Failing first year at uni - advice wanted

johnswife

Hi,

It looks like my daughter may fail 1 or 2 of her modules on her Graphic Design course.

She has only just told us as she has had to retake and hand them in by 2 o'clock today. Just got off the phone with her crying still not completed but I have told her to go and hand them in anyway.

She is on anti depressants and a sort of beta blocker to help when she has really bad panic attacks. The trouble is she doesn't like to ask for help when she is in a fix and her problem is actually going to certains lessons and mixing with the other students. Hence the tablets. This is an ongoing problem for the last 6 years or more. We never thought she would actually live away from home and go to to uni so she hS achieved so much more than we thought possible. She even got herself a part time job in a bar where she has been putting in a lot of hours as she doesn't like asking us for money. Probably doing too much.

Anyway my question is what are her options if she does fail these modules.
Can she resit the whole year with funding?
Can she just resit the failed modules part time at uni and therefore part funding? Topping up the extra money from her part time job.

I feel pretty helpless at the moment, I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

portsmouthstudent

She should be able to resit the year with funding provided it's the first time she's had to resit the year. If she only fails one of the modules, what normally happens is she goes through to the next year but just has to redo that failed module at the same time.

Noctu

Hi there,
First - deep breath! I can imagine how you are feeling right now.
I would advise your daughter to contact the module leaders of the modules she thinks she may fail straight away - as she has been unwell with panic attacks then even if she does fail, they may let her continue to the second year anyway. Personally I was allowed to continue to the third year with a module fail under my belt, I claimed mitigating circumstances (was ill for the resit).

If worst comes to the worst and she must resit, as far as I understand it she will still get funding for an extra year - I believe SLC allow for one year resit. Might be worth a phone call to them to double check.

I wouldn't have thought she could resit the failed modules only, this is something she'd need to speak to her personal tutor or head of course about (depends on the University though).

The Student Union will also be able to give you good advice on all of the above.

As it's just her first year then hopefully the Uni will be lenient especially if she can get extenuating/mitigating circumstances for her modules. You'd need a doctor's letter for this and there's usually a form to complete to apply for this (usually you can get this from the administration office for her course or her personal tutor if they are on the ball!)

Best of luck.

johnswife

Thanks for the replies.

Just spoke to her, she has handed the work in. She sounds a bit calmer now, no point worrying until she has it marked next week. She is a bit concerned as she has just moved into a house share and obviously has to pay for that. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
She really doesn't want to come back home and while some parents might be hurt I actually am pleased (and proud) for her that she wants to be independent.

Noctu

johnswife wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Just spoke to her, she has handed the work in. She sounds a bit calmer now, no point worrying until she has it marked next week. She is a bit concerned as she has just moved into a house share and obviously has to pay for that. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
She really doesn't want to come back home and while some parents might be hurt I actually am pleased (and proud) for her that she wants to be independent.

Glad to hear that she's sounding a bit calmer

Not to labour a point, but if she's pretty sure she'll fail then as a former lecturer I really would advocate that she speaks to her Module Leaders of the relevant modules as soon as possible.

(All too often I'd get a student's piece of work, fail it if necessary, then get an email once the marks are due out saying they were ill in the days leading up to the deadline. From a module leader's point of view it looks a lot better if the student approaches them immediately, and the work can be marked with this in mind - this may be the difference between a pass and a fail and therefore may alleviate any issues with the course board having to decide if she should progress onto the second year with a fail).

InLimbo_2

Definitely see if she will put in for the mitigating circumstances, even if it is just so that they have it on her file for the future. I did this and was able to re-submit and get the full mark for re-submitted work rather than just the 40% maximum that they sometimes allow.

In her first year, even if she must resit, most universities don't count the grades towards the final degree award so it is hopefully not a worst-case scenario.

Best wishes and good luck.

marywooyeah

I would advise her to check with the uni whether or not they will cap her mark - at my uni if you resit a module they cap you at 40% even if the mark would have been 70%. this can result in aggregates being dragged down, so double check and if they are going to cap her see if they will take her circumstances into consideration. x

MrsManda

In terms of finance, if she needs to repeat the year rather than a retake during her 2nd year she'll still get the full student finance package as you're allowed one false start.

As she's feeling calmer at the moment try to get her to send an email or call her year tutor to say explain what's happened and that she's struggling. That way the tutor knows there's a problem and will be able to address it. Depending on how her degree is worked out even if she fails a module she may not need to retake.

Is your daughter receiving Disabled Students Allowance? Is the university aware of her health problems?

johnswife

I think she has been taking to someone at uni and she either has a mentor or will get a mentor for next year to help her go to the classes. I think she prefers to not tell people her problems and when I asked her why she didn't tell us she was struggling earlier she said she wanted to try and work it out herself but as I told her it's not a failing on her part if she asks for help. I will email her later and tell her some of the points mentioned in your replies. As she was upset when she first rang I am not sure who know what at uni.

Oldernotwiser

When the immediate situation is sorted, I'd really get her to look at whether this bar job is doing her and her health any good. There's no point being independent if it leads to failing the course.

johnswife

She was doing a lot of shifts but I have said we will have to rethink how much she does so she can concentrate o n her studies. Actually getting out and meeting different people is doing her confidence some good otherwise she would just sit in her room getting depressed so she has to get the balance right.