Now that the deadline for UCAS applications has closed and you prospective students will be starting to get offers, you will need to start thinking about applying for Student Finance. If you simply Google ‘student finance’ the official government website will come and give you all the full details. But I thought that as I have been through the process three times myself (because, yes, you do have to reapply every year), I would give you five quick tips to assist in your application.
- You don’t have to know what university you’re going to – I feel like a common misconception or concern people have when they apply is that they have to have all of their offers and know for sure what university you will be going to. When in fact, you don’t have to know at all and you can just apply at any point
- Make sure your parent(s) sign up and do all the paper work – Your parent(s) will also have to create an account to support your application and they will have to send paper work as well to prove how much money they earn etc. So it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give them gentle reminders to send off the paper work needed, then you can progress further with your application.
- Make sure to fill in everything correctly and honestly – Remember that this is an official government website, so make sure to be honest with your answers in regards to if you are only living with one parent, whether you’ll be living at home or not during your studies etc. And to double check that you’ve spelt everything correctly and put in the correct phone numbers and addresses!
- Get it done as soon as possible – I would definitely say that this is kind of my number one tip when it comes to student finance. It is really best to just get it out of the way and not procrastinate doing it, because you don’t want to run the risk of missing any deadlines or not getting your money in time.
- Remember to sign and post back the declaration form ASAP – Related to my last point, that when you get your letter from student finance with the declaration form do make sure to sign and post it back ASAP. You will get reminder texts or letters from Student Finance England if you don’t so to avoid those pestering notifications and to make sure you have money in your account come September – do make sure to sign and post it back.
I hope that those few tips help and if you want more info regarding student finance just visit their website!
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