LEAs all work to the same rules when deciding who to help and by how much.

You don’t have to tell them how much your parents earn if you don’t want to. In this case, you’ll only get the bits of support that go to the richest students – i.e. you’ll scupper your chances of getting a grant, the full living costs loan and probably also the extra help that universities give to the poorest students. And if you’re certain the folks are so flush there’s no way you’ll get any more than the basic help, then there’s probably no need to send in the extra bits of paper. If, however, you’re in any doubt, particularly if you have lots of brothers and sisters or the other things that complicate what’s counted as income, then it doesn’t hurt to send the finance people everything they ask for. Hell, there could be more money in it for you.

There’s a standard application form which asks you, among other things, all about your parents’ salaries. Even if you’re earning, unless you’re an ‘independent student’, they’re not generally worried about your own income.

From what you tell them on the form, the LEA works out your parents’ residual income – in other words, what they have left after various allowances such as pension payments.

Here are a few factors that fudge those figures:

• Brothers and sisters
• Changes in circumstances
• Divorce
• Independent students
• Married students

Back to: A quick guide to student funding  

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