How can I afford to go to uni as a mature student?

alyth

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I don't know what prices are like in your area, but is there any possibility you could buy a flat/ little house within walking or cycling distance of your new university? If you have spent the £50K you will be entitled to means-tested benefits along the way, and without as much/ any rent to pay you will be a very comfortable student indeed. I know cos I am in exactly that position! :cool:

You will get a rubbish interest rate on the capital in savings accounts anyway - the Bank of England has said the 0.5% base rate is here to stay. I am assuming, of course, that you won't be investing in bonds or the stock market as you talk like a low risk investor. If you can stretch to a two bed place you can rent out the larger room and have even more income: the rent a room scheme is tax-free so won't affect your grant/ loan entitlement. Between my part-time work, lodger and maintenance grant my take home is £12K. :T

Nope I couldn't buy a property, the money is my pension for my future and quite frankly there is no way I would buy in Dundee! It's all being invested and even though rates are low, the money feels like blood money and I don't want anything to do with it, hence it being put away never to be seen again.

To quickly answer other posters, I don't want to move away from the area, I have friends and commitments here, Dundee is so massively oversubscribed for English then I guess that's why they suggested the TEFL course.

having thought long and hard about it today, and discussed it with numerous people tonight, I think I will continue down the OU route at the moment whilst looking for a better job. I get all my fees paid for me by the OU just now, I'm not exactly brain of britain so am never going to get a fantastically paid job.

At the moment I have too many options open to me, hence my post. Your replies have been enlighting and in some cases made me really think, so thank you to everyone who took the time to reply.

Oldernotwiser

alyth wrote: »

having thought long and hard about it today, and discussed it with numerous people tonight, I think I will continue down the OU route at the moment whilst looking for a better job. I get all my fees paid for me by the OU just now, I'm not exactly brain of britain so am never going to get a fantastically paid job.

I think that you might be well to do this for the next couple of years but if you want to go to Dundee full time, I'm sure they'll welcome you when you've got a couple of Literature units (with good grades) under your belt.

Don't put yourself down - I'm sure that the OU will be good for your self esteem.

Good luck.

The_Grouch

Surely as a first time student you would get a loan + a grant totalling around 5K each year - thats a good start! You can then earn £100 a week doing around 16 hours a week at evenings or weekends, which will all be tax free giving you a total annual income of around 10K - probably more than you get now after tax. Or have I misunderstood the situation?