Equivalent or Lower Qualifications (ELQ) Latest

ahai1

Does anyone know what is currently happening? I contacted some universities sometime ago and it was under review. I did a google search and also a google news search but could not find anything recent.

Zziggi

I believe it starts on courses from September 2009. I understand disabled students (who receive a DSA) are exempt from the implications of ELQ. Also students taking certain courses are also exempt from the implications of ELQ.

ahai1

Are the fees going to be the same as international students?

I think that the only excemption I can see for disabled students would be on the DSA and not the fees.

beefturnmail

The ELQ policy has already started. The Government has not funded ELQ students since 2007-08. What has not started yet and will vary from University to university, is universities charging ELQ students higher fees to make up the lack of government funds. I work in a University - see my post in a previous forum here for more info.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1332715

Students in receipt of the DSA are exempt for the ELQ policy, so are still funded by Government irrespective of whether they are an ELQ or not

ahai1

Thank you and it just so happens when I was at university last time I got DSA. Am I right that the DSA is only for UK students and it does not apply to EU students? Are there any loopholes on the DSA bit?

beefturnmail

I don't know the ins and outs of the DSA I'm afraid. All I know is that if you are receving the DSA for any part of the study year of your course, than you are exempt from the ELQ policy for that year. I think that you would have to be in receipt of it when actually starting your new course to be exempt - it souldn't be enough to say that you were in receipt of it the last time you were studying

Note also, that if you say, wer doing a 2-year course and received the DSA for your first year, but then not for your second year, you would then 'become an ELQ' for the 2nd year and the University would not be able to claim funding for your second year. In such a situation the University may try to charge you a higher fee for your second year.

ahai1

Thanks are the fees going to be as high as soem of the private colleges?

Zziggi

ahai1 wrote: »

Thank you and it just so happens when I was at university last time I got DSA. Am I right that the DSA is only for UK students and it does not apply to EU students? Are there any loopholes on the DSA bit?

I don't know about loopholes, but the cynical side in me predicts there will be an increased number of students trying to get DSAs.

What it means is that if you get a DSA and you are doing a 2nd degree then you will get no students loans, grants etc and your fees will be the UK amount. If you do not get a DSA you will get no students loans, grants etc and your fees will be the higher continental Europe amount.

[Please anyone correct me if i am wrong]

beefturnmail

The actual level of fees will depend very much on the approach taken by individual Universities - e.g. those that are not affected a great deal (i.e. don't have many ELQ students) may decide not to charge differential fees and effectively use non-ELQ students to subsidise those ELQ students.

As an example, the amount of grant received per year for postgraduate students studying masters degrees etc. ranges from around £1.5k for low cost courses (e.g Humanities, Languages) to £5.5k for higher cost lab-based courses (sciences, engineering) and even higher for clinical medicine courses. If a university were to recover this loss of grant fully through student fees (which some universities may be forced to do in order to continue running courses which attract a high number of ELQs), then fees would have to increase by these ammounts.

ahai1

I am sure you right. I personally think that the DSA's should not be used for fee waivers but only for disability related things.

Can someone conform that the EU students don't get DSA's or student loans?

Zziggi wrote: »

I don't know about loopholes, but the cynical side in me predicts there will be an increased number of students trying to get DSAs.

What it means is that if you get a DSA and you are doing a 2nd degree then you will get no students loans, grants etc and your fees will be the UK amount. If you do not get a DSA you will get no students loans, grants etc and your fees will be the higher continental Europe amount.

[Please anyone correct me if i am wrong]

GlasweJen

I know that my southern irish friend couldn't get DSA in scotland even though she got her fees paid?