I thought the Government were trying to reduce the country's deficit??

Being a mum and studying you get certain perks from the government, like parent’s support grant…..it’s not allot but it helps towards paying for books and travel etc. You also get offered the student loan to help meet the cost of the course fees and depending on your income you are offered a maintenance loan (if you wish to take it) – as we know loans means debt and at some point these are going to have to be paid back.

When you’re a full time student i.e, don’t work as at Uni full time, you are entitled to other bursaries and of course the student loan. This obviously is needed to pay for life in general, as you don’t have a full time job and this is the only source of income.

Before I started my degree  and just working full time, I was entitled to some housing benefit to help meet the cost of my rent ( as my wages are shocking….i am sure there are many teaching assistants out there that would agree with me there) .....However now I was being told to get a loan to pay my rent?

Now, there is a longer story behind all of this, but to try and capture it in a nut shell for you....

I let the housing people know (by the way I am in a private rented house) in Sept 2010 that I was studying for a degree and I was told to contact them as apparently I was entitled to a council tax freeze,  this applies to everyone studying for a degree), they said that was fine and all they needed was my exemption certificate from the University ( which I sent to them). It wasn’t until July this year I got a letter from them, asking for details of my degree as they said they had just received information about this and had frozen my benefit until they were able to investigate it.

This obviously sent me into a panic as my rent is £200 more than I actually earn in a month, so I sent the information as quick as I could to them obviously stating to them that they had been informed in September 2010). Much to my astonishment, they wrote back 4 weeks later saying that I owed them £3500…………?????? HOW I ask???

 At this point I had to find the rest of the rent myself, which meant having to reduce other things, like the food shop etc ( to cut a long story short, it actually took them 3 months before they paid me anything – thank you to all my friends and family who helped me through this part).

What they had actually done was taken my parent’s support grant as a part of my income ( look on the governments website, you will see they can’t do that….and I did in the end get this taken off - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Gettingstarted/DG_171579) and also taken into consideration maintenance loan that I didn’t even have???. This meant that I was not going to receive even a third of what I was getting towards to my rent as I had to pay back a loan to them, that I didn’t even have. How was I going to fund that?

When I argued this fact to them, they quoted some section of the terms of conditions at me and said that because I was entitled to it, they take it as income paid…even if you don’t chose to take it up.

So I had a choice, I could pay back this money that i didn’t actually have or try and get the loan through student finance and pay it off that way.

This was a hard decision as I chose not to take the loan as I didn’t want to be in loads of debt ( I had just paid off the debt I had been left from when I was running my business), I knew I would have student fee debt ( like everyone does) but to be forced to take a loan to pay my rent, I didn’t feel was very fair.

This is ironic as if I hadn’t chosen to better myself by getting an education, I would still be receiving help………and I kept asking, what has changed other than me going to university for 1 afternoon a week?

Apparently because my degree is classed as a full time, (although worked based- (which means most of the studying is done on the job) I get classed a full time student ( but I am not).

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice in the end, I have had to apply for maintenance loans to help pay the rent and bills. I am still waiting to hear from Student Finance whether I can have last year’s loan ( as I have had to apply outside the academic year ), it is with the special support team, where it has been since August…..take your time!!!

…..So let me ask you this, why is it just because I have decided to study for a degree (and this is on top of my job…hours have only reduced by 3) I have been forced to take a loan to pay my rent? I thought the government were actively trying to reduce the deficit of this country and encourage people to improve their education so they can get better jobs and not have to rely on help from the benefit system?

I have worked out that by the time I am qualified I will have student debt possibly up to £30,000….so basically just to become a teacher and provide a better life for my kids and I, I will be paying back what it cost me to get to that point for the rest of my life.

Some might say, that it’s my choice and I have chosen this path….and they are right, but let me ask those people this….would you prefer to go through life knowing that you have been unable to support yourself and have that stereo typical label………a bum attached to you, or would you prefer to (yes be in debt) but know that you have done everything in your power to improve yourself and be totally self sufficient?

It’s not my fault that my wages are so appalling and as you will see in my previous article that I used to earn much much more…..i have chosen to take this pay cut as I want a better life style and job satisfaction…I know when I come home every day I feel satisfied that I have helped a child to learn something new….how many jobs give you that feeling?

I do feel very strongly about this and as soon as I get the decision from SF about last year’s loan I will be writing to the local MP and asking why they make it so hard to better yourself in this country.

If anyone else has a similar story, please let me know as the more support I get about this, the easier it is to make changes!