They are a bunch of criminal loan sharks as far as I can see. If you're not earning anything you have to prove it (prove a negative, that's quite a feat). If they don't like your proof they apply an interest rate of (the completely discredited) RPI, plus 3%. That's 6.1% interest, a rate anyone saving for their retirement would give a limb or two for. THREE TIMES the rate you'd pay on a mortgage.
Is it SFE's fault or the government's? A lot of these decisions seem to me to be directed by current government policy.
When I initially read the blurb about applying for student finance, it mentioned the top figure for the maintenance loan of £8,400, and I assumed that meant you could apply for as much as you wanted up to that maximum figure (which is how it worked in my day). Turns out that they decide how much you're allowed to have and the parents are expected to make up the difference. Which is shite, because if their assessment doesn't match up with what the parents can afford, the student is shafted. And this is the situation we find ourselves in - they've based their assessment on our household income for the 2015-16 tax year, which makes sense, but our circumstances have changed somewhat since then. Hence my ongoing struggle to get them to reassess.
As it stands, the maintenance loan offered will leave him £90 per term after he's paid his rent. Or approximately three pounds a week.
I'm not too concerned about the interest rate thing though. The amount you pay back is capped at 9% of income, regardless of the amount you owe, and if you haven't paid it off after 30 years, it's written off, so the interest doesn't seem worth worrying about as it's unlikely to make any practical difference to how much you pay back - only the highest earners are likely to pay back the full amount within the 30 years.
