Auditioning for SEPT 2018

[Munchpot]

Duplicate posting - sorry

[kzgirl]

Hi Bean

The foundation courses are not higher education so if you ring the council of where your daughter will be going you should be able to obtain the housing benefit form. Anything higher than a level 3 course is classed as higher education and you cannot ge housing benefit. If you DC has a part time job I think that gets taken into account if he/she earns over £50 per week. People on this forum that have applied for housing benefit appear to have had a struggle getting it though and it can take a few months to come through, so you need to have enough money to pay your DC rent in the mean time.

[Robin64]

Hi Marissa The only help you can get is Housing Benefit and, depending on where the foundation course is based, the local council can be a nightmare to get it from

Others have spoken about it on the forum if you search back

Hi
Yes I spent about 5 months arguing with the council for HB for Sidcup for Bird Foundation. Child can only earn about £50 before they take anything off benefit and amount you get depends on area. Full payment in Sidcup was £84.27 per week so helps towards accommodation. Its based on childs savings not parents (no more than £16,000K) If child got a job for £50 for weekly spend and HB helped with accommodation then just the tuition fee to pay which I know is still not easy.
x

Hi there - hello everyone
I’m new on here - I’ve been lurking for a while but I’ve been a bit too shy to post. I just wondered if you could tell me how you went about convincing the council that the foundation course was suitable for housing benefit. My DD has luckily received two offers for foundation this year - it’s her first year auditioning and we both know she isn’t quite ready for a three year course so in some ways has been really lucky. We can just about scrape together the money for the fees but paying for accommodation could be the thing between accepting or rejecting foundation and having a year off. I hadn’t heard of housing benefit being available until I saw it on here last week.
I might post this question separately too if I can figure out what I’m doing

If you scroll back there is a thread on housing benefit. My DD gets it for a foundation course. This was gained after an initial rejection and appeal. it is around £84 per week which does not cover her rent but does help a little - she is in halls of residence but a flat share could be cheaper. However I have liked her being in her hall flat as it is with other fellow Bird students - mostly foundation. Some councils seem to be better than others at sorting it out but be ready for a battle. You will need to fill in the form and have various documentation but will need to know where your DD is going to live to get started. It probably took 5 months to come through but was back dated. If your DD will be 18 all financial information is based on her income / finances. Send all mail by signed for to prove you sent it as there are deadlines and one time the council sent a letter to the wrong address for DD and it took 2 weeks to get to her. Your main point will be that a foundation course is not classed as higher education but that your DD is a full time student with no funding. You will find the information on the government benefit website.

[Bean]

Hi there - hello everyone
I’m new on here - I’ve been lurking for a while but I’ve been a bit too shy to post. I just wondered if you could tell me how you went about convincing the council that the foundation course was suitable for housing benefit. My DD has luckily received two offers for foundation this year - it’s her first year auditioning and we both know she isn’t quite ready for a three year course so in some ways has been really lucky. We can just about scrape together the money for the fees but paying for accommodation could be the thing between accepting or rejecting foundation and having a year off. I hadn’t heard of housing benefit being available until I saw it on here last week.
I might post this question separately too if I can figure out what I’m doing

Hi - I think it very much depends on the Local Authority where the course is based. Which colleges / local authorites are involved?

Hi thanks - I’ve now found the separate thread about this and realised its going to be difficult. She has been offered GSA and Urdang - her preference is GSA. I did notice someone say that some foundation students there had managed to get it so I guess we need to cross our fingers, but if we go ahead and she doesn’t its going to be very difficult.

[Marissa]

Still waiting to hear from Hammond

[Bean]

Hi
Yes I spent about 5 months arguing with the council for HB for Sidcup for Bird Foundation. Child can only earn about £50 before they take anything off benefit and amount you get depends on area. Full payment in Sidcup was £84.27 per week so helps towards accommodation. Its based on childs savings not parents (no more than £16,000K) If child got a job for £50 for weekly spend and HB helped with accommodation then just the tuition fee to pay which I know is still not easy.
x

Hi there - hello everyone
I’m new on here - I’ve been lurking for a while but I’ve been a bit too shy to post. I just wondered if you could tell me how you went about convincing the council that the foundation course was suitable for housing benefit. My DD has luckily received two offers for foundation this year - it’s her first year auditioning and we both know she isn’t quite ready for a three year course so in some ways has been really lucky. We can just about scrape together the money for the fees but paying for accommodation could be the thing between accepting or rejecting foundation and having a year off. I hadn’t heard of housing benefit being available until I saw it on here last week.
I might post this question separately too if I can figure out what I’m doing

If you scroll back there is a thread on housing benefit. My DD gets it for a foundation course. This was gained after an initial rejection and appeal. it is around £84 per week which does not cover her rent but does help a little - she is in halls of residence but a flat share could be cheaper. However I have liked her being in her hall flat as it is with other fellow Bird students - mostly foundation. Some councils seem to be better than others at sorting it out but be ready for a battle. You will need to fill in the form and have various documentation but will need to know where your DD is going to live to get started. It probably took 5 months to come through but was back dated. If your DD will be 18 all financial information is based on her income / finances. Send all mail by signed for to prove you sent it as there are deadlines and one time the council sent a letter to the wrong address for DD and it took 2 weeks to get to her. Your main point will be that a foundation course is not classed as higher education but that your DD is a full time student with no funding. You will find the information on the government benefit website.

