OH going to Uni

Loanranger

Anyone who has a job in the current climate should not be thinking of giving it up to re-train for a competitive industry. There are no guarantees of a job at the end of any university course. Your OH has financial responsibilities towards his two children and they should be his priority.

Nickynoo1

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Applyingforthefirsttime/DG_171539

you can get a maintence grant around £3k, maintenance loan £5 k, tuition fee loan, parents learning allowance around £1.5k, child tax credits

Theres a student finance calculator that can help you work out what you can get on the direct.gov website.

Also, most (all?) uni have a finance office so make an appointment with them, as they have benefit knowledge aswell, to get an idea of whether you can afford it or not.

Also, uni's have a Access to Learning fund which will provide extra money for those in hardship. think it can be up to £5k.

If your renting its possible you can get HB/CTB too.

regards

Oldernotwiser

dmg24 wrote: »

Your employer can dismiss you at anytime if you are incapable of fulfilling your role. Your partner will be able to claim IS and CA until he is a student.

Given your situation, your partner's decision to go to university now seems like madness. Can he not defer for a year?

Aren't you forgetting the fee rises next year? Otherwise I'd agree with you.

OP, is he doing a top up to his existing degree?

laurenjs88

Yes he is doing the top up he'll be doing the final two years. Its a computer graphics course so not just aimed at games but a whole host of things in the IT industry, Gaming just happens to be his dream career. He will work during the holidays and get a part time job to fit around his uni hours like any other student We just wern't sure where we would stand with tax credits and things?

We both have concerns about finances because of the little ones but even if he doesnt get into gaming the transferable skills from the top-up will vastly improve his salary prospects in the future so we've look upon a short term pain long term gain scenario.

I am starting my own business so hopefully that will bring in enough to help us out and I will try and get a home job with arise or something similar. I get HRC & LRM DLA so I think we could just about manage on DLA, CB & his student loan if were careful.

dmg24

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Aren't you forgetting the fee rises next year? Otherwise I'd agree with you.

OP, is he doing a top up to his existing degree?

I'm not expecting the fee rises to be nearly as much as they are being blown up to be. I am guessing that the OP's partner is not aiming for Oxbridge ...

Oldernotwiser

dmg24 wrote: »

I'm not expecting the fee rises to be nearly as much as they are being blown up to be. I am guessing that the OP's partner is not aiming for Oxbridge ...

I never had you down as an optimist!

I tend to think that quite a few of them will be charging the max, but even if not, you're talking about owing an extra 6 grand if he defers.

dmg24

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I never had you down as an optimist!

I tend to think that quite a few of them will be charging the max, but even if not, you're talking about owing an extra 6 grand if he defers.

I just don't believe a word that comes from this govt - good and bad! Plus there will always be some kind of funding for those with sprogs ...

Lokolo

You say he's doing computer graphics. Is he planning on going into Games Design or Games Programming?

Games Design is very very difficult to get into and the chances are very slim, a lot of supply and very few demand.

If he is going into Games Programming then he will need to learn shading in OpenGL and DirectX, which I doubt a generic Computer Graphics course will teach. He would also need to learn computer languages C++ and C# at least. This will give him more options as he won't be stuck in the games industry.

The games industry also has low pay and low job security and high supply.

Oldernotwiser

laurenjs88 wrote: »

I am starting my own business so hopefully that will bring in enough to help us out and I will try and get a home job with arise or something similar. I get HRC & LRM DLA so I think we could just about manage on DLA, CB & his student loan if were careful.

Sometimes the sensible way of doing things isn't necessarily the best. If you think that you can manage on the figures given and you're happy to back your OH in his decision then I wish you all the best.

divastrop

Lokolo wrote: »

You say he's doing computer graphics. Is he planning on going into Games Design or Games Programming?

Games Design is very very difficult to get into and the chances are very slim, a lot of supply and very few demand.

If he is going into Games Programming then he will need to learn shading in OpenGL and DirectX, which I doubt a generic Computer Graphics course will teach. He would also need to learn computer languages C++ and C# at least. This will give him more options as he won't be stuck in the games industry.

The games industry also has low pay and low job security and high demand.

I won't pretend to know anything about the gaming industry but going on what my OH(who knows lots about gaming and programming) has said this is exactly the case, and I still think that in the current climate giving up a 20k job to go into an instable industry would be madness.