EU national eligibility

jacas

Hi everyone.
I'm EU national and continuously live in Scotland since September 2013. I've started 2-year HND course in August 2015 after working here full-time for nearly 2 years. For this course I was eligible to only have my tuition fees covered by SAAS as I haven't been a UK resident for 3 years prior to the start of my course which is the requirement if you want to apply for a full support. Next year (September 2017) I will be going to the University for the 3rd and 4th year of my degree once I graduate from college and I've heard that at that point I should be able get my student loan etc because I will live here for more than 3 years and essentially start a new course. The only thing that bothers me is the "ordinary residency" in the SAAS eligibility criteria that mentions something about "not living in the UK wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education". Does it mean that any time spent in the education (2 years of college in my case) will be deducted from almost 4 years since I moved here when assessing my application? That would seem a bit ridiculous, especially given that I'm still in employment despite studying, live on my own and plan to stay here once I graduate as studying wasn't really a reason for moving here.
Has anyone been in similar position or knows someone who has? Any advice very appreciated

Taiko

I don't think you'll meet the criteria to be eligible, because it sounds as if your course is what would be termed "end-on". As such, although it's a different course, for the purpose of the regulations it counts as a continuation.

Might be slightly different for Scotland, but I think that'd be where you'd fall into ineligibility.

jacas

There was a person from SAAS at my campus a few months ago and she said that they'll regard it as starting a new course so I believe (and hope) that I'll meet this criteria as my eligibility for funding will be "reviewed" before I move from college to uni.

agrinnall

I think you're going to need to speak to SAAS about your particular circumstances before you make any commitments to next year's course. You might need to consider coming out of education for a year if 3 years out of 5 would meet the residency requirement.