THIS TRANSCRIPT IS ISSUED ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT IS TAKEN FROM A LIVE PROGRAMME AS IT WAS BROADCAST. THE NATURE OF LIVE BROADCASTING MEANS THAT NEITHER THE BBC NOR THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROGRAMME CAN GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION HERE. MONEY BOX LIVE Presenter: VINCENT DUGGLEBY TRANSMISSION 20 SEPTEMBER 2004 3.00-3.30 BBC RADIO 4 DUGGLEBY: Good afternoon. Apart from pensions, which we’ll be dealing with next week, one of the hottest political potatoes concerns funding for students. The major changes are due to come into force in 2 years time, but they’ll have an impact on your plans long before then and will of course depend on the result of the next election. So on this Money Box Live, hopefully we’ll be able to offer a mixture of advice for those starting at college in the next few weeks, as well as taking a longer term view on the financial pressures to come – especially important for parents with two or more teenage children. You’re very welcome to call the programme on 08700 100 444. The immediate concern of most students will no doubt centre on how to make ends meet on a mixture of loans and overdrafts, supplemented perhaps by some part-time work and the odd grant. This could come from the new Access to Learning Fund, which replaces the old Hardship Loans, and is non-repayable. Help from parents may be limited and means testing resented. Sooner or later bank loans have to be repaid, and whatever concessions and freebies are offered during your course conditions are likely to become much tougher once you’ve graduated. The National Union of Students reckons that a full-time student living outside London will need something between 6 and £10,000 per academic year, rising to as much as £18,000 if you’re a medic. And from 2006, there’ll be tuition fees of up to £3,000 on top. Many students graduate owing more than £15,000 now, and clearly it’s going to get a lot higher if the Government of the day maintain the proposed funding framework. By all means call if you have a problem with debt or you need advice on handling your term-time finances. And specialising in that area and with me in the studio: Lindsay Fidler- Baker, a researcher for the NUS; Madeleine Parkinson, student adviser from Thames Valley University; and Ahmed Bhut from the Mary Ward Legal Centre in London. And Maria, or Mariah, in St. Albans, you’ve got the first call. MARIA: Hello. DUGGLEBY: Hello. MARIA: Can you help me with a kind of formula or rule for knowing how much parents should provide for personal funding per month to allow for a social life for a student in catered halls, and roughly how many hours is it reasonable to expect him to work to help himself? DUGGLEBY: Well let’s first of all ask you, Lindsay. What does a student get as of right without any parental contribution at all? FIDLER-BAKER: Without parental contribution? Maria, can I just ask is your son starting university this year? MARIA: Yes, he is. FIDLER-BAKER: He is. So he’ll fall into the new regime. There is actually a means tested grant of up to £1,000 – excuse me – available to students this year. DUGGLEBY: That’s the Access to Learning? FIDLER-BAKER: That’s the statutory HE grants of up to £1,000 available. And there’s also the maximum grants. Maria, is your son in London, studying in London or outside London? MARIA: No, he’s outside. FIDLER-BAKER: Outside London. And is he living … will he be living with you? MARIA: No, he’ll be living in catered halls. FIDLER-BAKER: Okay. So he’s looking at a loan of up to £4,095 for next year. Now we do at NUS a average costs of study, and for a student outside London we put that at £8,584 a year, but that would include the tuition fee. DUGGLEBY: That’s a £3,000 shortfall then, is that right? FIDLER-BAKER: That’s with the £1,150 tuition fee. DUGGLEBY: Okay, so the starting point for you, Maria, would be £3,000 to supplement it, or a job which would contribute towards that deficit. MARIA: It’s a lot of money. DUGGLEBY: Well yes, I mean how you’re going to carve that up, I don’t know. Many students will work in the summer long vacation, but it’s obviously dependent on whether he wants to travel. FIDLER-BAKER: Certainly. Yes, I mean the majority of students do work at some point during their course. Over half work during term- time, and up to 85% the figure is at the moment for working during vacations. Average hours - about 12 to 13 hours a week of paid work. MARIA: During term-time? FIDLER-BAKER: That’s right. DUGGLEBY: I take it, you don’t want your son to graduate with debt. Is that right? MARIA: Well no, but I think he’s going to. DUGGLEBY: Okay. A word from you then, Ahmed. He’s going to graduate