The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
19-21 Broad Street | St Helier Jersey | JE2 3RR
Deputy Catherine Curtis
Chair of the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel
By email only 4th October 2022
Dear Chair,
Student Finance and university grant confirmations
Thank you for your letter of 27th September requesting information and statistics on the above subject. Please see the below information and do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information.
- How many university / higher education students have received confirmation of their funding from Student Finance for the academic year 2022/23?
As of 28th September 2022, 883 claims have been completed and received confirmation of their funding from Student Finance.
- If possible, please could you outline the average turnaround time for the first-year applications, once confirmation of exam results and the university offer letter has been received by Student Finance?
Once all necessary documentation has been received, this year it has taken about 2-3 weeks to assess and produce the award letter.
- Please could you outline the turnaround time for any subsequent year (i.e. second / third year) applications, once the annual income statement has been received by Student Finance?
Again, once all necessary documentation has been received, this year it has taken about 2-3 weeks to assess and produce the award letter. There is one more step for returning students, they need to also include evidence of passing the previous year.
- How many university / higher education Student Finance applications are still to be processed for the academic year 2022/23? If possible, please provide a breakdown between i) first year students / applications and ii) applications for subsequent academic years.
As of 28th September 2022, there are 642 claims still requiring further information from the student or waiting to be assessed.
- At present, the timescale indicated on the relevant Student Finance page of gov.je indicates that Student, parents and uni/college are notified of what funding they will receive in "Summer". Would you consider to committing to a more specific timescale for the grant confirmations next year?
Student Finance recently moved to CLS and yes, I am fully committed to improving the service before the commencement of the next academic year, including a more specific timescale and increased communications to applicants.
The current process to apply for Student Finance is a combination of e-forms and paper forms being completed, then manual input of data. CLS are working at pace to further streamline the process with more e-forms alongside improved communication with applicants.
I appreciate the experience for students and families applying for Student Finance is not always as positive as we would like it to be, despite the best efforts of the small team who do work hard to deliver the best service. I am confident that CLS will use their vast experience on transactional process improvements to deliver sustained and substantive improvement for Student Finance going forward. I will update the Panel on this work early in the New Year.
Yours sincerely,
Deputy Inna Gardiner
Minister for Children and Education
D +44 (0)1534 440152 E I. Gardiner @gov.je