I studied for an HND and graduated 12 years ago, this automatically gave me entry to year 2 of a BA hons degree. I only completed a few months due to personal reasons.
I have been offered a place at Uni to study for a BA Hons in another subject. As my first course was carried out in Scotland (no tuition fees there) will I be able to claim for funding in England?
My LEA couldn’t give me advice and when I checked the Direct Gov finance calculator I was told that I could receive help as I hadn’t applied for funding from Student Finance previously.
I have 2 mortgage style loans from Student Loans which have been deferred as I don’t earn enough to make repayments. I haven’t had a deferment form for some time as they went to my late mothers house so I may be in arrears with them.
I am a single parent to a 18 month baby and I would love to get my degree to get a better job and better lifestyle for us both.
Can someone please give me advice, genuine answers only please!
Many thanks
Some great advice given, some of it conflicting but I’ll call Student Finance England tomorrow and hopefully get a firm definite answer. Fingers crossed!
In response to the tip of working, I do work afternoons and would be studying over a couple of evenings. It will take longer to complete but won’t disrupt mine and my sons routine too much!
Thanks again for contact details and advice given.
Consider a professional and career development loan. Check sources for more info. Unfortunately, it is unlikely you will be able to qualify for Student Finance as you had already borrowed from them.. but I’m unsure as you do not have a first degree strictly speaking. Double check with them to make sure:
Student finance: 0845 300 50 90 (Monday to Friday, 8.00 am to 8.00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 9.00 am to 5.30 pm)
Last, but not least, there is a charity to help young, single mums like you to get into training and development, called Family Action:
http://www.family-action.org.uk/
Check final source for Application Form for a grant. They can assist with things such as cost of childcare, travel & books etc.
Good luck
This probably isn’t the ideal answer but something to consider is working (part or full time) and consider finishing your degree via somewhere like The Open University? I know this means your degree takes a little longer and you have to fit it around your home life but you might not require another loan which is putting yourself further into debt. I took an O.U course and was able to pay by monthly instalments. The website is http://www.open.ac.uk/
All students in the UK are entitled to funding for the length of their degree plus one extra year – this is because so many students drop out or change courses at the end of the first year. So as you’ve already studied for one and a half years, the worst case scenario would be that you have to self-fund for half a year. While that wouldn’t be ideal, it would not be a huge amount and would very probably be supplemented by income support etc as you have a child. I would say it would still be worth it in the grand scheme of things – some student bank accounts offer interest-free overdrafts which rise up to over £2500 by your third year, so you could use that to pay your fees for that year and then pay it back bit by bit when you get your graduate job!
However, from the information you’ve given here I really do think that you will be entitled to the full loan and grants. The Scottish loan company, SAAS, and Student Finance England (SFE) are two separate entities, and having existing debt or a bad credit history or whatever doesn’t impact on your entitlement to money from SFE. If I were you I would call SFE themselves, rather than your LEA, as the latter have been fairly useless in my experience. SFE will be able to tell you definitively if you are entitled to the full amount – just be prepared to be on hold for a looong time! Good luck!