with debt? Keep it at a minimum, I suppose? BHUT: I think, Maria, you don’t really have a choice really. I think it’s pretty much expected that every student is going to have some level of debt and there’s not much you can do to really avoid that. If he works too hard, then he’s not going to get the qualification that he probably wants. DUGGLEBY: So is the message for students then actually not to be frightened of debt? BHUT: I think it’s part and parcel of living in today’s society. DUGGLEBY: Okay. Madeleine? PARKINSON: Yeah, I was just going to say there’s other benefits to working as well; that it does actually give you quite good experience to get out there in the workplace too. So it might actually be beneficial for your son to do some part-time work as long as it doesn’t affect his course work too much. DUGGLEBY: Okay, that’s fine. Just a specific question to you, Lindsay. ‘Is there’, writes an e-mailer, ‘a formal sort of living guide to expenses – you know expenses guide that you publish that’s available on the website?’ Can they access it? FIDLER-BAKER: We do. On our website we do have the average cost of study as well as budgeting tips for students. DUGGLEBY: Right, so there is something they can look at. So I’m sure your website is connected to ours and we’ll have a mention of that at the end of the programme. Okay, Peter now. You’re calling now from Pontypridd. PETER: The oft quoted statement that students graduate with average debts of 10 to £12,000 is far too nebulous to be of practical value to those of us who have to plan the costs of being a student. Could we please have an overall annual estimate of the total costs of university education? DUGGLEBY: Yes. Now there is a reason for this. It’s not actually terribly easy to calculate, bearing in mind the difference in lengths of courses, the different types of courses, the different costs involved. But I think it’s a fair point, isn’t it - well over to you, Madeleine – that there is a big difference and some people say 10, some people say 15, some people say higher? And why is this? I mean are there any reasons? PARKINSON: Well it is difficult to estimate. I mean, for example, I work at a London university where the costs of living … For example rent cost is quite a lot higher than it would be in a lot of other places in the country, so you could be looking at £80 to £85 a week for average accommodation there. And, again, like you say, it depends on what kind of course you do. A photography degree will have a lot of expensive equipment and materials throughout the course of the course. But if it’s just where you’re working on books that you can get from the library, it’s not going to cost you as much. So it does vary. But the loan is between 4 and £5,000 per year, so you’re going to end up with between sort of 15 and £20,000, I think, of debt at the end of it. DUGGLEBY: Yes. As I said at the beginning of the programme, I researched this a bit, Peter, and I came up with a sort of ball park figure of about £15,000, which is perhaps a little bit higher than we mentioned in the first answer. That’s the sort of amount parents might have to find at £3,000 a year. It does vary. Is there any sort of scientific evidence for how you arrived at your figures, Lindsay, at the NUS? FIDLER-BAKER: We use primary research sources, so we’ll look at what the latest research is on costs of study; and if there hasn’t been any research that year, we’ll update them with inflation. But I mean, as I mentioned, these are national averages. And, as Peter quite rightly points out, when you’re looking at a specific course and a specific location, my advice would be to approach that specific university and ask for what the local living costs would be … DUGGLEBY: Right, yes. FIDLER-BAKER: …and then further ask the course what the course requirements are going to be in terms of equipment. DUGGLEBY: And indeed the NUS, the representatives at the university. You would go and say … FIDLER-BAKER: That’s right – the students union. DUGGLEBY: The students union, yeah. Peter, does that make it a bit easier for you? PETER: Yes, thank you. Thank you very much. DUGGLEBY: Alright, nice to hear from you. And Margaret now. You’re in Oswestry in Shropshire. MARGARET: Hello. DUGGLEBY: Hello. MARGARET: My daughter’s at Liverpool University and her allocation for loan was reduced due to her parents’ income. I was wondering how they justify this? DUGGLEBY: Well it’s the means test, isn’t it? Obviously that’s why it’s been reduced. FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, Margaret, 25% of the student loan is means tested, so what that will mean is no matter what your family income is, if your daughter’s outside London, she will get a