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Grants available for students & education

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This thread is to discuss Grant Grabbing for your education guide
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She really wants to represent her country in the Olympics, and is prepared to put her academic career on hold. (She wants to study Medicine). However, the training grant is only £4000 and will not even cover her rent! She is from a very supportive one parent family, who have tried very hard to gain sponsorship, but no luck so far.......We have looked into Modern Apprenticeship. (She will be training 6hrs a day, so no time! Despite the fact that this is available to football trainees!). EMA (Continuing A levels part time). Housing Benefit, poss?
Can anyone suggest grants available? It seems so harsh that someone so committed and so talented should have to starve to represent their country!:mad:
We have more in common than that which divides us. (Jo Cox)
As a 17 yr old, she should be able to apply for housing benefit to cover the rent as is it generally only based on income.
As for additional funding, it's down to hunting through the masses of charitable funding for something that fits. Most people would look to get small amounts from a number of sources.
funderfinder is a good place to start.
So for example, if you left school at 16 and worked for a few years, but then decided to go to college and do an A-Level equivalent course, you can get £30 a week to help towards your studies.
Unfortunately if it's not the first time you've been in that level of education, you can't claim. For example, I did a BTEC National Diploma from age 16-18, which is the equivalent level of A Levels. I didn't get the grades I wanted and I needed some more UCAS points, so I went back to college and did A Levels the following year. In my first year of A Levels, I claimed EMA, but in my second year, because I was 19 when the course started, I was advised to apply for the ALG. Unfortunately because I already had an A level equivalent qualification I could not apply.
Here is the official site:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/AdultLearning/Adultlearninggrant/index.htm
Apologies if this is a re-post
These are City & Guilds, level 1 and level 2 qualifications and are equal to GCSE
(C&G L1 = grades D-F / C&G L2 = grades A*-C).
The courses are offered free, and the qualification is recognised by employers as equal to GCSE. The courses are computer based and can be done on any computer that has Internet access - they are also tutor supported, so you can ask for additional help if there are any points that are not clear.
All you need to do is contact your local Learndirect centre (http://www.learndirect-skills.co.uk/centres/ - to find your nearest one) and book an appointment. You have to do an initial assessment which lets them know where they need to help you, then they will support you all the way to L2 in both Literacy and Numeracy, all for free.
They also do other courses, but they cost a bit, though for those on income support, there are fee remissions available, so if you need the qualifications for a new career, they could be worth looking into, too.
Only wish my local job centre had told me about it when I was out of work!
Bird
So what do I do? They seem to be uninterested in the fact that I won't be able to get to college and therefore, can't do my course. They've said 'we'll let your teacher know you may be late because of your dificulties', but that would mean missing lessons and coursework time.
I've been told I can only get help if I have a social worker and they write a note to say I struggle with transport, but I don't have a social worker.
Over the next few years we will have four children at uniniversity at the same time. We clearly have the income to afford one child but four is crippling.
HTH