trying to budget for living costs as 46 year old undergraduate... help

Dunroamin

iceblue15 wrote: »

I'm sorry - I've got confused. I was looking at an online OU degree on a full-time basis, so I wondered if it might be considered the same as doing a full-time degree at another university for the purposes of claiming a grant for living costs. I don't know if I've been really silly thinking that, but otherwise I don't know how you're meant to be able to afford to study full-time.

Even if you do an OU degree over only 3 years, it's still classified as part time. If you're on disability benefits you can stay on them whilst studying part time so it's actually more affordable because all you borrow is the money for the fees.

iceblue15

Thank you Dunroamin for explaining that - I didn't realise that was the case. That means I can look now at the courses. As an alternative I've also just found out that Oxford College do online HND BTEC courses which can count as the first couple of years of a degree for £3,500 which I'm also now a bit interested in - you can then get a degree by doing the final year with a uni.

Dunroamin

iceblue15 wrote: »

Thank you Dunroamin for explaining that - I didn't realise that was the case. That means I can look now at the courses. As an alternative I've also just found out that Oxford College do online HND BTEC courses which can count as the first couple of years of a degree for £3,500 which I'm also now a bit interested in - you can then get a degree by doing the final year with a uni.

I'm pretty sure the Oxford College courses aren't eligible for student loans so this may not be feasible for you. From their website,

"Is there any funding or financial support available for the course?

We don’t offer any kind of funding programmes for distance learning courses. We do, however, offer an instalment plan for you to spread payment over a period of months depending on the course. Please see our instalment plans page for more information. If you would like to enrol using an instalment plan then simply follow the steps for Online Enrolment and the options will be presented to you."

Personally I'd opt for the OU, whose courses are known and well regarded, give you the option of full or part time study and allow you a high degree of flexibility as well as being eligible for funding. You would also have the advantage of completing the whole course with the same institution, which is often simpler.

Fire_Fox

iceblue15 wrote: »

I'm hoping to study full-time for a degree and am trying to work out how I can afford to live before I take the plunge and apply. The tuition fees will be covered by a loan. The maintenance grant is £3,354 and the maintenance loan is £3,823 which gives a total of £7,177 BUT my rent is £110 per week - a total of £5,720 per year.

This only leaves £1,457 to live on - i.e. £28 per week for ALL utility bills, council tax, phone, internet, clothing, travel, books and food which makes it impossible to manage.

Does anyone know how it works if you get a part-time job? Are you able to keep all of the income from it?

Is the maintenance loan treated as income even though you have to pay it back?

Thanks to anyone who is able to help.

All earned income is your own, you have to declare unearned income. Have you considered Matched Betting? A legal system NOT gambling, see the MSE board. Many students don't have a job lined up when they first start studying, so they spend a lot of their grant in the first few weeks and the rest of the year catching up instead of budgeting well.

Full time students are exempt from council tax. In most areas students can get generous discounts (50%) on local public transport, check with your place of study and at the local rail station/ travel centre and on the local council website. You can also get the young person's railcard (yes at 46) for 30% off longer distance rail journeys, tho Megabus is likely cheaper. Again a lot of students waste money running a car.

Make your internet work hard for you: can you use Skype for phone calls cheaper? Won't need a TV licence if you don't watch or record programmes as they are broadcast, so can still watch catch up TV online perfectly legally without a licence but you do need to inform TV licencing not just cancel the DD.

As a 46 year old how much new clothing do you need? If you live in a pricey area get acquainted with charity shops and eBay, buy basics from supermarkets, Primark, Matalan. Various student discount cards like NUS give you 10% off some stores.

Books borrow whatever you can from a library, the more time you spend in a library in winter the less money you need to spend on heating. Get other books second hand from a uni bookshop or notice board or Amazon.

Food can you grow your own at your property or an allotment? If not check out Weezl74's many threads here on MSE.