When Is A Loan Not A Loan?

Simple answer when you a married mature student with children...

Allow me to explain, this government maintains its desire to see further education open to everyone regardless of age, very good idea in theory but in practise yet another con.

My return to further education came about because of ill health however I was pleased to have this chance because when I left school it wasn't an option for my class to go to university, however like any sensible person I had to ensure that the finance was there for me to take this route. My wife who has been a great source of support to me agreed with my return, I found out that we were entitled to tax credits because of our income so I made the following telephone call to the department that deals with tax credits…

"Good morning, I wish to apply for tax credits." " No problem sir."

We then went on to discuss what income I had coming my wife etc.

"I intend getting a student loan." " Ah, that’s income." "No it’s a loan". "No, it’s classed as income." "How the hell is a loan that I have pay back an income?" "That’s what it’s classed as."

As you can tell I got nowhere, clearly they have a script to work from one designed to exclude many.

So we now have the government redefining the explanation of a loan - a loan is now an income regardless of the fact you have to pay it back, therefore low income families such as me lose out in our desire to return to further education. Any one who has taken the time to read the terms of their loan would know that all loans are repayable once you reach an income level. The net result from this is that many mature students take the view its not worth it as they are unable to live.

Perhaps Mr Blair would like to explain to all the mature students how is this encouragement to enter further education?

By The Old Git