Hi, Thank you, I’ve found the thread now. It’s clearly going to be tricky and not something we can sort out in advance so I guess we will have to cross our fingers and hope. A bit of a scary leap in the dark.....

[lawn]

Still waiting to hear from Hammond

Oh no. I logged in to find out if there'd been an update. Have you/your DD contacted them?

[Marissa]

Still waiting to hear from Hammond

Oh no. I logged in to find out if there'd been an update. Have you/your DD contacted them?

Emailed them on the weekend so they would revieve it on Monday x was hoping to hear by now x I guess we wait a few more days then phone? I'm guessing it's a def no but we just need to know x I know she would love to get a place there x

[Munchpot]

Emailed them on the weekend so they would revieve it on Monday x was hoping to hear by now x I guess we wait a few more days then phone? I'm guessing it's a def no but we just need to know x I know she would love to get a place there x

Have everything crossed for you Marissa

[kzgirl]

Still waiting to hear from Hammond

Oh no. I logged in to find out if there'd been an update. Have you/your DD contacted them?

Emailed them on the weekend so they would revieve it on Monday x was hoping to hear by now x I guess we wait a few more days then phone? I'm guessing it's a def no but we just need to know x I know she would love to get a place there x

They are taking a long time, I wonder if they just didn't let you know but thought they had. I think I would telephone asap now as if your DD was suppose to have received an offer they may think you have had an email when you haven't . Some of these places only give you a certain time limit to respond or you lose your place. My friends daughter lost her place at Italia Conti over an email confusion.

[Marissa]

Oh no. I logged in to find out if there'd been an update. Have you/your DD contacted them?

Emailed them on the weekend so they would revieve it on Monday x was hoping to hear by now x I guess we wait a few more days then phone? I'm guessing it's a def no but we just need to know x I know she would love to get a place there x

They are taking a long time, I wonder if they just didn't let you know but thought they had. I think I would telephone asap now as if your DD was suppose to have received an offer they may think you have had an email when you haven't . Some of these places only give you a certain time limit to respond or you lose your place. My friends daughter lost her place at Italia Conti over an email confusion.

I think I will get her to call tomorrow x

[coolcatsmomma]

Emailed them on the weekend so they would revieve it on Monday x was hoping to hear by now x I guess we wait a few more days then phone? I'm guessing it's a def no but we just need to know x I know she would love to get a place there x

They are taking a long time, I wonder if they just didn't let you know but thought they had. I think I would telephone asap now as if your DD was suppose to have received an offer they may think you have had an email when you haven't . Some of these places only give you a certain time limit to respond or you lose your place. My friends daughter lost her place at Italia Conti over an email confusion.

I think I will get her to call tomorrow x

Fingers well and truly crossed for you Marissa

[oscar]

Hi there - hello everyone
I’m new on here - I’ve been lurking for a while but I’ve been a bit too shy to post. I just wondered if you could tell me how you went about convincing the council that the foundation course was suitable for housing benefit. My DD has luckily received two offers for foundation this year - it’s her first year auditioning and we both know she isn’t quite ready for a three year course so in some ways has been really lucky. We can just about scrape together the money for the fees but paying for accommodation could be the thing between accepting or rejecting foundation and having a year off. I hadn’t heard of housing benefit being available until I saw it on here last week.
I might post this question separately too if I can figure out what I’m doing

Hi - I think it very much depends on the Local Authority where the course is based. Which colleges / local authorites are involved?

Hi thanks - I’ve now found the separate thread about this and realised its going to be difficult. She has been offered GSA and Urdang - her preference is GSA. I did notice someone say that some foundation students there had managed to get it so I guess we need to cross our fingers, but if we go ahead and she doesn’t its going to be very difficult.

Feel free to PM me about this .

[lawn]

Oh no. I logged in to find out if there'd been an update. Have you/your DD contacted them?

Emailed them on the weekend so they would revieve it on Monday x was hoping to hear by now x I guess we wait a few more days then phone? I'm guessing it's a def no but we just need to know x I know she would love to get a place there x

They are taking a long time, I wonder if they just didn't let you know but thought they had. I think I would telephone asap now as if your DD was suppose to have received an offer they may think you have had an email when you haven't . Some of these places only give you a certain time limit to respond or you lose your place. My friends daughter lost her place at Italia Conti over an email confusion.

I think this too. Sometimes emails go into your spam folder and then auto-delete after so long. Fingers crossed when you call you get some positive news. xx

[Marissa]

Thankyou all x