Freshers start uni penniless

Thousands of students are still without loan payments.

By Laura MacKenzie

Almost a month into the new university year, up to 175,000 students across the country are still without their loans and with no idea of when they are likely to receive them.  In addition to this number are thousands more who have been given the basic maintenance loan as a temporary measure while they await for their income assessments to be processed.

Freshers have been hardest hit, with only 72% of applications dealt with as of last week, although thousands of other applications are yet to be processed also.
Technical problems at the newly centralised Student Finance body are being blamed for the failure with information provided under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act suggesting that new scanning equipment led to a “slight delay in the processing of documents” in April. The non-profit body has since switched to processing applications manually but with a record number of students applying for university this year there remains a huge backlog of unprocessed requests.
This failure follows the centralisation of the student loans application process, which until this year was handled by individual local authorities who provided the link between students and the Student Loans Company and Student Finance (formerly Student Finance Direct) who provided the online information and application system. While the Student Loans Company remain the provider of loans and grants, this year local authorities were completely removed from the equation and all prospective students applied to Student Finance directly for funding.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has issued a statement in which it attributed part of the blame to students who applied for their funding after the deadline: “The variance between the applications that have been sent in and those that have been processed is due to a combination of factors, including late applications, of which we are still receiving thousands every day.
Of the 175,000 students affected by the most recent loans crisis, Leeds Student  has been made aware of several who are studying at the University of Leeds, although an exact figure has not been released.
Both the University and the Union, however, have been keen to stress that students at Leeds have not been too badly affected by the loans backlog. In a statement issued to LS a University spokesperson said: “The information we have received from our students over the past few weeks (via email, telephone and during the registration events) has confirmed that the effect on University of Leeds students does seem to be more limited than initial press reports may have suggested.        

 “Indeed the number of students who have been granted “Deferred Registration” (allowing them to register late, up to 31st October 2009) is less than in previous years, which is very re-assuring. “
LUU Education Officer, Mike Gladstone, echoed the University’s comments although he added that he hoped to see significant changes made to the system before the application process begins again next April: “Fortunately it seems that students at Leeds have not been too badly affected by the delays but this does not mean that the problems experienced by thousands of students across the country are acceptable. They are not and we will expect to see major improvements announced before the process begins again for next year.”
When asked if they had been in contact with the SLC, the University issued the following statement: “We received communication from the Student Loans Company (SLC) in mid September that those students who applied for student support on time should be paid on time, once they register with their respective University.  At the time the SLC were working through assessing late applications received in August and were prioritising by term start dates.        

 “The most recent information we have from the SLC (received last week) confirmed that they will have completed all means-testing by the end of October.”
Students facing financial hardship as a direct result of the SLC funding delays are being advised to contact the Financial Aid team within Student Administration.  Students with no access to alternative funding can be assessed for a short term loan by the team, and those in University owned accommodation can also arrange to have the first instalment deferred for one month to ease the immediate financial pressure.
For further information or advice please visit the Student Services Centre or email financialaid@leeds.ac.uk