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]
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