student finance application

Hi
My son moved in with his father for his last year before university, having always been with me prior to that. My ex is now pressuring me to make the student finance application from my address. (My son would then get a full loan rather than half). Obviously I want to help my child but this makes me anxious. They are both telling me it is fine - that he (my son) can choose which parent to apply from and can just say he spends more time with me - but he is registered for Child Benefit and CMS (for less than 100 nights per year with me) at his father's address so i am pretty sure this isn't a wise course. But i am really feeling the pressure right now.
(He wont' be living with either of us when he is actually at uni but in a different city).
I have rung Student Finance over and over and not yet managed to speak to someone who knows the answer. I'm really hoping someone on here can advise! Especially if anyone can point me towards something in writing. The government's own wording is very vague and does indeed seem to support what they are saying.
Many many thanks

I thought it had to be the resident parent's income that was used... so I don't think they can do this if your son is not living with you?

Student finance isn’t what it used to be. There are no grants now, just loans which the student has to repay over the years once earning a certain amount. The amount of the loan is based on the parents income on the basis that a parent earning a good salary will top up their child’s money each month to a level on which they can survive. If your ex earns a high salary and your son applies from his address, it will be your son who suffers by having less loan to live on unless you or your ex give him extra money to help him out. By applying from your address with the lower salary, this will give your son a bigger loan and more money to live on each month.
Child benefit won’t come into it as once your son is of university age it is no longer paid.
As it’s a loan and not a grant I cannot see an issue with this as it will all be repaid by your son.
I know which I would do if it were my son and I know many more parents that have done exactly the same and there have been no problems doing it
Hope that helps you make your decision.

Thank you Seeingawaythrough and Limpycat - much appreciated! And helpful.
I'm going to leave what i found out here for anyone else who finds themself in this position. I spoke to Student Finance at length and anonymously and they told me-
If my son were to apply from my address and it was not his full legal address (ie the address where he is registered for Child Benefit or CMS) then he would get the full loan and then they would catch the fraud maybe even as much as 18 months down the line because they do check such things. My son would then have an overpayment sanction which HE (not a parent) would be expected to pay straightaway. And that could be a lot especially if he has drawn down more than one year. This overpayment is treated as such and not as a loan. And the situation could affect completion of his degree if further loans were refused which i was told is commonplace. Not a situation you'd want to put your child in.
Unfortunately my ex has no intention of making up the difference on the loan my kid gets based on his income. So none of it great.
Best of luck out there!

So the answer is simple. Have your son move back to live with you while he is at uni. It will make no difference who he lives with for his main legal residence as he will be living away for the entire year in uni accommodation so he won’t actually be residing at either parents address anyway. Once he’s 18 and left school there are no cms or child benefit claims so that part doesn’t make any sense at all ? Teenagers often move from one parent to the other or live across both parents addresses, it’s nothing unusual. You say your ex (and I assume yourself aswell) won’t make up the shortfall when your son gets a lesser amount of loan to live on so it’s only him that will suffer in all this.
Like I say, if your son changes his legal address to live with you again the problem is solved as whoever’s address he legally has as his main residence, he won’t even be living there as he’ll be living miles away in student accommodation !

Yes. But i have to change his address legally which means I have to change the CMS and CB over to me. (That, and bank accounts, is how Student Finance check address for the student. This is the only reason i am talking about these entities here).
I am very happy to do this. My ex has said no. He thinks i am trying to scam him for July/August's CMS/CB - all £298pm of it. (I kept our personal stuff out of here because that is the nonsense that it is).
I'm not sure why you assume i won't make up the shortfall? I always have and will again. I'd be happier though with an application made properly from my address - then there would be no shortfall.

Would it work if you offered to pay over the £298? I think there's a real problem, as you've identified, if your address is used and it doesn't match up.

Hope you can get it all worked out, it sounds a right PITA.