How to process - grant funding for The Open University

UniqueOne

Hi.

What would be the best way to request a grant from the Student Finances Wales, for an Open University course? How to ...

Earning under certain salary or unemployed - yes tick.
You must pick 60 credits at least in a year.

Can i for example register on course now! & claim for grant in the months ahead to cover costs etc.

Kind regards

gayleygoo

I am in N.Ireland and get my OU fees paid due to household earnings being under £24k a year. Not sure what the criteria are in Wales. Most courses are 60 credits per year, although some are 30 so you could take two of those in one year to make up the 60 credits.

In my case, I registered for the module (now is the time for registering on October starting modules), and am waiting on my OH's end-of year tax slip (or a week 53 payslip will often do) to confirm our total earnings. I fill out the paperwork (downloadable and printable after you've gone through the module confirmation etc), add photocopies of the required evidence, (for your first module you'll often need signatures from a professional person confirming your identity, but subsequent modules don't require that) and post off. I can't quite remember what the cut-off date for funding is, sometime in May/June I think. Once I get a letter confirming my fees are being paid, it's a few more clicks online to confirm my place on the course.

Again, I'm not sure about Wales, but I get £265 towards study costs (paper, pens and the like), automatically since the fees are paid, I don't need to apply for it separately. You can apply separately for claiming costs back from the purchase of a laptop/computer software if you need one, again I think it's upto £265 and you can only do that once during your whole studies. I'm not entitled to other student loans etc as the OU is technically not a "full-time" course and you generally need to be able to support yourself during study, and the OU does not fund general living costs.

The process may well be different for where you are, but if you think you are eligible to have your fees paid then I don't think there is anything to lose just by registering for the module and giving it a go. If you end up not meeting criteria for funding and can't afford to pay the fees yourself, you can phone them up before the course starts and cancel your place (there may be time limits, but not sure what they are.)

Also, funding usually only applies to UK nationals who have lived here for 3 years and such. If you are unsure about anything, the OU student helplines are generally very helpful