Student Nurse Not Allowed A Grant

[chrissa1]

My daughter has just taken up a place at Surrey University to study Child Nursing.
She has applied for a Grant, as a great deal of her bursary is taken up by paying for her rent in Student Halls of Accommodation. She was told that she was expected, as a student, to earn £1600.00 per year while she is studying. This would not be a problem for her, but as she will be given a placement in a hospital in January with evening shifts etc, she will not be able to hold down a job such as working in a bar. She has already been turned down for one job for this very reason.

My question: Is there a facility to help Student Nurses?

As some of you might know her Dad died in February and so I can't help her as much as I/we could have done. Thanks

[factor-fiction]

Hi chrissa1- maybe nursing is treated differently to other university courses but I had assumed the usual system of student loans would apply.
How old is your daughter?

[bednobs]

hiya, when i was a student nurse, we didn't have access to student loans because we had the bursary, so it seems like things have not changed, and this is correct. Perhaps your daughter could get a job with a nursing agency as a care assistant - then she can work around her placements. I did this during my time as a St N and it worked out ok. I also had a job in a bar for most of the time but for the life of me can't remember how i managed with shifts! I also had a casual job in a factory that fitted in in between shifts

[rowanwitch]

Working as a care assistant on the wards will also improve her basic skills and many hospitals have and internal bank (agency) she may find as her course progresses it will also give her a chance to see the specialities where she might like to work...and gives the staff a chance to see what she is like. She could also do night shifts at times these pay more and there may be quiet spells and longer breaks that she can use to study.

[chrissa1]

My daughter is 27 factor.
She has a student loan but is only allowed to borrow £2000 and with her bursary it makes a total of £4000.00 for the year. She would like to come home once in a while but it's quite expensive to get from Surrey to Northumberland.
I'll tell her about the agency nursing but doesn't she have to be more qualified for that?

[factor-fiction]

I've noted bednobs answer which says nurses don't get student loans because they get a bursary. I don't know how much teh bursary is but i guess it's at least as much as the mantenance loan offered to students of other courses.
Student loans on their own are not intended to cover all the costs.Parental contributions and part-time work or overdrafts are needed to make up the difference.
One of my sons is at university now and his maintenance loan doesn't even cover his student accommodation fees in London, so I need to send him over £300 a month income (from my non-existent earnings at present!) to cover his day to day living/travel costs in London until he can find some part-time work.

[bednobs]

no, no quals needed to be a care assisstant

[rowanwitch]

they will probably offer some additional training if she needs it like manual handling, infection control and basic food handling and she may get better placements as her traing progresses as she will be able to work at a level similar to the NVQ 3's

[chrissa1]

In a course literature that she was reading over the weekend, it states that student nurses are "discouraged" at the very least to get another part-time job as the hours and study are so onerous.

[factor-fiction]

Perhaps then students would be advised to work and save up for a year or two before going on a nursing course

[bednobs]

they are certainly more onerous than a general undergrad degree, but i don't know anyone who didn't work during their training (i used to find it unfair that most uni's by convention don't schedule lectures for weds afternoons, to leave them free for sporting activities, but i couldn't do that as we never had weds pm's off!)

[rowanwitch]

She could work some of her holidays though ... maybe half the summer break and a week at easter and christmas just to top up her bank account. the other option is care work in old peoples homes at least the hospital/uni would be less likely to find out although they rarely make an issue of it if the results are ok

[chrissa1]

That's what she intends to do next summer - go back and work for P&O on ships as a Youth Crew member.
That's a bit harsh factor. She has worked since she left school and supported herself all that time. How was she meant to save loads of money to train. I guess it would be better if she was unemployed and was a single mother!!

[pa___ul3]

my lass qualified a few weeks ago, in her first 2 years she had a weekend job in Boots and held that down comfortably as her placements could often be tailored around requirements, although she was obliged to do some weekends for which she took holidays from work. In her 3rd year she didn't work so she could concentrate on her work. A few of her friends did do bank work during their course and that's what my lass is doing now until she get's a proper job or starts her masters (if she chooses to go down that route). I used to work with a student nurse in the bar I worked in of a weekend too.
With placements. assignments and tutorials etc. it's a very time consuming course, but I think a job could be managed around it.

[chrissa1]

Thank you for your thoughts guys.

[yelenots]

My daughter has just finished a 3 year degree studying Diagnostic Radiography...all she had to live on was a Student Loan (reduced) and a Bursary. Money was an issue as everyone expected her to get a part time job....just impossible when most of the 2nd & 3rd years are taken up on hospital placement and working all hours. She could NOT get a 'summer' job because medical courses are like a 'school' academic year...she hardly had any holidays unlike her friends! Another problem we experienced was the renting of accom in the last year as her flatmates all finished in April & May but her course didnt end until July (extra expense and no-where to live!). I would like to add that it has all be worthwhile as she started her first job 4 weeks ago and just loves it! So it is worth it!!

[boxtops]

Chrissa, there will be a student support unit at her university (there certainly is at the nursing university near us) - it is worth her going to have a chat with them there.

[chrissa1]

Thanks for that yelenots. She is seeing her Tutor tomorrow so I'm sure she'll be able to advise her.

[rosycider]

You arent expected to earn £1600 a year it is a suggested amount that brings a student up to the average for all students. All information about student support is available from the student finance team at the University . There is also information here http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Students/3255.aspx . The reason nursing students are not entitled to grants if they are on a bursary is because the bursary is counted as income and is non repayable .

[boxtops]

Useful link, rosy - thank you.

[roxie_09]

I'm currently studying nursing at uni in Wale. we get £550 p/m. We aren't entitled to any further loans because of this, although here we can apply thrugh the university for a higher bursary rate, not sure how to do that as I have never done it. I work on the nurse bank, so work what I want when I want, and is fairly well paid. No need for expertise experience to work banking. xx