A second degree, advise needed urgently

former_student

I have a relative who is 22 and is embarking on a second degree. Its a 3 year course and the fees are £6000 per year, she is from a very low income family, is she entitled to any support/grants from the government disregarding the loans.

Any advise would be great.

conspirator

This is something i am interested in also,

as far as im aware you can only get 5 years paid education from the LEA.

2 years college and 3 years University (3rd year has top-up fee's)

Personally i would like to do Law so i await answers here also.

b33r

What's the course? If it's vocational then I believe you can get student loans for a second degree, if its run of the mill then you can only get student loans for the first degree.

There is also the access to learning fund I think it is, where you apply for a grant and have to give them a load of financial information, it certainly isnt 6000 and certainly isn't guarenteed though.

Afraid I personally know nothing about other forms of grants/loans but I'm sure others might...

b33r

conspirator wrote: »

Personally i would like to do Law so i await answers here also.

If you already have a degree why not do a law conversation course part time and pay for it yourself whilst working?

conspirator

Ok had a little look:

You could consider a Career Development Loan (CDL), which is a deferred bank loan. It provides financial help for vocational education or training. You can borrow up to 80 per cent of course fees plus other related costs. Alternatively, you could apply for a study loan at your local high street bank.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&siteId=en&ssTargetNodeId=719&ssDocName=DG_10034874

Nursing & social workers ^

http://www.tda.gov.uk/

Teacher training

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&siteId=en&ssTargetNodeId=359&ssDocName=DG_10011032

Education grants advice ^

The site is very vague and from what i see it does not answer the question, however there are charitable trusts and "sponsers" that can loan monies..

melancholly

there are a few threads with some helpful links, and the access to learning fund thread is worth a look. put simply, you can only get a student loan for your first degree, so any second undergrad or postgrad degree has to be funded by other means - sponsorship/stipends (mainly for postgrad stuff), self-funding (working for a few years and saving up) or loans (which won't be at the same interest rate as the undergrad student ones!)

former_student

The relative on mine goes to Dundee University, I am against her taking out another loan as she is in big debt already, is there any grants at all available to her as anything would be a help.

Voyager2002

What degree does she have, and what course does she want to do? As posted above, if it is classed as a vocational course there might be some help available, but in general you are expected to decide what subject you want to study rather than coming back to the taxpayer for funding for another degree.

Don't forget that she could get a job and study part-time: the OU is the most obvious provider, but there are other options as well.

former_student

Hi All

First of all can I apologise for not thanking everybody for taking the time to reply to my posts.

Secondly to answer some of the questions asked the degree she has is in politics and she is now doing a three year degree in law with the third year a diploma year.

She is going ahead with the second degree I have asked her if it is possible to compress it into two years but apparently not. Is there even a possibility of getting the fees reduced a little from £6000?

dmg24

Most of the information on here will differ if she is studying in Scotland.

In the UK, you can just do a GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law), which takes a year. Is something like this possible in Scotland? It will cost more than £6000, but certainly less than the £18000 total (plus three years living costs) for her current course choice?

I would be surprised if they would reduce the fees for her, although £6000 a year does seem a great deal for a three year course?

dmg24

Dundee offer an LLM, where a law degree is not a prerequisite, and the fees are £3235 for the year. The only thing is, this will possibly not cover the seven foundation subjects required to be a qualifying degree (assuming there are the same requirements in Scotland).

Edit: Dundee do offer an accelerated (two year) LLB.