Benefits entitled to?????

nelly1984

Hi everyone,

I am currently studying for a degree through the open university and i have nearly completed my first course, which was 30 points and classed as part time. In september i will be doubling up on courses and doing 90 points and i think the study time for the courses together is around 40 hrs a week.

I am about to start a claim for JSA as im not working, will i still be able to claim this if i am studying full time even though its at home. Also is there any other benefits i am entitled to???

Thanks in advance for any advice given

dmg24

You will not be able to claim JSA if you are studying 40 hours a week, even with OU.

Do you have children, or a partner?

nelly1984

i have no kids and a partner who doesnt live with me

dmg24

Unless you are disabled, then you will not be entitled to claim benefits while studying full time.

Are you sure that 90 points will take you 40 hours a week? I thought that full time study would be equivalent to 120 points, and even that would not take 40 hours study?

nelly1984

just checked and 90 points is about 32 hours a week. Would i still not qualify for JSA, If not are there any other options. I know i could do only one course at a time but it would take me twice as long.

Thanks

Oldernotwiser

I have to disagree with dmg24 on this one as however many hours and courses you do with the OU it can never be counted as anything other than part time undergraduate study, by definition. This is why you can't get student loans and other full time funding when studying with them.

I do agree that it would be 120 points that would give you the same amount of credits as a year full time at a traditional university and that 90 credits wouldn't necessarily involve 40 hours a week of study.

I can't see any reason why you can't carry on claiming JSA as long as you are genuinely looking for a job and are ready to take one if offered; people do manage to study even 120 credits and hold down a full time job, particularly if single and without any domestic responsibilities. Good luck.

LadyMorticia

dmg24 wrote: »

Unless you are disabled, then you will not be entitled to claim benefits while studying full time.

Are you sure that 90 points will take you 40 hours a week? I thought that full time study would be equivalent to 120 points, and even that would not take 40 hours study?

This is what it says on the OU website:

• 10-point course: 6 to 8 hours a week for 20 weeks
• 30-point course: 16 hours a week for 6 months
• 30-point course: 8 hours a week for 9 months
• 60-point course: 16 hours a week for 9 months

I can't find 90 or 120 point average hours but I'll have a bit more of a rummage on the site. I realize that the above info will most likely be of common knowledge to you though, as you are a fountain of knowledge.

Coincidentally I was looking at it earlier as I want to do an OU course but even though people keep reassuring me that my income support/DLA won't be taken off of me because I'm ill, I'm terrified that they will be if I decided to do an OU course.

nelly1984

This is what i found on Open University Site:

"If you study full-time you can do 120 points a year (this would mean 32 hours of studying a week). At this rate you would complete an honours degree in three years. Take it a bit easier and do 90 points a year, you’d get your degree in four years. Working part-time you could do 60 points a year. At 16 hours of study a week you’d get your honours degree in six years, or a degree without honours in five."

dmg24

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I have to disagree with dmg24 on this one as however many hours and courses you do with the OU it can never be counted as anything other than part time study, by definition. This is why you can't get student loans and other full time funding when studying with them.

I do agree that it would be 120 points that would give you the same amount of credits as a year full time at a traditional university and that 90 credits wouldn't necessarily involve 40 hours a week of study.

I can't see any reason why you can't carry on claiming JSA as long as you are genuinely looking for a job and are ready to take one if offered; people do manage to study even 120 credits and hold down a full time job, particularly if single and without any domestic responsibilities. Good luck.

The criteria has changed recently, and courses are no longer classed as part time or full time. I wasn't sure so I had a read of the DMG. They now look at all the circumstances surrounding the course, including guided study and independent study time. It looks a lot more complex than the previous method of just asking whether the course provider classed it as PT or FT.

Oldernotwiser

nelly1984 wrote: »

This is what i found on Open University Site:

"If you study full-time you can do 120 points a year (this would mean 32 hours of studying a week). At this rate you would complete an honours degree in three years. Take it a bit easier and do 90 points a year, you’d get your degree in four years. Working part-time you could do 60 points a year. At 16 hours of study a week you’d get your honours degree in six years, or a degree without honours in five."

You can still not be classified as a full time student with the OU as, by definition, they only offer part time courses. I checked this out in detail with the OU last year for a client of mine. There ain't no such animal as a full time undergraduate OU student.

The OU certainly don't like people doing 120 credits whilst working full time but can't really stop them. I've known people to manage this but it does depend what else (like children) they have in their lives.

Anyway, the OP is only planning to study 90 credits so the discussion is academic. (Pardon the pun!)

Oldernotwiser

dmg24 wrote: »

The criteria has changed recently, and courses are no longer classed as part time or full time. I wasn't sure so I had a read of the DMG. They now look at all the circumstances surrounding the course, including guided study and independent study time. It looks a lot more complex than the previous method of just asking whether the course provider classed it as PT or FT.

OK, that's interesting. So are you saying that someone can get full time student funding (loans etc) for studying 120 credits with the OU? I don't think it's changed that much.