Dear Fellow Access Assessors
Don't you all wish that there could be more core funding and that
Access Hardship Funds were truly top-ups? We're up to our eyes
in Access and Hardship Loan applications (109 of the latter
processed so far and a pile waiting!)
Sorry about a Friday whinge on a Thursday!
Some advice please on how (for Access) you deal with students
who have to pay their own tuition fees. Our line has always been
that as Access funds cannot be used for tuition fees (apart from
the part-time student who has lost his job exception), then we have
to assume that tuition fee funding is in place and, for an Access
grant, we only look at living costs and any special expenditure.
A PGCE student has previously attended a course and is therefore
ineligible for tuition fee funding. He is very disappointed (major
understatement!) at being allocated a relatively small Access grant
and argues that he has had to use his Loan to pay his fees and
therefore the money available for living costs has been eroded and,
if we would give him a bigger Access grant, then it would
legitimately be for living costs! I feel that to award an Access grant
in such a case would be helping to defray tuition fee costs.
The student is coming to see me tomorrow as the first stage of an
appeal so I would welcome any constructive comments from
advisers who have found themselves in a similar situation.
Thanks in advance
Sybil Green
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Sybil Green
Head of Student Advisory Service
Cardiff University
+44(0)29 2087 4179
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