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Student loans

JointsNRoaches

JointsNRoaches

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To those of you that have yet to read any of my posts, Hi, I havnt posted around here before I doubt that you have.

I moved to Australia a few years back. I was born in England and moved over here at the age of 14. I am now 16, turning 17 later this year. I am now a permanent resident in Australia but still hold a British passport (I am a British citizen).

I have decided over the last little while that I want to go back to the UK when I turn 18 and study a degree course but am now unsure about getting a student loan. Am I eligible? Will I have to get it from the Australian or British government and does that restrict where I can study? I have so many unanswered quetions and cant seem to find an answer. All I'v learned so far is that you have to have lived in the UK for 3 years prior to recieving a student loan but I dont even know if that applies to everyone or whether I will still be eligable as I am a citizen. I really dont want anything to come between me studying and being able to go home. It doesnt seem fair, especially as the move wasnt even my decision.

I was just hoping that somebody could either shed some light on the situation for me based on previous experience or maybe point me in the direction of somebody that could possibly help me. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
Js&Rs
 
I'm from the US, but I'm a graduate student. Which school do you want to study at? I would choose the school (or a few) you want to apply to. The school will definitely have all the information you need about becoming a student there --- including what to do since you are currently living internationally but are still a British citizen.

As I said, I'm in the US but many of my friends have gone abroad for school and that's how all of them went about getting all their information for their paperwork. Good luck!
 
Basically, from what I can gather, it goes something like this...

The crucial question seems to be based around whether or not you still have permanent residency in the UK or not. Do you know the answer to this? If you are unsure, I'd ask your parents - they probably would know. Residency is different than citizienship or nationality, and more depends on where you are currently spending or plan to spend the majority of your time. And fincial aid depends largely on residency.

I am guessing that you may have lost your UK residency by now, since you've been living in Australia and have not been able to meet the residency requirements of your home country (though I don't know if the UK makes acceptions for residents from birth to a certain point as a minor, such as with parental conditions like yours). Student loan organizations in the UK, such as the Student Loans Company, seem to go by one's country of residence when granting aid over one's passport nationality. It seems to be the case that you may need to regain your UK residency before you can apply for aid from a UK-based company (if you lost it). I don't know the specifics about regaining residency (given that you lost it in the first place) to the country of your passport nationality (whether you could do this upon moving or it would, like what you went through in Australia, require you to live in that country for a given amount of time first). If your parents don't know the answer to this, I'd contact UK immigration to get this answer, as ya I cannot seem to find it on the web either!

This is taken directly from gov.uk:

Personal eligibility

Student Finance England (or your local authority) will look at your immigration status or nationality, and whether you meet certain residence conditions. When deciding whether you qualify for the Student Loan for Maintenance, they will also consider your age.
Click to expand...

So it seems kind of vague. If you read the first sentence, it seems as it they may be sympathetic to your situation.

All I could pull from the government site were these numbers, but they seem to be catered toward people with loans pending. Nevertheless, you could ring them up and see if you could be redirected.

As an alternative, you could contact the Student Loans Company on a number listed here, again, and see if you can be re-directed to the most appropriate person.

To the best of my knowledge, because you don't have Australian nationality or hold their passport, they're not going to bankroll your loans unless you go to school within Australia. One reason being that if you are in the UK for the majority of the time studying at Uni, you'll probably lose your AUS residency (again, though having family remaining in AUS might change things).

I'm sorry I cannot be of more help. Honestly, this one is a complicated one, and I've never encountered a situation quite like this one before. But figuring out if you are still a permanent resident of the UK is where you want to start, and if you're not, then finding out how quickly you can regain that. Once you do, it shouldn't be a problem getting loans.

If I find out anything elese about this, I'll add it to the thread.
 
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