Funding for Personal Trainer courses

pandora205

My daughter (nearly 19) is/was on a gap year but has had second thoughts about going to uni. She has decided that she would prefer to work in health and fitness and has been looking at Personal Trainer (and other related courses). Some of them mention the possibility of funding/loans but just give a general reference to the directgov website.

Would she be able to get her fees paid or be eligible for a loan? She hasn't had any other funding and wasn't entitled to EMA.

Does anyone know how this works? She's prefer to do a short intensive course (a term or so) rather than do an FE course. She has got good GCSEs and A levels but doesn't want to do a degree in this (or any other!) area.

Thanks

Oldernotwiser

If you identify a suitable course then you could make an enquiry to the provider about funding. In my experience these courses usually come under the heading of "full cost courses" which means that there is no funding available and no fee consessions. The only government help that I know of would be a Career Development Loan but make sure that your daughter appreciates how different this is from a student loan.

pandora205

I think is may vary from course to course. Premier Training mention the possibility of government support but are rather vague (which is why I asked). I think it is to do with being the equivalent of a level 2 or 3 course.

Oldernotwiser

Unfortunately the Level 2 and 3 entitlement won't help your daughter even if this were to apply to these courses as she already has GCSEs and A levels. Sorry.

GlasweJen

You could always get your daughter to apply for a job in a gym (doing sports from a young age will help her get in) and they will train her up from there, usually they send you to night college after 6 months. I have a friend who did this and she's doing much better for herself than others who have done a course but have no experience in working in a gym environment.

pandora205

Thanks.

She's about to job hunt for something in a gym which would be good experience no matter how she is funded. There's an open day for the Premier training courses coming up in July, so she may go along. This would be expensive to do, though not as expensive as doing the degree she was planning before!

Her current plan is to phone/call in at local gyms, who rarely seem to advertise, to see if they need anyone. She has gained some useful work experience in the jobs she's had (customer service and bar work) and is very sociable, so she should be able to find something.

And let's home reduced gym membership for her family are part of it!