Funding for a second degree??

Hi, I've just finished my first undergraduate degree and have been accepted onto the Graduate entry 2 year accelerated Law course at Edinburgh. I'm not too sure how to go about getting funding for it though, it's £8,750 a year, so I would obviously need to apply for a loan. Anyone have any experience or advice as to where to look? Thanks

Hi, I've just finished my first undergraduate degree and have been accepted onto the Graduate entry 2 year accelerated Law course at Edinburgh. I'm not too sure how to go about getting funding for it though, it's £8,750 a year, so I would obviously need to apply for a loan. Anyone have any experience or advice as to where to look? Thanks

You can get a professional and career development loan:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/educationandlearning/adultlearning/financialhelpforadultlearners/careerdevelopmentloans/index.htm

Pretty much everyone I know who did that course borrowed the money from parents/grandparents/other people or just didn't end up doing it due to money issues - it's a really expensive degree when living etc has been put into the equation.

I can save you money right off the bat, apply to places which do the accelerated LL.B but are cheaper than Edinburgh. Glasgow, for example, is about £2500 a year cheaper.

I did apply for Glasgow, Aberdeen and a few other places, the only problem is that I just did an undergraduate degree here in Glasgow, and in this year alone I've been burgled twice. I can't seem to get away from the crime here, even though I love the city, so Edinburgh seems like the next best bet.

Thanks, that's the loan I was thinking of going for. Living in Edinburgh seems to be pretty expensive as well, so it looks like this is going to put me in a fair bit of debt by the end of it. Only thing I can think of is living far away and working to help.

Edinburgh is on the expensive side, yes (I did my undergrad at Edinburgh) but it doesn't have to be really expensive if you look outside of the typical student areas for accommodation and are willing to travel a wee bit to get into class. As a postgrad you're less likely to be going out/doing the "typical" expensive drunken things which will also keep costs down and also you've got age on your side. You'd be able to work during the holidays but as far as I'm aware the course is very full on/intensive (especially because it costs so much so the pressure is on to do well) meaning none of my friends were able to work during it even though they had done during their undergrad degree. Two of my friends got fairly well paid internships with legal firms during the summer of first and second year and were then offered contracts with these firms for after they finished the course so there are options for you to work and also further your development in the legal profession.

I did apply for Glasgow, Aberdeen and a few other places, the only problem is that I just did an undergraduate degree here in Glasgow, and in this year alone I've been burgled twice. I can't seem to get away from the crime here, even though I love the city, so Edinburgh seems like the next best bet.

That's rotten luck. Where do you live? I've lived in Glasgow all of my life apart from some time at other universities and I've only been hit here once- and that was over summer where thieves reckon students aren't around but they'll have left their xbox and TVs unguarded. We put a lock that couldn't be forced/cut on the door for £130 and hey presto (we had dents on the door exactly a year later, guy clearly felt he was onto something, but no joy. He was caught a few months later and convicted- had been going after the same area for ages). Strathclyde and Caledonian students living in those areas have much higher recorded rates of theft than Glasgow students in the West End though. Chances are if your place has been broken into once, they'll try again, as most landlords stick another cheap lock on and the contents is the tenant's problem.

Problem is- there are opportunists everywhere, and in student areas it's particularly apparent. Oxford was/is bad for that, New Haven makes the the roughest part of Glasgow look like the Mall at Buckingham palace. Burglars know that students are likely to be away at weekends more than the average person and probably away outside of term time, and know they're likely to have the latest gadgets. They also know that once they're inside a block of flats, the chances of one of the other five flats walking past them in the hallway is low. Ground floor tenements are usually the first ones they look for, followed by top floors (so someone can lookout at the bottom and by the time they pass on the stairs and realise they've been robbed, the thieves are two streets away).

Anyway, I think you have to be prepared for that anywhere. Luck plays a big part, but the right locks and right precautions can cut things down markedly. If it is Edinburgh you go for, try get either halls with security or pick a first floor flat. We've got a main door (with the only windows being one floor up) and since moving there have never had any problems- simply because there are hundreds of ground floor tenements with rickety doors that are easier targets.

Edinburgh is on the expensive side, yes (I did my undergrad at Edinburgh) but it doesn't have to be really expensive if you look outside of the typical student areas for accommodation and are willing to travel a wee bit to get into class. As a postgrad you're less likely to be going out/doing the "typical" expensive drunken things which will also keep costs down and also you've got age on your side. You'd be able to work during the holidays but as far as I'm aware the course is very full on/intensive (especially because it costs so much so the pressure is on to do well) meaning none of my friends were able to work during it even though they had done during their undergrad degree. Two of my friends got fairly well paid internships with legal firms during the summer of first and second year and were then offered contracts with these firms for after they finished the course so there are options for you to work and also further your development in the legal profession.



I agree with 0404343m - it's unfortunate that you've had such a bad time in Glasgow but I don't think moving to Edinburgh will necessarily mean that you definitely won't get burgled, as these things happen anywhere, particularly in areas with high student numbers as a thief knows that every flat is likely to contain at least 1 computer per occupant plus things like ipods, expensive phones, games consoles and tvs which is much more than in the average household. I know people who were burgled in Edinburgh and I know people who were burgled elsewhere, these things happen. Have you considered moving to a different flat/location in Glasgow if this is the main reason you'd like to leave the city?

Thanks a lot for the advice 0404343m! Unfortunately, I don't think getting better locks would have helped me, since the burglar had smashed the entire window to break in. You are right in saying that if they break into one place they'll return, and I think that's what happened to me twice in this current place, my next door neighbor has been burgled more than 20 times and she is an elderly woman. Even in second year, one of our flatmates ran off to his home country one day and stole £1500 off of me and the rest of the flatmates; I also still run into muggers sometimes as early as 8pm, so it's also my parents who want me to move as much as me, if not more. At the moment I'm in the West end, but before this I was in Alexandra Parade, Maryhill and Dennistoun. I know what you mean though, and it's partly my fault for choosing a flat on the first floor, but it's a really cheap place so I can't complain.

I don't mind living outside the student areas as long as there's a bus or train route in. Do you know where the best areas to look are? I heard the north of the city has a good number of flat-shares. To be honest, the more you speak about it, the more I get the feeling this might not be the course for me...could you maybe tell me a little bit more about the experiences your friends had when doing the degree? I might be going into this a little too quickly and don't really know anyone else with the experience. My goal is to eventually get a job in the Scottish parliament, hopefully in Education policy or something similar. Also, I've tried moving around in different places in Glasgow, about 5/6 times, I think I need to move on from Glasgow though. Thanks Oxymoronic