guaranteed amount, but 25% of the loan amount will indeed be means tested. That means test is applied after the means test to the grant for tuition fees, so it usually is on higher income families. But yes, I’m afraid there is a means test that applies there. MARGARET: Well what happens to students who have wealthy but uncooperative parents? DUGGLEBY: Madeleine? PARKINSON: I’m afraid there’s not an awful lot that the students can actually do. Those parents are expected to help their offspring in the way that the LEA asks them to with that contribution, and there’s not much that can happen with the shortfall. The student may be able to apply to the Access to Learning Fund, which is a kind of hardship fund at the university, and they may be able to take into account (if the parent isn’t making contributions) if there’s specific circumstances. But otherwise the parent is expected to help out. If you’re concerned, then you could always ask the local education authority to double check their calculations, or if your income has changed dramatically since the paperwork that they were using to make the assessment, then they might be able to do a reassessment possibly. MARGARET: Yes, I’m more concerned really … We’re self- employed as farmers and our income obviously varies enormously from year to year and season to season, and you know we can’t be the only parents in this particular situation. DUGGLEBY: That’s a slightly different issue. It is an important one and this is the fluctuating income rules, which means that you can go back and get a reassessment. Is that right? PARKINSON: Yeah, I mean parents can ask for a current year financial assessment if their income is 85%, I believe, of what it was the previous financial year. DUGGLEBY: So that covers that eventuality if that applies to you, Margaret. MARGARET: Okay. DUGGLEBY: Okay, we’ve got an e-mail from Sue saying ‘my son’s completed his first year as a student for which he received a loan of about £3,000, but to date he has not received any statements. Should he expect a statement and how could he find out how much he owes? Lindsay? FIDLER-BAKER: If you’d like to check how much he owes, the best thing to do would be to contact the Student Loans Company directly and ask for an update. The interest will be accumulating on the loan from the day he received it, so he needs to look at not only the actual capital amount that he’s taken out but also the accumulating interest. But if he contacts the SLC, they should be able to give him a current amount. DUGGLEBY: And to you Ahmed specifically, some tips on repaying this … if you like this collection of loans that are accumulated - I mean bank loans and student loans. How do you prioritise them? BHUT: I think the priority debt would be those debts, not necessarily the student loans but housing. You need to keep a roof over your head, you need to keep the utilities going. Once you’ve paid … once you’ve done that, then obviously you look at the student loan. DUGGLEBY: The student loan’s probably the cheapest though, isn’t it? BHUT: It’s the cheapest, so it can really sort of stay on a back burner for quite a long while. There is some talk about people wanting to declare themselves bankrupt. That particular loophole is now closed. The Higher Education Act 2000-2004 closed that this month, so that’s no longer a possibility you know despite the talk over the last few months with the increased numbers of students. DUGGLEBY: But the message basically is pay off the most expensive loans first and leave the cheapest till last if you can? BHUT: If you can, yes. DUGGLEBY: And there’s also, I believe, there’s a change in the income limits for repaying debt. Is that right? FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, that’s right. From April 05, the income threshold after which you’ll have to repay your loan is going up to £15,000. DUGGLEBY: So anybody earning less than that when they graduate and take their first job, there’s no repayment of that bit of debt? FIDLER-BAKER: That’s right, yes. DUGGLEBY: So that at least relieves you of that, although of course no doubt the banks may not take such a charitable view of the need to repay. Back to you, Ahmed. BHUT: I just want to add a bit to what Lindsay said earlier on about getting information out of the Student Loan Company. All loans are regulated under the Consumer Credit Act, so you’ve got the provision to actually get that information, a statement of account to find out what your current balance is plus interest from the loan company. DUGGLEBY: Jolly good. Okay. Now then, Brian in Frodsham. BRIAN: Yes, good afternoon. DUGGLEBY: Good afternoon. BRIAN: I have a son who will be taking his A levels next year, but he’s thinking of deferring