OU Students Past, Present and Future

BeenieCat

I've had confirmation of registration too, saying £0 to pay. I have received a box full of books for one of my courses. Heard nothing about grants or computer grant though.

bestpud

BeenieCat wrote: »

I've had confirmation of registration too, saying £0 to pay. I have received a box full of books for one of my courses. Heard nothing about grants or computer grant though.

I've just had the funding confirmed and have posted my registration agreement today. Nothing about DSA though, so will give them a call Monday.

Re: computer grants - as I understand it they will write to everyone in a couple of weeks and it's first come first served.

Gemmzie

That's good, OH needs his grant to buy a computer then he can claim it back again through the computer grant - confusing!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Gemmzie wrote: »

That's good, OH needs his grant to buy a computer then he can claim it back again through the computer grant - confusing!

But it ensures that people actually do spend the money on a computer. Otherwise, someone could not bother and drop out of the course, so the OU is stung for the computer grant, the normal grant and won't get paid by the government for the place.

It initially seemed silly to me, but then I found out that they don't get paid until the person takes the exam at the end of the course - if they don't show, the Uni basically has taught them and provided everything for free. And the fees working people pay don't even cover the cost of their own course, much less go towards helping the less well off students - it's heavily subsidised by the government.

Bet it won't be as well subsidised soon.

Indie_Kid

Not heard about registration, DSA or funding yet. Spoke to someone on Wednesday and got told that when October starts are sorted, February starts will and then they will get in touch with me.

Gemmzie

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

But it ensures that people actually do spend the money on a computer. Otherwise, someone could not bother and drop out of the course, so the OU is stung for the computer grant, the normal grant and won't get paid by the government for the place.

It initially seemed silly to me, but then I found out that they don't get paid until the person takes the exam at the end of the course - if they don't show, the Uni basically has taught them and provided everything for free. And the fees working people pay don't even cover the cost of their own course, much less go towards helping the less well off students - it's heavily subsidised by the government.

Bet it won't be as well subsidised soon.

Of course, I completely understand their reasoning. It's just timing as the electrical shops all put their prices up during October so they can reduce them down again for Christmas!

I'm sure with the increase in school leavers joining OU study instead of university, the funds will dry up soon, which is a huge pity.

mum2one

When I had the computer grant for my 1st course, they work on the priciple that you use your £260 student study grant ( for anyone on benefits, the grant does not affect your benefits, I had this disagreement - until I found the small print on the OU forms).
They want you to use your £260 - top it up to buy the computer then claim the money back, - ok in principle, but as a single parent not the easiest to do, but then i do see both side of the coins, its to stop someone having a £500 computer for free.

Anyone getting a computer, worth checking if they still pay for a years internet, - if your tied in with sky package / virgin package etc then it doesn't show a breakdown, but say AOL, BT etc where you have the seperate bill, they paid for my 1st year of internet. Certainly helped out a lot. x

sortinitout

Hi - I registered for the October 2010 course for K101 and sent off the financial support docs. Had an e-mail today that says I have been awarded the course fee of £650 but it doesn't mention the rest of the support that I applied for, does this mean I won't be getting it? Also when I tried to register for the course and pay the course fee as it said in the e-mail it looks like they now have moved my course to February? Does anyone else have any info on these issues please. I'm from Wales so financial support may be different to England, Scotland and Ireland.

bestpud

sortinitout wrote: »

Hi - I registered for the October 2010 course for K101 and sent off the financial support docs. Had an e-mail today that says I have been awarded the course fee of £650 but it doesn't mention the rest of the support that I applied for, does this mean I won't be getting it? Also when I tried to register for the course and pay the course fee as it said in the e-mail it looks like they now have moved my course to February? Does anyone else have any info on these issues please. I'm from Wales so financial support may be different to England, Scotland and Ireland.

Lots of people are asking about the grant so I assume they don't mention it on the letter about the fees. It's not on my letter.

Perhaps there is some reason they cannot run the course in October as planned? I would give them a call tomorrow if it were me.

kizzers

Hey everyone-

Ive registered on M150 and T175, financial support confirmed by email and now all registered! I saw that M150 has already been dispatched, so hopefully will get mine soon! Do they send much?

Kieran