Starting An Access Course

Grami

Hi this is my first proper post here so I was unsure where to put this really, figured here would be the best place. Basically I'm 20 years old and live in Leicester UK and I'm going to be starting an access course in September at the local college. I'm really nervous and excited at the same time and hopefully can make it to university and do a degree in social work. I did AS Levels when I first left college and got good grades but quit during A2 due to personal reasons and figured I would return this year to finish them but was advised to take this path instead.

I'm really worried about money tbh, I'm not working atm but am attempting to find a part time/saturday job for when studying starts. I'm just wondering if anybody has any specific suggestions I could look at online whilst I'm searching for a job - any legitimate ways of making a bit of extra money, I have spent many hours searching Google etc but just come up with a load of crap. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

Titch89

Sell stuff on eBay?

Driving_Soon

Grami wrote: »

Hi this is my first proper post here so I was unsure where to put this really, figured here would be the best place. Basically I'm 20 years old and live in Leicester UK and I'm going to be starting an access course in September at the local college. I'm really nervous and excited at the same time and hopefully can make it to university and do a degree in social work. I did AS Levels when I first left college and got good grades but quit during A2 due to personal reasons and figured I would return this year to finish them but was advised to take this path instead.

I'm really worried about money tbh, I'm not working atm but am attempting to find a part time/saturday job for when studying starts. I'm just wondering if anybody has any specific suggestions I could look at online whilst I'm searching for a job - any legitimate ways of making a bit of extra money, I have spent many hours searching Google etc but just come up with a load of crap. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

Heya! I'm 19 ( 20 In August ) and I'm planning to start college in september with plans to go to uni and study Social work too ( there seems to be alot of us on here! ). I have been working for 2 years, in a dead end job .. but i managed to save up a little bit of money! but I'm worried it's going too do me over for 5 years studying! ( 2 years college, 3 years uni! ) I'm currently looking for a weekend job also!

Best of luck with everything

Grami

Titch89 wrote: »

Sell stuff on eBay?

Thanks for the tip.

Grami

Driving_Soon wrote: »

Heya! I'm 19 ( 20 In August ) and I'm planning to start college in september with plans to go to uni and study Social work too ( there seems to be alot of us on here! ). I have been working for 2 years, in a dead end job .. but i managed to save up a little bit of money! but I'm worried it's going too do me over for 5 years studying! ( 2 years college, 3 years uni! ) I'm currently looking for a weekend job also!

Best of luck with everything

5 years? How long is your access course? Thought they were only a year...

It is difficult but at least at uni level you have loans and stuff so you don't have to worry as much. College is very tight though, at best I can get a free buspass if I'm on a low income but I don't really qualify for anything else and I wouldn't want to dip into my savings from my last job too much.

Good luck though, I hope you get what you want.

Driving_Soon

Grami wrote: »

5 years? How long is your access course? Thought they were only a year...

It is difficult but at least at uni level you have loans and stuff so you don't have to worry as much. College is very tight though, at best I can get a free buspass if I'm on a low income but I don't really qualify for anything else and I wouldn't want to dip into my savings from my last job too much.

Good luck though, I hope you get what you want.

Hopefully I'll get my travel paid for If not that's going to be alot out of my savings, as I have to get the train!. I have 16k saved up, but tbh I don't want to spend it till Uni, So I'm going to try and get a part time Job and just spend that on rent and other stuff and keep my savings! fingers crossed!

I'm doing a BTEC in Health and Social Care which is a two year course they did not even mention Acsess course to me

mummytofour

Driving_Soon wrote: »

Hopefully I'll get my travel paid for If not that's going to be alot out of my savings, as I have to get the train!. I have 16k saved up, but tbh I don't want to spend it till Uni, So I'm going to try and get a part time Job and just spend that on rent and other stuff and keep my savings! fingers crossed!

I'm doing a BTEC in Health and Social Care which is a two year course they did not even mention Acsess course to me

Wow you have saved a lot!

I have just finished Access and last year I did key skill, I have had to start from the bottom as I didn't do at all well at school, basically if everything goes to plan I will by the end of my degree of been studying for 5 years! So I guess that would be dedication.

Im starting Social work in Sep and from what I understand its a very hard course to get onto. I was advised by Sussex that they get 500 applications for about 40 places! I was offered a place but declined their offer:cool: opting for another Uni instead that I found less formal.

A girl on my Access course who had been working with drug misuser's, didn't get an offer at all, they are very picky about who they choose from my understanding and
to get onto Social work you will find that you need relevant experiance either voluntary or paid. Not just life experience but real hands on social care type experiance.

Good luck to all those that are just about to undertake Access, don't take it lightly its no walk in the park its very hard going but you may not see that at the time. You will need to be focuses and at times wonder what you are doing, but it will be worth it when you get that place at Uni.

lilysgarden

Hey all, congrats to everyone starting their access courses or degree's in social work. I've just completed my degree after the access course so I knwo how you all feel at the moment!

Grami, the access course is usually designed with parents and carers in mind, so you expect to be doing between the hours of 10am till 4pm monday to friday. Look for any part time job that is happy for you to work evenings and weekends. The less stressful the better! I was daft enough to continue my job in a call centre handling home insurance claims, and it was far too stressful for the amount of thinking I was doing on top with my studies. I was also working around 25 hours a week, which was simply daft with a full time access course and a minimum of 4 hours voluntary work a week.

If you can, I'd recommend something like working in supported lodgings or care home type places. They can give you great experience, the hours are often flexible and the pay can be fairly good. And as a bonus, if you work overnight or late night shifts, you often find the time to read research or work on essays!

Driving_soon, be very carefully with your savings. You would have to declare them when applying for student loans, and it may affect your entitlement. Definately worth thinking about over the next couple of years....

Also to everyone about to start a course, I'd recommend finding out now which books the tutors recommend and start buying and reading them now. They may not make much sense, but it's an advantage for you as soon as you start! If anyone wants details of the books I've literally lived by over the last 4 years, feel free to shout. There are certain books that you find you will use nearly daily once you start studying social work!!!

Nik xx

Driving_Soon

lilysgarden wrote: »

Driving_soon, be very carefully with your savings. You would have to declare them when applying for student loans, and it may affect your entitlement. Definately worth thinking about over the next couple of years....

I never thought about that! Because I don't really want too spend it :rotfl: I'd want the Loans! :rotfl: Eeeeek!

lilysgarden

Definately worth looking at before you go applying for loans! If your confident you won't need the money whilst at uni, then maybe look at transferring it into some kind of account where you can't touch it for a certain amount of time? Not sure if those things still exist, but I'm sure someone on here will know! If you can't touch it until you've graduated, then in theory, the LEA can't take it into consideration have you have no access to it.

Like I say, I don't know the in's and out's, but well worth looking into well in advance!

Driving_Soon

lilysgarden wrote: »

Definately worth looking at before you go applying for loans! If your confident you won't need the money whilst at uni, then maybe look at transferring it into some kind of account where you can't touch it for a certain amount of time? Not sure if those things still exist, but I'm sure someone on here will know! If you can't touch it until you've graduated, then in theory, the LEA can't take it into consideration have you have no access to it.

Like I say, I don't know the in's and out's, but well worth looking into well in advance!

Yeah it really is .. I'll have a think about it!

I could even " Lend " it too someone?