entry to university thereafter for another year. The question is this: if he defers entry and therefore goes to university in 2006, would he go under the new financing arrangements or the current ones? DUGGLEBY: There are specific transition rules. Who’s going to tell us about them? Lindsay, these transition rules for those who are taking a gap year? FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, the rules are that if a student defers their place, so basically if they agree to a place at university before 1st August 2005, they can come under the current student support rules, so they won’t be subject to the increased tuition fees. DUGGLEBY: But the key is you’ve got to get your place confirmed. Is that right? FIDLER-BAKER: It needs to be confirmed. And after that, you need to actually … when you actually do attend in September 06, you have to go to the same course that you deferred. So you can’t then decide to go to another course at that institution. It must be the same course. DUGGLEBY: Okay, so have you got that date firmly written down, Brian? BRIAN: I have, but can I just ask one more question about this? I think there’s two ways of deferring entry: you can either put on your UCAS application that you’re deferring entry; or you can apply as if to go next year and thereafter make arrangements with the universities to put it back a year. Does it make any difference which way you approach it in terms of the answer you’ve already given me? PARKINSON: No, as far as we understand it works the same regardless of which way you’ve decided to do the deferral. As long as you’ve received written confirmation from the institution of the deferred place – so as long as your son receives that by 1st August 2005, our understanding is that it doesn’t matter which method you’ve used for deferring the place. BRIAN: Okay, thank you very much. DUGGLEBY: Okay. An e-mail from Bob says ‘to gain a place in most art degree courses at university, students first normally have to attend a 1 year art foundation course at a further education college. My daughter, Gillian, will complete her A levels in the summer of 2005, then wants to pursue this path, and we understand that she’ll have to pay the full top up fees when she starts university proper in 2006. Is there any way to avoid this?’ FIDLER-BAKER: I’m afraid I can’t think of any way of avoiding that. If she wants to go to an institution in England and potentially Wales, although that is actually to be confirmed, the only thing I could suggest is perhaps looking at institutions in Scotland or Northern Ireland might be the other thing to do. DUGGLEBY: Yeah, well of course the rules are completely different there. I didn’t want to go down that path too far. With apologies to our listeners in Scotland. Obviously there are different rules here, and although we have a limited knowledge of it, it’s not the primary function of this programme. I’m sorry about that. Vivienne, your call now from Chippenham in Wiltshire. VIVIENNE: Good afternoon. DUGGLEBY: Good afternoon. VIVIENNE: I wonder if the panel could give any general advice for mature students? For instance, I found out recently, by coincidence, that if you’re still living at home, you’re entitled to a 25% discount on your council tax, and I wonder if there are any other discounts that I may not be aware of. DUGGLEBY: Let’s try Ahmed on that one. BHUT: Hi, Vivienne. You’re quite right – the 25% discount does apply. And I’m thinking … DUGGLEBY: It’s a student discount for people in full-time education? BHUT: For full-time education. DUGGLEBY: Lindsay, you’re just frowning a little. Are you not sure about the mature student bit? FIDLER-BAKER: Well it’s just there are caveats around that. Just to say that there would need … If there’s a sole … If there’s someone else who is a non-student living in the house with the student, the student will be invisible under those circumstances … DUGGLEBY: Right, so that’s the single person’s discount of 25%? FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, the single person’s discount will be given to the other person. DUGGLEBY: So the student is disregarded. But if there were parents in there … If you’ve got two adults and say a student child, it doesn’t matter because …? FYLDER-BAKER: No. DUGGLEBY: Yeah, so it’s only for a lone parent or one parent? FIDLER-BAKER: If there’s one other person. DUGGLEBY: One other person? FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, yes. VIVIENNE: Right, I see. DUGGLEBY: So that’s quite important. But this question of mature students. Obviously it’s been raised by a number of people and the question we always get asked, Madeleine, is you know what’s in it for us because they don’t get these … they