Student Finance for Distance learning/Online Undergraduate Degree

rwhb2012

Good morning,

I hope Martin or one of the experts here can help. I am looking at studying for a BA or BSc degree by distance learning and the guidance seems to be a bit of a grey area for these degrees.

Does anyone know the answer to these questions please?

1. Is student finance available for part-time distance learning degrees?

2. When does a distance learning degree become a full-time one, rather than part-time?

3. Are students of a full-time distance learning degree eligible for the living expenses element of student finance?

4. If students of a part-time distance learning degree are eligible for student finance, does this also include living expenses element?

Many thanks,
RWHB

caz156

I study online distance learning with RDI and got a student loan. Might be worth a Google search?

Mine is a UK uni awarded degree too, so it's got a good reputation when I graduate

dizzyrascal

rwhb2012 wrote: »

Good morning,

I hope Martin or one of the experts here can help. I am looking at studying for a BA or BSc degree by distance learning and the guidance seems to be a bit of a grey area for these degrees.

Does anyone know the answer to these questions please?

1. Is student finance available for part-time distance learning degrees?

2. When does a distance learning degree become a full-time one, rather than part-time?

3. Are students of a full-time distance learning degree eligible for the living expenses element of student finance?

4. If students of a part-time distance learning degree are eligible for student finance, does this also include living expenses element?

Many thanks,
RWHB

Yes the answer to your question on student finance for part time study is yes
you can claim for the fees from this august for courses starting in September

There is no reason why you can't continue to study part time till you complete your degree so I'm not sure what you mean in question 2

For question 3 I think you can have help with living expenses but you will need to check this. Try direct.gov on student fees etc

You seem to be mixing part time and full time courses so I think you need to tell the forum what you aim to do so that we can help further.

dizzyrascal

caz156 wrote: »

I study online distance learning with RDI and got a student loan. Might be worth a Google search?

Mine is a UK uni awarded degree too, so it's got a good reputation when I graduate

Why on earth would you pay RDI for a degree when all their courses are already available via distance learning from the awarding universities?

Dunroamin

From this September, part time courses are eligible for fee loans for the first time and financial help for those on benefits/low incomes has been withdrawn except for existing students.

No maintenance funding is available as students are expected to be funding living expenses by employment or claiming benefits.

If the course provider states that a course is part time then that is what it is. As an example, all OU courses are part time, even if a student completes the course in the same time as if it was full time.

dizzyrascal

Dunroamin wrote: »

From this September, part time courses are eligible for fee loans for the first time and financial help for those on benefits/low incomes has been withdrawn except for existing students.

No maintenance funding is available as students are expected to be funding living expenses by employment or claiming benefits.

Hi Dunroamin

Thanks for the info
Whilst I understand the reasoning behind this it seems a little unfair if the part time student has to pay the fees back the same way as full time students.
My point is that they will borrow much less money but once they earn 21k they will pay a monthly fee back over the course of 30 years (?)
Over that time they will effectively repay much more money? (if my understanding of the new fees system is correct)

caz156

dizzyrascal wrote: »

Why on earth would you pay RDI for a degree when all their courses are already available via distance learning from the awarding universities?

Hi Dizzyrascal

My degree defo isnt available through the uni - only RDI.

Dunroamin

dizzyrascal wrote: »

Hi Dunroamin

Thanks for the info
Whilst I understand the reasoning behind this it seems a little unfair if the part time student has to pay the fees back the same way as full time students.
My point is that they will borrow much less money but once they earn 21k they will pay a monthly fee back over the course of 30 years (?)
Over that time they will effectively repay much more money? (if my understanding of the new fees system is correct)

I think that you've misunderstood the system.