student funding

[taimatsu]

argh! a random university website tells me that for students who have previously withdrawn from a degree course in their second or subsequent year, funding for a new course will be witheld until they reach the same point in the new course as they did in the old. That means I'd get nothing till the final term of my second year. Argh! must find out if this is correct!

Update: Can't find info on that at the moment, but worse news; I won't count as a mature or independent student, so my hopes of financial independence from my parents are dashed. I'd have to be over 25, or have supported myself for three years, or be married, or an orphan.

Argh. Scuppered. Now what do I do? I wanted to be self-supporting and independent so that I did not feel obliged to involve my parents' opinions in my decision-making because they were supporting me. But it seems unless I want another two and a half years or so I can't avoid having their income assessed when my financial support is calculated, which means I will get the minimum loan and no help with fees. Therefore I won't be anle to manage at all without their help. AAAARGH. Damn it!

Comments

[karen2205]

How about trying Open University study to start with? The courses are modular - you do have to pay for them, but it's not too bad because you can work while you do that (and there are ways to apply for support - that don't appear to take a/c of parental income). They'll also allow you to transfer credit from the study you've already done. Then once you've reached the right point in the course to qualify for support you can apply to go back to a 'normal' uni - joining in the end of the second/third year. Probably not an ideal solution, but just my musings while bored at work....

[aendr.livejournal.com]

My sister got funding somehow, being estranged from her parent. However, I tihnk that requires being estranged.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

students who have previously withdrawn from a degree course in their second or subsequent year

I'm 99.9% certain I told you this a while ago (like, while you were at New).

Now what do I do?

Get married.

[borusa.livejournal.com]

My (admittedly sketchy) reading of the NUS and some other websites confirms this. If you drop out/switch courses later than 12 months after the commencement date, then your LEA is not obligated to pay your tuition fees for the restart, but only for the remaining time on your course.

Robert
*unconvinced about the "marriage" option*

[borusa.livejournal.com]

Put fairly bluntly, your options are as follows

1) Get a job (a better paying one than your present one, preferably) and survive for the next three years. You could do evening or part time courses as access if that's the kind of thing you want to do.
2) Talk to your parents. It may be that they're willing to stump up the fairly hefty sums of cash, if you were sure it was what you wanted to do.

And, to be frank, that's the kicker.

You need to figure out what it is you want to do. And you need to be sure about it, and not rush in to something.

And when you get there, you need to accept that it isn't going to be the perfect thing you might dream it as being. If you're lucky, and you've picked well, it'll be pretty darn good.

Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you in any way I can. But nobody, not me, not your parents, can support you in anything, until you know what it is you want to do.

So...

You have to (almost literally) buy yourself enough time to do that.

You aren't going back to university this september. I really suggest that you wash that. That's got you approximately 9 months of breathing space. Ideally, you want to be paying your own way during that time. It'll take pressure of you, and pressure of your parents.

I'd suggest making that your first goal. There may be some things you have to sacrifice to acheive that. One of those things is that you will almost certainly have to work full time or as near as damnit. For example, the thing you do on Thursdays is, at the moment, costing you UKP60.75 a week, excluding the actual cost of doing it. That's 240 pounds a month. (minus tax and NI, so actually probably closer to 180).

As I said, though, whatever you want to do, I'll support and help you in any way I can.

*hug*

Robert

[gnimmel.livejournal.com]

There are often grants available for a small number of people in a specialist area to do university courses[1] -- maybe it's worth checking whether there might be such a thing could apply to you? Don't nkow if there's a centralised listing, though.

[1]Eg. the Fiffney-Waffle grant for women of asian origin from Loughborough to study mechanical engineering, etc., etc.

[taimatsu]

I believe there exists a Directory of Grant-Making Trusts, and when the time comes I will certainly look at it :)