Advice on becoming a 'mature student' please?

FairyElephant_2

am looking into becoming a 'mature student' (I'm 35 at the moment) next year, and as far as I can see the tuition fees alone will be £4000 per year for 3 years - totalling £12k!

As I live with my B/F it appears that he will be means tested to see if he can support me, which I don't think is really fair, but can anyone tell me if his CSA payments to his ex-wife are likely to be taken into account when they look at his wages? - as it is he only has about £40 per week left after he's paid his half of the mortgage & bills and CSA (and if he is off work for any reason he doesn't get paid, although he still has all the outgoings!).

If I get a place on the course, I intend to work part time whilst I study, and after I get made redundant this Xmas, until next Sept, I will work as much as poss and save as much as I can (as well as hopefully save my redundancy money if I can get work quickly enough)....but I calculate that all this will only last me about 18 months, so I will need to borrow as much as I can....

Any advice anyone?

Karnam

They'll look at the total income of your B/F minus 1,000pounds per child he has to support. So if he has one child, and earns 16,000 pounds, they will assess that his income is 15,000. This was the case with my nuclear family, however it might be different if it's CSA payments.

It's also irrelevent whether or not he has a mortgage to pay etc. etc. They blanket assess income. so it doesn't matter if he's having to pay 200+ a week for the mortgage, it's still money as far as SLC are concerned that can be spent supporting you.

I've no experience of the new fees system as I started before they were introduced. However do NOT rely on working during term time to fund it. This is generally the worst way of approaching student finance as its very easy to underestimate how much work you need to do.

ciano125

I've just started my final year and in the summer bought a house with my girlfriend (always lived at home previously). Now, my student fees are paid for by the LEA and i get just under £4k as a loan from the Student Loans Company (who are useless in my opinion but thats another matter!).

If he earns less than circa £20k, then you wont have to pay fees, as it stands at the moment. You can find out by looking at your local education authority website to find out more information though.

Hope that helps a bit, and good luck.
Ciano

PS It will fly by i assure you!

anneANNE_3

i am fourty and have just passed my degree with honours. It was the best thing i ever did, i loved it and now i have the degree i can earn more. Well when i have finished my postgrad course.