Student and Housing Benefit / Income Support

A question about : Student and Housing Benefit / Income Support

A friend of mine will be starting uni in a few weeks time on a Nursing Course, she will be getting the following finance:

Ј1000 grant
Ј4395 bursary
Ј2324 maintenance loan

Her husband left her 2 weeks ago (great timing), so she is not in receipt of any benefits other than Child Benefit (for her 8 year old and her 3 year old), and Working Families Tax Credit. Child Maintenance etc.. has not yet been arranged between them, and it is unclear how much he will give them. Clearly she will have to inform the authorities of her change of circumstances.

She lives in a privately rented 3 bedroom house costing Ј500 per month, and seems to think that she is not entitled to any help whatsoever with income support or housing benefit. This doesn't seem right to me. Is this true?

Best answers:

• As a single parent attending university the rules about income based benefits are different.
  Basically some of the grants/loans will be taken into consideration and regarded as income.
  Her best option is to speak to someone at the university (welfare officer?) so that they can make sure that she is claiming all the loans/grants that she is entitled to. Once she knows what loans/grants that she can claim then they will also be able to advise her as regards any benefits she will be eligible for.
  I won't give you any links as regarding this as I believe nursing courses are a little different to other courses.
• Regarding income support please see the following information.
  Income Support
  Most full-time students are not entitled to Income Support.
  However, you may be entitled to this benefit as a full-time student if you:
• Are a lone parent with a child under age seven (this changes to aged under five on 21 May 2012. For more information, see Changes to Income Support for Lone Parents on the Directgov website (link opens in a new window).
• Are a lone foster parent of a child under 16
• Are receiving long-term Incapacity Benefit
• Would qualify for Income Support if you were not a full-time student and you are a lone parent or a member of a couple with a child where both of you are full-time students and you claim during your summer vacation.

NB: If you receive student support in the form of a grant or loan, this will probably reduce the amount of Income Support you can get.

• Thankyou for your help. I will pass this information onto her.