don’t get the grants. Is anything much changing in 2006 as far as they’re concerned? PARKINSON: I’m not sure about in terms of 2006. I mean mature students really are treated like the other students in terms of say for this year. They will also be eligible to apply for the higher education grant of £1,000. That’s means tested. DUGGLEBY: It’s not the loans. They can’t get the loans any more? PARKINSON: They can get the loans. DUGGLEBY: They can get the loans? PARKINSON: Yeah and help with the tuition fees. But also, if you’re a mature student, do you have children or other adult dependents? DUGGLEBY: Yeah. PARKINSON: Yeah, I mean if you have children then you may be able to get help with the cost of childcare and also a parents’ learning allowance visit, which is an additional grant. Also an adult dependence grant if you’ve got, for example, a spouse that’s financially dependent on you. DUGGLEBY: And that’s of course a different question from another one that comes up pretty regularly, and that’s this question of the second or the subsequent degree courses, the second time round as it were, because that’s where you start to lose out a bit, don’t you? FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, absolutely. There is also another means test, a separate means test that applies to independent students, or if you’re 25 or over you actually come under a different means test than you would as a dependent student. You’re allowed £10,000 worth of income before your student support’s affected. DUGGLEBY: Okay. And the other thing of course is the age limit. There is an age limit on this, isn’t there, for mature students, I think? FIDLER-BAKER: The student loans? DUGGLEBY: Yes. FIDLER-BAKER: There is indeed. You can get a student loan up to the age of 50. If you’re aged 50 to 54, you can get a student loan as long as you declare you will be seeking work after you’ve completed your course. DUGGLEBY: Right. Okay, just put that qualification in in case we get called up on that one. Right, Mike in Crediton, you’ve got our next call. MIKE: Hello. Good afternoon. DUGGLEBY: Good afternoon. MIKE: My daughter’s starting university this term. I’m divorced and my ex-wife remarried and the means test obviously is taken from their household earnings. Now it’s come out that she’s on the 75% - not obviously – and they’re having to pay the eleven hundred and fifty pounds tuition fees. Now I feel I’ve always had a good relationship with my family and my ex-wife and they’re sort of expecting me to contribute and it’s very difficult because I am on a very low income, and is there any kind of appeal or is there any room for manoeuvre on the means test in a situation like this? DUGGLEBY: Your daughter is living with her mother and stepfather, is that right? MIKE: That’s right, yes. DUGGLEBY: Okay. How does the means test work then because obviously Mike … is he party to this means test any more? PARKINSON: The means test should only apply for the parent that your daughter lives with mainly. DUGGLEBY: Okay, stop there. She’s definitely living with the mother and stepfather, is that right? MIKE: Yes. DUGGLEBY: She doesn’t live with you? MIKE: No. DUGGLEBY: Right, so Mike’s out of the equation then? PARKINSON: Yes, as far as I can see. Yes, it should be on your ex-wife and her new partner’s income from this year. DUGGLEBY: If that’s the case, you’re saying that they’re sort of putting you under a bit of moral pressure to contribute? MIKE: You could put it like that, yes. DUGGLEBY: Human life, isn’t it, Lindsay? That’s the sort of difficulties one comes up against when students are caught between two systems: one, the state won’t give you any money; and, two, the parents can’t afford it. FIDLER-BAKER: Yes. MIKE: The problem for me is if I do try to afford it and sort of you know bend over backwards to try and help as much as I can, it’s going to go on … Well I know the law changes in a couple of years time, but then I have a son who I hope will follow in my daughter’s footsteps, so that I’m looking at 6 years ahead and it’s a point of concern to me. DUGGLEBY: Yes and the debt’s going to … the costs going to … We can say one thing with absolute certainty: the cost is going to get higher. MIKE: Indeed, yes. DUGGLEBY: Any tips you can give here? Is there anything we can do? FIDLER-BAKER: Well I mean, as we’ve said, there is no legal obligation Mike for you to make a contribution, but I mean if you feel that you would like to in some form it might be worth you talking to your ex-wife and her partner about what the financial need is for your children and perhaps come to some arrangement over the next few years that is manageable for you. Or think about whether you’d be better contributing to their welfare once they have graduated would be another thing. DUGGLEBY: A question which might concern Mike, which has come in on e-mail, and that is ‘is there any merit in parents’, Ahmed, ‘guaranteeing students debts?’ Is there any merit in that at all of perhaps getting cheaper rates? BHUT: It depends on who you’re advising, I suppose. If you’re advising the student, yes; and if you’re advising the parent, no. DUGGLEBY: Okay. Well I suppose it’s pretty straightforward. So we wouldn’t advise Mike to get into debt to help his child because it probably would be more expensive in the long run. BHUT: No. There is something that just occurred to me now. I’m not quite sure if I gave it more thought whether I’d change my mind, but the courts often look at a family break up and make arrangements for maintenance of children. Now although I’m not aware of any cases involving student loans where the courts have been involved in apportioning resources from the parents to the children, but I can’t see any reason why that wouldn’t work out. The courts would be the objective arbiter in the system. DUGGLEBY: So it could be built into a divorce settlement that there was some support from the parent, the divorced parent? BHUT: The divorced parents. DUGGLEBY: Well it probably doesn’t concern you, Mike, but just a thought for anybody listening who is perhaps looking ahead and perhaps their marriage is breaking up and they’re wondering whether this should be part of it. Yes, an interesting thought just to have a word with a solicitor and see whether perhaps provision might be made. Sally in West Sussex, your call. SALLY: We have two daughters, both in university. One’s going back for the second year and one’s going back for her third year. The third year student has received a letter from her university, which is De Montfort in Leicester, saying they want us to pay (as parents), want us to pay the full amount of fees up front and then get a credit from the Student Loan Company next year. We haven’t had any such communication from Leeds, which is where our other daughter is, and we’re wondering can De Montfort actually demand this because we at this present moment in time still haven’t had any assessments or any letters from our LEA, West Sussex, to say what loans the girls are going to get and what fees we’re expected to pay? DUGGLEBY: Saturday Money Box drew attention to a problem with the paperwork from some local authorities. Would it be to do with that, do you think Lindsay? FIDLER-BAKER: The delay on the student loan payment could possibly be because of the problems that the LEAs … DUGGLEBY: They’re just not processing .. the LEAs aren’t processing the applications. FIDLER-BAKER: There have been problems with some LEAs in how quickly they can process applications. DUGGLEBY: Could that cause De Montfort to trigger the payment? FIDLER-BAKER: I just need to ask a few questions, Sally, if I could just clarify that? SALLY: Yes, that’s fine. FIDLER-BAKER: Has your daughter started? SALLY: She moved this Thursday. And we’ve got a letter here saying all full-time undergraduate students have got an invoice and they’ve got to pay it all at enrolment even if you’re responsible for payment of all or part of your fees. And that we’ve got to wait till the Student Loan Company refunds us next February 2005. FIDLER-BAKER: And are you expecting to get some Government support for the fees? SALLY: I’m expecting the LEA to pay part of the fees, yes, in both cases because I mean with having two daughters at university full-time … FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, it’s a split contribution. Yes, yes, okay. Well all I would say is that the Department for Education and Skills has written to institutions to ask them to be sympathetic on tuition fee payments this year because of the delays that LEAs are having processing applications. So I would go back to the institution and ask to make an arrangement about paying tuition fees. SALLY: Right. So do they have any legal obligation to do this … I mean can they legally do this, or you know is it just because there’s been all this fuss about you know the student loan applications have been taking so long? DUGGLEBY: The failure of computers, yeah. Ahmed, legal position on enforcing fees? I suppose in theory they can enforce them, but it seems a bit unlikely. BHUT: I would have thought it’s going to be difficult. It depends on the contract in the end. If the contract that you’ve got with them says that you’ll pay their fees irrespective of where the funds are going to be received from, I suppose they could technically do that. But you know in the studio we all seem very puzzled about this. DUGGLEBY: I would have thought I’d make a beeline for