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You should have all been harrased by your teachers about student finance by now. If not this is a reminder for you guys.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/index.htm

If you have been trying recently you would have noticed that the site has crashed several times and been taken off line due to the huge traffic from applicants. Delays are expected and inevitable right now the site is back up so i recommend that you at least start the process today as it can take upto 6 weeks to be processed. If any corrections are needed then it can take a further 6 weeks and so on. You are required to provide posted information aswell in the process so you have to take into account any delays in sorting aswell.

Leaving this process to last minute is a sour mistake and you will regret it.

Its taken me about 3 hours to complete mine today though i already set my account up before christmas so it made it quicker. To carry on now i need to wait for the rest of the application to arrive through the post and send it back. After that, any amendments and im done.

Its mainly check boxes but you need to provide other information such as bank details, university and course info and stuff along those lines.

This is a warning aswell, if you remember last year tens of thousands of students hadnt had thier money through and couldnt get to uni. Its going to cost me £7 in travel expenses alone never mind food and night outs.

This part is the hard truth, for those using Ucas this year and next year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8503921.stm

Thier is a 23% rise in applicants and 6'000 places less.

Do the math and its not looking good. The second your Ucas is opened to you, DO IT. Its first come first serve and whoever is at the bottom of the stack isnt likly to get it.

This is just a friendly heads up anyway

-Con

Ah the joys of applying for Uni, sadly it's my final year. But yes, loan applications are important.


Also, I just hope Student Finance UK don't screw up again like they did this year, a lot of people didn't get their loans because of a major screw up on their end and well...if you don't get it on time, don't panic, you can get it sorted. Universities tend to be forgiving, especially when it's not your fault.

This year I got my first loan payment during the second week of December, the people in charge of accommodation were forgiving about the rent and the University was forgiving about the fees. So I only had to worry about paying for food and books, luckily I was capable of doing that. So if you've got a job, it's always worth saving up a bit of cash for a rainy day or get a job when you're studying, but not everybody is lucky enough to get one.


Also, my University experience has been awesome, so I hope you guys who are applying now, find the same thing.