BIS/SLC: Early Statistics on Student Support for Higher Education in England, 2009/10 at 1 November 2009 (Provisional)
Due to high levels of public interest in the processing of Higher Education Student Support applications by Student Finance England, the Student Loan Company, in conjunction with BIS analysts, is releasing early provisional figures to show the levels of processing and payment of Student Support in England for the 2009/10 academic year.
This is the third and final such release of this information, and covers the processing and payment up to and including 1 November 2009. Figures for the previous year as at the equivalent Sunday, 2 November 2008, are included to allow comparison.
This third release will be followed by the annual Student Support Statistical First Release to be published on Wednesday 25 November 2009, which will cover the processing up to and including 15 November 2009.
Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| English domiciled applicants (new and continuing) | The figures are for English domiciles applying for student finance under full time regulations. It covers those applying as a new entrant into HE (processed by SLC) as well as those continuing study from the previous year (processed by Local Authorities). |
| Applications received | Applications can be created online by the applicant or can be submitted on paper. Some applicants withdraw their online application in favour of a paper application. This means that the number of applications is higher than the number of students. The student/prospective student can apply for a maintenance grant, maintenance loan, tuition fee loan and/or special allowance (childcare grant etc.). Some opt for a tuition fee loan only which means no maintenance payment is expected by them at start of term. | Applications approved | The application has been assessed and approved. If the student/prospective student applied online they will then need to sign an online declaration form. If they are a new student their National Insurance Number will need to be verified with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Thereafter payment will be released once confirmation of attendance has been received from the higher education institution (HEI) they attend. |
| Applications approved with interim assessment | The non-means tested element of the application has been approved (i.e. the first 72% of the maintenance loan) to ensure that the applicant has part of their student finance at the start of the academic year. The applicant has indicated that they also want means tested support (i.e. a maintenance grant and the additional part of the maintenance loan). Where evidence has already been received the full assessment will follow once the financial evidence has been assessed. Otherwise the evidence will be sought from the applicant. Applications in 2008/09 that were processed as interim were not classed separately so data is not available for comparison. |
| Applications approved with full assessment | The applicant only requested non-means tested support or they requested means tested support which has been fully processed. |
| Applications currently being processed | Applications that have not yet been approved, rejected or withdrawn and which can be worked by SLC or the Local Authority responsible. Applications that cannot yet be worked which are excluded from this figure, are those online applications not yet completed by the applicant as well as those applications pended awaiting further information from the student or their sponsors. Sponsors are the persons who need to submit financial evidence for the means tested part of the application to be completed. |
| Ineligible applications | Applications found to be ineligible. The applicant does not meet the residency criteria or the HEI and course is not eligible for support or previous study rules prevent them gaining support for this period of study. |
| Withdrawn applications | The application has been withdrawn. The applicant has decided not to attend HE this year or they have withdrawn an online application in favour of a paper application. |
| Applications started online but not completed | The applicant has started an online application but has not entered all the information and, hence has not yet submitted it to be assessed. |
| Further information required from student/sponsors | The application has been processed as far as possible. A request has been sent to the student or sponsor for missing information and once that is received processing will resume. |
| Students receiving first maintenance payment | The number of students who have had their first Maintenance instalment (maintenance grant and/or maintenance loan) paid into their bank account. The difference between the number of applications approved and the number of students paid is accounted for by the following:
|
| Applicants who have not received first maintenance payment following approval | Applicants whose applications for support have been approved, but as yet no payment has been made. |
| Awaiting On-line declaration form | After approval of an on-line application a signed on-line declaration form is required from the applicant before the first maintenance payment can be made. |
| Not yet received attendance confirmation | No confirmation of attendance has been received from a University or College so no payment can be released. There are a number of possible reasons for this:
|
| Not requesting maintenance support | The student has confirmed attendance but there is no maintenance payment required because they did not request any (for example, by only applying for a tuition fee loan.). |
| National Insurance number being verified | The National Insurance Number provided by the student must be verified with the Department for Work and Pensions. SLC is awaiting this verification and payment will be made once this is received. |
| Revised bank details awaited | Bank details provided in the original application were missing or incomplete: correct details have been requested from the student and payment is not possible until this information is provided. |
| Payments currently being processed through the banking system | Where attendance has been confirmed at the very end of the reporting period the payment will have been initiated via the banking system but will not reach the student's bank account till 2-3 days later. |
Statistics
The statistics show 25,000 applicants with an interim assessment as at 1 November 2009. Below the table there is extra information, that was not in the first two releases, showing the processing history behind the figure for outstanding interim assessments.
| Application Status | Academic Year 2008/09 at 2/11/2008 | Academic Year 2009/10 at 1/11/2009 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Applications | Number of Applications | |
| Applications received | 913,000 | 996,000 |
| Applications approved | 828,000 | 865,000 |
| ... of which number with full assessment | N/A | 840,000 |
| ... of which number with interim assessment | N/A | 25,000 |
| Applications currently being processed | 26,000 | 23,000 |
| Ineligible/withdrawn applications | 28,000 | 44,000 |
| Applications started online but not completed | 16,000 | 30,000 |
| Further information required from student/sponsors | 15,000 | 34,000 |
| Payment status | Number of students | Number of students |
|---|---|---|
| Students receiving first maintenance payment | 727,000 | 746,000 |
| Applicants who have not received first maintenance payment after approval | 100,000 | 119,000 |
| . of which awaiting online declaration form from applicant | 20,000 | 32,000 |
| . of which not yet received attendance confirmation (Fee Loan only) | 15,000 | 19,000 |
| . of which not yet received attendance confirmation (Other) | 36,000 | 49,000 |
| . of which not requesting maintenance support | 8,000 | 5,000 |
| . of which National Insurance Number currently being verified | 3,000 | 5,000 |
| . of which revised bank details currently awaited | 500 | 1,000 |
| . other (mainly those with payments currently being processed through the banking system) | 18,000 | 7,000 |
Here is a breakdown of the processing history for interim assessments:
| Category of applicant | Number of applicants |
|---|---|
| At the end of August 2009 the number of English domiciled new entrant applicants processed by SLC and assessed on an interim basis was | 35,000 |
| By 1 November 2009 the number fully reassessed because correct financial evidence had been supplied was | 27,000 | Leaving the number still assessed on an interim basis by SLC at 1 November 2009 due to lack of correct financial evidence | 8,000 |
| .. In addition as at 1 November 2009 the number of English domiciled new entrant applicants processed by SLC applying for student finance after end of August 2009 and assessed on an interim basis was | 9,000 |
| .. And a further number of English domiciled returning students processed by Local Authorities and assessed on an interim basis at 1 November 2009 | 8,000 |
| Giving the total number of English domiciled applicants (new and continuing) assessed on an interim basis at 1 November 2009 | 25,000 |
Source: SLC