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I note from SSIN 03/99 that students will not be eligible for support if they apply later than 4 months after the start of their course - refer Appendix 1D (last page of the document). Maybe I wasn't reading earlier SSINs carefully enough but this was news to me. I know that this makes sense for the means-tested element of the Loan and the fees. We have also been asked to advise current 'new' students to apply to their LEA without delay to ensure they can obtain support next year. But until now students have been able to apply for non-means-tested loans up to the last day of the academic year. Now that the whole support package is rolled into one, the freedom to apply late for a loan is taken away. It is hard enough to persuade students in need to apply for loans, particularly students with parents who veto their offspring taking out loans and those already holding part-time jobs. But now, students who fail to apply before the deadline because they don't anticipate financial hardship will have no source of financial support if things go wrong. Moreover, current rules for the Access Funds state that students must first have applied for their Student Loan. Do other institutions have ideas about how they plan to ensure that every student applies for a student loan or how they will help those who miss the deadline? Nicolette Connon Assistant Registrar (Student Records & Administration) King Alfred's College Sparkford Road Winchester HANTS SO22 4NR Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] Tel: 01962 827224 Fax: 01962 827406 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%