KATIE MORLEY INVESTIGATES

My daughter is being denied a student loan – simply because she was born abroad

QWhat was supposed to be one of the best moments of my daughter’s life has turned into a nightmare. After two tough years preparing for her A-levels she secured a place to read Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Loughborough University. We were all over the moon for her.

But now, just after she has taken up her place, Student Finance England has refused to grant her a loan.

Every day she is reduced to tears, as she has worked so hard for this and now I am having to find the money to support her financially.

We thought applying for student finance would be a very straightforward exercise, but we were so wrong. She is being told that she doesn’t qualify because she is not a UK resident.

Each time she phones she is put on hold and then gets through to a new person with no knowledge of her case.

I work in oil and gas and am often abroad, and because of this my daughter was born in Oman. She returned to Britain a few years ago and attended a day boarding school.

I have tried so many times to explain to Student Finance England that my nationality and permanent residency have always been the UK and have never changed and that going on assignments is in the nature of my work.

I pay my taxes and council tax and I pay the mortgage on the house I own in London. My older two daughters attend university; both have student loans and one of them was also born abroad.

I have explained that expats and/or people on international assignment cannot take permanent residence in Oman, as it is not allowed. The UK is our home. Please help – my daughter just wants to get on with her studies and doesn’t deserve this headache. – PE, London

AI was so sorry to hear about this situation, which came as a massive shock as your other daughters had secured student loans without any problem. Having worked so hard and achieved great results in her exams, your poor daughter finds herself in limbo over her future. With tuition fees and the cost of student living now so high, committing to funding her through university yourself has come as a huge financial burden which you had not accounted for. I asked Student Finance England to investigate whether it had made a mistake or whether it was right to deny your daughter a loan.

The student support scheme operates within the strict framework of the Government’s legislative framework, so it doesn’t make the rules and nor is it able to bend them, I was told. It told me that although your daughter was a British citizen she was not born in the UK and was not “ordinarily” resident in the UK until the year 2020, when you moved back to live permanently in your London home. Unfortunately, under the regulations Student Finance England has a requirement for student borrowers to be an “ordinary resident” for a minimum of three years before the first day of the first academic year of their course.

You say this is wrong because your daughter returned to Britain to attend a boarding school in 2017, which was well over three years ago.

However, the regulations state that returning to the UK for the sole purpose of education, which it says your daughter did because you were not living here, is not enough to be considered an “ordinary resident”.

Instead, it said, her ordinary residence was abroad with you, her parents, until 2020, when you moved back home.

It seems to me that your daughter is being treated not as the daughter of an expat but as a foreign student.

I can see why this feels really unfair, especially as your other daughter, who was also born abroad, was accepted for a student loan.

It seems to me that your daughter is being treated not as the daughter of an expat but as a foreign student. I can see why this seems really unfair

When I asked Student Finance England about this, it refused to discuss it with me.

I’m very sorry to say that I’ve not been able to get Student Finance England to change its interpretation of the regulations. It says your daughter can escalate her appeal if she believes it has applied the regulations incorrectly, which she will do.

In the meantime you are left with the daunting prospect of fully funding your daughter through university.

However, if you can afford it and are able to work out a fair interest rate to charge her, keeping the debt within the family could end up working well for you both.

You’d see a modest return on your money, while your daughter would have the security of her loan being through the bank of Dad.

Good luck with it all.