Higher Education Institution Services Newsflash – August 2011 23rd August 2011 9:58 am

HEI Services Newsflash – August 2011

This bulletin gives you details of our messages to students as Clearing in England begins.

Student Finance England applications: As at 7 August, we have received 922,000 student finance applications which is 81% of all the applications we expect to receive for academic year 2011/12. This is in line with our forecast and is well ahead of last year, when we had received 620,000 (72%) applications by the same date.
As the Clearing process begins, we want to maintain this momentum.

Our customer messages:
Here are our customer messages - please help us to promote these messages by using them on your website, twitter, facebook and in any of your student communications.

Our customer messages at Clearing:
If you have applied for a course through clearing, there’s still time to get some student finance in time for the start of your course but you need to apply now at www.direct.gov.uk/student finance.
The deadline for applications has passed which means Student Finance England may not be able to work out your full entitlement in time for the start of term.

If this is the case:

• Student Finance England will make sure that you have some student finance available to you as close as possible to the start of your course. You will be initially assessed to work out how much funding you will receive without taking your household income into account.
• Student Finance England will then fully assess your application based on your household income once they have received and processed all the information and evidence required to support your application.

Our messages to students who need to change their student finance application:
If you have already applied for student finance but your course, university or college have changed due to the Clearing process, you will need to inform Student Finance England of the changes.
You can do this quickly and easily by logging into your student finance account at www.direct.gov.uk/studentfinance and changing your details – even if you applied on paper.

Our messages to students on the payment of grants and loans:
To make sure you are paid your student finance at the start of term, please sign and return the declaration form Student Finance England sent you with your Financial Notification letter.

Once you register with your university or college, and they confirm your attendance with Student Finance England, your student finance will be paid into your bank in two to three working days.

Please note that you will not receive any money prior to course start.

Your Maintenance Loan and any grants due to you are paid directly into your bank account.

Your Tuition Fee Loan is paid directly to your university or college.

Change of Circumstances – help students change their finance application online:
In response to feedback we’ve received, a guide has been placed on the Practitioners Website giving information regarding online student change of circumstances which should help you if you receive any queries from students. You can find this under “Latest News” at www.practitioners.studentfinanceengland.co.uk

Social Media
We are continuing with our successful daily live social media surgeries on Twitter and Facebook. These surgeries give customers the opportunity to ask questions on student finance and get real-time answers.

For the latest updates follow Student Finance England on Twitter (twitter.com/sf_england) and Facebook (Facebook.com/SFEngland).

Student Finance Northern Ireland and Student Finance Wales:

These customer messages also apply to students from Northern Ireland and Wales. For further information, please refer students to the appropriate website:

www.studentfinanceni.co.uk
www.studentfinancewales.co.uk

Student Finance England ‘How to….’ videos
We also have a series of ‘how to…’ videos to help customers apply. The videos can be accessed via this link: www.direct.gov.uk/sfvideos

Student Finance England - Part-time applications
The Student Finance England Service for AY 2011/12 part-time students will launch on 24 August 2011.
Students can download the Guide to student finance for part-time students 2011/12 now and the part-time application forms when the service launches on 24 August, at: www.direct.gov.uk/sfforms2011.

We are sending continuing part-time students an application pack directly to them.
If you would like to order copies of the part-time application pack, which includes the PTG1 form, notes and guide, go to www.slc.co.uk/informationpacks.

Student Finance Northern Ireland and Wales - Part-time applications:
The Part-time service for students in Northern Ireland and Wales also opens on 24 August; please refer students to SFW and SFNI for more information on part-time.

For further information, please refer students to the appropriate website:
www.studentfinanceni.co.uk
www.studentfinancewales.co.uk