the student adviser on the campus who can consult a lawyer, if necessary, or something like that. I mean it seems a bit extreme, but … PARKINSON: Yeah, I mean certainly just to say it seems a little bit unreasonable. Most universities seem to year on year make arrangements for students that haven’t got their assessment yet to pay a little bit later – to be able to enrol and perhaps set up a standing order for the fees, which hopefully they won’t have to pay because they’ll have got their paperwork from their LEA in time. So, yes, certainly go and see a student services or students union and get them to put your case forward. DUGGLEBY: Okay, several e-mails coming in to us on tax on jobs both during university term-time and in the vacations. They’re saying why should we pay all this tax up front when we’re not going to be liable to tax? Can you answer that one, Lindsay? FIDLER-BAKER: Well … DUGGLEBY: They are liable to tax obviously, but they can get a form … They can fill in a form – I think it’s a P38 – which says they don’t have to pay it, but not if they have two jobs. FIDLER-BAKER: Well I think it’s probably worth saying that the students themselves aren’t exempt from paying tax. It’s still in terms of the income that they might earn during the year. So, unfortunately, it’s assumed that you might accumulate that income. DUGGLEBY: Right. But they can sign a form if they’re definitely not going to accumulate that much? FIDLER-BAKER: That’s absolutely right. DUGGLEBY: And also there is another thing, which we know from one of our tax contacts, that they are looking into this whole problem - the question of taxing students on their earnings - and there is talk about bringing in what’s called a student tax code, which is a preferred means of sort of treating them within the tax system like an ordinary earner when they wouldn’t of course have to pay any tax unless their earnings were over a certain level. FIDLER-BAKER: Yes, the Inland Revenue are aware of this. DUGGLEBY: They’re aware of that, are they? FIDLER-BAKER: And they’ve published specific information for students on their website. DUGGLEBY: Okay. We’re rapidly running out of time, I’m afraid. Christopher, we’ll take your call next. CHRISTOPHER: Oh good afternoon. Yeah, I’ve been at university now for 2 years and last year I rented a house from a letting agent. Recently I’ve just got the deposit back through the post, and it’s been docked about half of what it is and no kind of advice why this money’s been taken. DUGGLEBY: Okay. Yeah, well I think enough said. Ahmed, advice on getting the deposit back? BHUT: Hi Christopher. The reason for docking it probably has to do with the condition of the property after you left. If the property was left in you know brilliant condition, spick and span, no reason for the money to be docked, then you simply put the landlord on notice that you’re going to sue if you don’t get your deposit back, go down to your county court and issue a small claim. It’s that simple. Pop into the CAB to get some quick advice about completing your summons. DUGGLEBY: Madeleine? PARKINSON: Yeah, just to say I mean also your student services, student advisor would probably be able to assist you with that. And it’s often good to perhaps not go straight down the lines of sort of threatening legal action. If you write a letter …. DUGGLEBY: There is some legislation coming in actually on this, isn’t there? PARKINSON: …If you write a letter, they’ll probably be reasonable and they should only take money for reasonable wear and tear, so if you’ve got photos or any evidence then it might be worth citing that. DUGGLEBY: Yeah Lindsay? FIDLER-BAKER: The current housing bill, which should be passed by the Queen’s speech in November, has a tenancy deposit scheme built in that and we’re hoping to specifically get a student specific tenancy deposit scheme set up. DUGGLEBY: Okay. And if you can do it in about 15 seconds, Lindsay, there’s several questions about the EMA. That’s the … Oh gosh, I can’t remember what it stands for. Anyway, can you quickly say what the rules are and the various areas they’re in? FIDLER BAKER: Education Maintenance Allowances, which is a national funding scheme from this September for FE students. It’ll be £30 a week for 16 to 19 year olds, but this year only 16 year olds can apply nationally. DUGGLEBY: Okay. Sorry we can’t give you any more information on that, but many thanks to you Lindsay Fidler-Baker from the NUS, Madeleine Parkinson from Thames University and Ahmed Bhut from the Mary Ward Legal Centre. The BBC website: bbc.co.uk/moneybox is there to help. Our information line: 0800 044 044. Paul Lewis with Money Box at noon on Saturday. I’ll be back same time next Monday afternoon.