Elaine
Yes, of course I agree that students must take out the full loan for
hardship loans and awards, but not for bursaries.
janet
On Wed, 6 Feb 2002 15:16:41 -0000 "Watson, Elaine"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Janet
>
>
> Perhaps the regulations are different for England and Wales compared to
> those for Scotland, however, I felt I had to point out the regulations we
> have in Scotland for awarding Hardship Funds, Hardship Loans and Mature
> Students Bursaries.
>
> The Student Awards Agency Guidance notes state;
>
> 'Student Loans are an integral part of the system of Student Support.
> Students who are eligible for a student loan are, of course, free to decide
> whether to take out a loan and, if so, how much to borrow. However, a
> full-time student must have taken out a student loan, if eligible, and
> applied for the full amount to which they are entitled before receiving help
> from the Hardship Funds.
>
> In normal circumstances, eligible students should also have taken out the
> Hardship Loan, if available, before any payment is made from Hardship
> Funds.'
>
> I have always insisted on a full Student Loan before considering Hardship
> Awards. How otherwise would you justify Hardship if other significant funds
> are available to the student (i.e. Student Loan).
>
> If the regulations are different in England and Wales with regard to the
> above, this would be a matter of some concern.
>
> Elaine Watson
> Student Funding Administrator
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Janet E. Smith [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 06 February 2002 14:28
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Bursaries from the General Access Fund
>
>
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>
> At Staffordshire University we do not require students to take out the
> HSL before applying to the Hardship Fund, in fact our students make one
> application and we make the decision whether they can have a loan and
> an award, an award only or a loan only. The criteria is broadly based
> on the deficit between their income and expenditure. As a general
> policy we do not approve loans for students with dependant children,
> their awards will come directly from the Hardship Fund.
>
> Also, we do not require students to take out the student loan to be
> eligible for a Mature or Access Bursary. This point was confirmed by
> HEFCE when bursaries were first introduced and I haven't seen anything
> to contradict that. Having said that I do think students ought to take
> out the loan first but we were were informed that we could not insist on
> it.
>
> Does anyone have more information?
>
> Janet Smith, Student Finance Manager
>
> On Wed, 6 Feb 2002 11:08:02 +0000 ws3 <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Dear all
> > Re "in order to be eligible for assistance from the
> > > Access Hardship Fund (whether it be for a Bursary or an assessed
> > > grant), a student must have applied for his/her maximum entitlement
> > > to the Student Loan and have received the first instalment and also
> > > have taken out a Hardship Loan, unless the student comes under one of
> > > the HSL exempt categories."
> >
> > We were not aware of this. In particular the requirement re HSL. In fact
> > our understanding was quite the opposite and in summer we set up
> > bursaries from the Hardship Fund on a similar basis to Opportunity
> > Bursaries ie low income, no he background, under 21 etc but for people
> > outside the relevant areas for Op bursaries. This was following circular
> > 01/15 para 25 where it is suggesteed that institutions do this!
> >
> > Though it is very unlikely that any receipient will not have taken SL we
> > have not required them to take out HSL and it seems rather to defeat the
> > purpose of providing the assistance to do so.
> >
> > Are we the only institution to have done this?
> >
> > I should add that our decision was not for want of reading the guidance!
> > It seems to me that circular 01/15 makes a distinction between Hardship
> > Funds and Bursaries (eg the whole document refers to Hardship and
> > Bursary funds and it refers to "Hardship Funds, like Bursaries" etc)and
> > I cannot locate where it says that HSL must be taken by recipients of
> > "Other Bursaries" or indeed New Access or Continuing Bursaries either.
> > Para 19 on bursaries lumps them all together with Opportunity Bursaries
> > where there is no such requirement. Moreover it is suggested that 15% of
> > the total budget should be for bursaries rather than Hardship Grants
> > which again suggests a distinction. We assumed this distinction was
> > carried through into the Guidance on Hardship Loans which refers to
> > Hardship Funds but not to Bursaries.
> >
> > Did Dfes give any reference in the guidance where this requirement is
> > made clear?
> >
> > Yours (somewhat confused)
> > Wendy Shaw
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > ---------------------------------------
> > Wendy Shaw - Administrative Assistant
> > Tel 01904 432158
>
> *******************************
>
> Janet Smith
> Student Finance Manager
> Tel: 01782 295756
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
> Fax 01782 295723
*******************************
Janet Smith
Student Finance Manager
Tel: 01782 295756
e-mail [log in to unmask]
Fax 01782 295723
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