Student finance when you already have an HNC and HND

supersaverkerry

My cousin is thinking of doing his degree with the open university, he already works in the industry he will be studying and has got an HNC and HND which he did about 6 years ago and then had to stop due to my aunt becoming unwell, he was studying away and came home to look after her.

As he has been out of study for some time he is thinking of starting from scratch with a level 1 course as he said his HNC and HND were very practical and does not think he can manage the academic side without working up from level 1 with OU.

If he were to do this would he get funding as I guess he already has 2 years of higher education?

From what I have read he only has 2 years of funding available to him now as the max is 4 years?

So will he have to fund his first 120credits with OU ( 2 years worth on pt basis) and then apply for funding for his next 240 credits, or can he apply now but will then be unable to get funding for his last 120 credits?

I hope I have made sense! Any help would be appreciated

Taiko

Put simply, his entitlement will depend on the course. Funding is not limited to 4 years.

We'd need to know the qualification he'd receive at the end of the course he intends to study in order to answer this question. Is it a straight BA/BSC?

mum2one

I had a HNC in business went on to study with on in business courses started at level 1, had 6yrs of funding

SuperCat007

The calculation is length of course + 1 - time spent in HE. So for your cousin it would be 3+1-2 = 2 years full time.

However, part time funding is both separate from full time funding and calculated slightly differently to take into account how long you can spend on a part time degree (up to 12 years on a 'normal' 3 year degree). So he will essentially have 12+2(normal rate is 50% for part time, so it takes 2 years to complete the equivalent of 1 year) - time spent in HE = 14-2=12 years remaining for part time study. But do note that you only get tuition fee loans for part time, there's no support for living costs.

The only slight sticking point will be the equivalent level qualification rules (ELQ) which state you can't get funding to go back and study at a lower or equal level to the one you already hold. This rules him out of year 1 and 2 funding. BUT he may be able to appeal to say that this new study is towards a higher level (BSc/BA) and still get funded. That will depend on the assessor you get and how your appeal goes.

The OU is more affordable than 'normal' uni, so maybe he might not have to worry and just fund himself.

supersaverkerry

I don't think we was wanting anything for living expenses anyway as he is staying at is job and plans to study in the evening.

His HNC and HND are in mechanics of some sort and now he works as a designer and wants to do the Open University engineering degree with honours.

He would have to go back and do lower courses than what he has done though as he said he has never done much academic writing so thinks he would struggle to do any sort of credit transfer.

I guess he will just had to apply and see what they say though as he is not in a position to fund it himself sadly. It seems such a shame especially when he never finished his degree due to having to care for our aunt.

Thanks for the replies

SuperCat007

supersaverkerry wrote: »

I don't think we was wanting anything for living expenses anyway as he is staying at is job and plans to study in the evening.

His HNC and HND are in mechanics of some sort and now he works as a designer and wants to do the Open University engineering degree with honours.

He would have to go back and do lower courses than what he has done though as he said he has never done much academic writing so thinks he would struggle to do any sort of credit transfer.

I guess he will just had to apply and see what they say though as he is not in a position to fund it himself sadly. It seems such a shame especially when he never finished his degree due to having to care for our aunt.

Thanks for the replies

I wouldn't worry about that with the OU. You don't really do any academic writing in year 1, that only starts in year 2. So he wouldn't miss much if he could apply for credit transfer and start at year 2. Though up to him.

If he gets rejected, don't be shocked, just appeal and send in whatever medical/carers evidence he has to show why he dropped out last time and make sure he goes out of his way to prove this study is going towards a higher qualification.

It is majorly unfair. I spent 2 years with the OU because I was too ill to leave the house virtually, I was told by SFE this wouldn't affect future funding, crippled myself financially to study A-levels for two years, got good grades and uni places, only to be told I'd have to fund year 1 myself because I'd essentially used 2 years of full time finance on my part time studies already. I know it's unfair, but it's just one of those things. The important thing is that it is possible to do it.