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Having just returned from leave, I have a number of pieces of correspondence from the DfEE which people may be interested in. I've had a quick scout in the admin-student archives and couldn't see anything to do with this in there but please accept my apologies if this is old news that you've all been discussing in my absence! 1. According to a letter dated 28 July, the Education (Student Support) Regulations 1998 have 'now been approved by Parliament although they have not been made'. Some points to note: - the regulations do not cover repayments but a leaflet about repayments will be issued shortly - no borrower will have to make any repayments until April 2000 - the new loans will not be subject to the Consumer Credit Act; 'the flexibility inherent in the new scheme means that the detailed terms and conditions, which consumer credit safeguards ensure, cannot be set out in a loan agreement when the loan is taken out'; - the age limit is still 50; the recently announced extension to those over 50 but under 55 applies to the arrangements from 1999/2000 but will include in 1999/2000 those who started their courses in 1998/99 - absences of up to 60 days due to illness will not trigger a suspension of instalment payments - students will be able to make a second application for a loan during the academic year if they do not take out the maximum loan at their first application - the letter accompanying the regulations again refers to the relationship between hardship loans and Access Funds, confirming that 'ordinarily a student should apply for a hardship loan before applying for Access Funding. We are, however, allowing some flexibility so that where an HEI thinks it necessary to exercise their discretion in particular cases, we will not insist that a hardship loan must *always* be taken out first. This will, we hope, help HEIs to manage their hardship loan budgets and take account of an individual's circumstances when deciding which payment is the most appropriate. We have in mind, for example, mature students who already have significant financial commitments, and who may, therefore, be reluctant to take on additional debt.' (By the way, I assume everyone has received their hardship loan budget allocations?) 2. Ministers have now approved the guidance on the operation and use of the higher education Access Funds for the academic year 1998/99. This was issued to HEFCE on 30 July. HEFCE will presumably be adding their bits, including the individual allocations to institutions, and forwarding it to us in due course. In the meantime a couple of things you may want prior warning about: - one of the areas for priority in making payment is for the remission of tuition fees for part-time undergraduate students who have lost their jobs during their course of study. '...as a general rule, for a student to be eligible for consideration for fee remission he should be able to show that he was employed for at least 20 hours a week, or working as a self-employed person for at least 20 hours a week, when he entered higher education, and has been so working for a minimum of six months before losing the job or ceasing to be self-employed through no fault of his own.' - assistance in the form of scholarships or bursaries is subject to the normal maximum of £3,000 and the maximum number of students helped in this way in any one year should not exceed 5% of the institution's intake of new undergraduate students - 'students on part-time courses means students working to a minimum of 60 credit points in an academic year where the full-time equivalent is 120 credit points in a year or 50% of a full-time course in other schemes' 3. You will recall that I recently asked colleagues to provide details of any outstanding concerns about the new arrangements which I forwarded to Neil Flint at the DfEE on 18 June. In his reply, Neil refers to the second edition of the Progress Report and says he hopes that this will answer the questions we raised. If this is not the case and anyone still is unsure about any aspect of the new arrangements, please let me know and I will get back on to the DfEE. Finally, a health warning! The points above are my interpretations unless something is actually marked as a quote so please read the various documentation for yourselves when you get hold of it. Also, I haven't covered everything because of the existence of the second Progress Report. Nevertheless, I hope this is of some use to people. Pam ---------------------- Pamela Bell-Ashe University of Liverpool Chair Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education Tel: 0151 794 2243 Fax: 0151 794 2249 e-mail: [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%