College child care grants/help

Oldernotwiser

Depending on what degree you are thinking of doing, many universities will accept one or more OU units as an alternative to an Access course, although you should obviously check this out in advance. If this is possible, you could study independently from home, without worrying about childcare.

Can you tell us more about your plans?

markfisk

my plan is to do i one year access college access course followed by a 4 year university course in teaching the college course is 3 days full days from 9-3.

paulwf

markfisk wrote: »

my plan is to do i one year access college access course followed by a 4 year university course in teaching the college course is 3 days full days from 9-3.

Will you have to pay top up fees for the course? My concern would be that you are potentially looking at 5 years with only being able to do part time work at best, and if you have top up fees on this it is all going to add up.

A lot of students on 3 year courses are now leaving with £20K of debts, I admire your determination to get a better job but weigh up what impact it will have to your short term and long term finances. Also what will recruitment be like for teachers in 5 years time?

Oldernotwiser

markfisk wrote: »

my plan is to do i one year access college access course followed by a 4 year university course in teaching the college course is 3 days full days from 9-3.

I would certainly have a look at OU study. You could do just the one unit as an entry requirement but if you enjoyed distance learning you could do the whole of your degree that way without running up any debts for student loans. You would then be in a position to just do the one year PGCE full time, by which time your son will be at school.

I'm assuming that you're on benefits at the moment and you could stay on these while you study as your son will be under 7.

By the way, do you have a GCSE grade C or over in English and Maths, with Science as well if you're planning on teaching primary?

markfisk

no i wont have to pay any top up fee's to mu knowledge, with my current situation i get most of my housing paid for and all my council take and i still recieve £180 per week to live off which wont change this is broken down of
£20 child allowance
£54 tax credit
£104 widow allowance

These wont be affected by me wanting to go to uni

kingfisherblue

I did my degrees part time without it affecting my benefits. As a mature student on a low income, all my course fees were paid and I received a grant of £250 a year as well.

I did my foundation degree over three years (instead of two full time) and my top up over two years (instead of one full time). My degrees are in education - I could have gained QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) when studying the top up, but decided to take a different route instead of teaching. There are a massive amount of teachers in my area, many of whom are still looking for full time work two or three years after qualifying.

It is probably a good idea to have a look at www.tes.co.uk for advice on going into teaching - they have some good forums as well, including Pay and Conditions, Thinking about Teaching?, Jobseekers, Student teachers, Prospective student teachers.

Oldernotwiser

markfisk wrote: »

no i wont have to pay any top up fee's to mu knowledge, with my current situation i get most of my housing paid for and all my council take and i still recieve £180 per week to live off which wont change this is broken down of
£20 child allowance
£54 tax credit
£104 widow allowance

These wont be affected by me wanting to go to uni

You'll still have to take out the fee loan every year and any means tested benefits (like LHA/HB) will be based on your student loan, whether you take it out or not.