25% of an equivalent full-time course

Part-Time
       Insert slideStudy AY 2018/19 - New Policy
                    header

The Department for Education are introducing Part-Time Maintenance Loans for new eligible
PT undergraduate students in 2018/19 (subject to final policy approval):

•           This loan will be in addition to PT Tuition Fee Loan & PT DSA currently available to
            eligible English Domiciled students undertaking a designated PT course

The intent of this policy change is to:

•           Increase the number of English domiciled students on PT courses by providing
            greater access to student finance

•           Promote greater parity between FT & PT support

               Students who are ordinarily resident elsewhere in the UK should apply to
        i      their own domicile for PT student support

Part-Time
      Insert slideMaintenance
                   header     Loan Webinars

Webinar Launch Academic Year 2018/19, Come along and learn more!

SLC will be launching this new product through a series of webinars in the coming weeks:

 •    Thursday 23 November 2017

 •    Tuesday 28 November 2017

 •    Thursday 30 November 2017

 •    Tuesday 5 December 2017

Webinar registration invitations have been sent out so please don’t miss this opportunity
to learn more about the PTML. Register for a webinar session at www.events-slc.co.uk

SFE Resources
Insert           - www.practitioners.slc.co.uk
       slide header

Student Finance Wales
Funding for Academic Year 2018/19

           Information in this section subject to final policy!

Student  Finance
       Insert slide     Wales
                    header

General Eligibility - Residency

Students need to meet certain residency criteria to be eligible for financial support from SFW:

•   Settled Status – can live in UK without any Home Office restriction

•   Ordinarily resident in Wales on the first day of the first academic year of their course

•   Been living in the UK / Islands for the 3 years immediately prior to this date

•   Tuition Fee loans only available to those who do not meet the 3 year UK residency
    requirements for maintenance support

Student  Finance
      Insert slide     Wales
                   header

Eligibility – key differences from policy in England:

•   SFW - Students with discretionary leave to remain in the UK can apply for support
    (SFE: in most cases, permanent leave to remain in the UK is required)

•   SFW - EU students need to be resident in the UK for 3 years prior to starting their
    course
    to apply for the full package of student finance
    (SFE: 5 years residency required)

•   SFW: EU students studying in Wales can apply for fee support; if studying in England
    they should apply to SFE
    (SFE: EU students studying in England can apply to SFE only)

Student  Finance
         Insert slide     Wales – Diamond Review
                      header

Final report published Sep 2016 - provides series of recommendations on student support
and higher education funding in Wales:

Welsh Government’s response outlines stance on each recommendation;

     •   Accept with immediate implementation (2017/18)
     •   Accept for future implementation (2018/19 onwards)
     •   Consider
     •   Reject

•   Consultation sets out Welsh Government’s proposed actions - phased approach to
    implementation of accepted recommendations

•   Respondents had until 14 February 2017 to submit views on consultation

Diamond    Review
        Insert slide      – Welsh Gov Proposals (TBC)
                     header

Welsh Government has endorsed principles contained in report and accepted
overwhelming majority of Diamond Review’s recommendations:

    •   Academic Year 2018/19 Implementation
    •   Maintenance Support – (Subject to final approval)

•   £1,000 non-means-tested universal Maintenance Grant available to all eligible students
    ordinarily resident in Wales – pro rata for part-time students, i.e. students studying at
    50% intensity will receive £500

•   An additional means-tested grant available to cover living costs.

•   More generous means-testing taper for maintenance grant than the current taper for
    household incomes (up from £50,020 to £59,200)

Diamond    Review
       Insert slide      – Welsh Gov Proposals (TBC)
                    header

Maintenance Support

•   Support available equivalent to National Living Wage

•   If the student is non-means tested they will receive maximum loan and minimum grant

•   Pro rata support for part time students

Tuition Fee Support

•   Tuition Fee Grant replaced with additional student loan, up to the current maximum
    fee level applicable in 2018/19

Welsh  Government
       Insert slide header Statement AY 2018/19

The Welsh Government have issued a statement regarding 2018/19 AY funding:

Announcing the student support package for 2018/19 AY, the Education Secretary
confirmed;

•   For full-time and part-time undergraduates a new fairer and sustainable system of
    support will be introduced – additional support will be available to ensure that students
    have enough money to meet their day to day living costs

•   Every student will be entitled to support equivalent to the National Living Wage whilst
    they study

•   This will mean that eligible full-time students will receive maintenance support of
    £11,250 if they study in London and £9,000 per year in the rest of the UK if they live
    away from home

SFW
    Insertmaintenance
           slide header Support AY 2018/19 (TBC)

                                               Living away from home,        Living away from home,
                   Living with parents
Income                                            outside of London             studying in London
          Grant       Loan          Total   Grant    Loan       Total    Grant     Loan         Total

£18,370   £6,885      £765                  £8,100   £900               £10,124   £1,126
£20,000   £6,651      £999                  £7,817   £1,183             £9,760    £1,490
£25,000   £5,930     £1,720                 £6,947   £2,053             £8,643    £2,607
£30,000   £5,209     £2,441                 £6,078   £2,922             £7,526    £3,724
£35,000   £4,488     £3,162                 £5,208   £3,792             £6,408    £4,842
                                 £7,650                       £9,000                        £11,250
£40,000   £3,767     £3,883                 £4,339   £4,661             £5,291    £5,959
£45,000   £3,047     £4,603                 £3,469   £5,531             £4,174    £7,076
£50,000   £2,326     £5,324                 £2,600   £6,400             £3,056    £8,194
£55,000   £1,605     £6,045                 £1,730   £7,270             £1,939    £9,311
£59,200   £1,000     £6,650                 £1,000   £8,000             £1,000    £10,250

Welsh  Government
       Insert slide header Statement AY 2018/19

Announcing the student support package for 2018/19 AY, the Education Secretary
confirmed, continued...

•   Students from the lowest household income will receive the highest grant – up to
    £10,124 in London and £8,100 in the rest of the UK if they live away from home

•   Initial estimates suggest that a third of full time students will be eligible for the full grant
    and that the average student will receive £7,000 in non-repayable grant support

•   For the first time, part-time undergraduate students will receive equivalent support for
    maintenance costs on a pro-rata basis to their full-time counterparts

•   Grant support will be targeted at those most in need, although every student will
    receive a minimum grant of £1,000 regardless of household income

SFW
InsertResources  – www.studentfinancewales.co.uk
       slide header

SFW
       InsertResources  – www.studentfinancewales.co.uk
              slide header

Deliver comprehensive Student Finance talks to Year 13 Students in Schools and Colleges
in Wales:

Kay Vizard-Kotkowicz
Mobile – 07966 892494
Covers North East and South East Wales

Phillip Lynes
Mobile – 07966 901397
Covers North West and South West Wales

•   Bilingual Service available throughout Wales

Funding Information Partners Team
 fundinginformationpartners@slc.co.uk
 www.practitioners.slc.co.uk