[Will242]

Hello there people. I have a bit of a burning question. I am aware that it is difficult to get funding for a second degree, but I was wondering what the situation is if my first degree was through the OU. I am now looking to do a second degree at a normal brick uni, and was hoping there wouldn't be the same difficulties as I have never had a grant/loan. I am aware that my OU course must have been subsidised, even though I paid my own fees.

I just wondered if anyone has experience of trying to get a second degree funded, or knows what the situation here is likely to be.

Thanks.

[ash1011]

(Original post by Will242)
Hello there people. I have a bit of a burning question. I am aware that it is difficult to get funding for a second degree, but I was wondering what the situation is if my first degree was through the OU. I am now looking to do a second degree at a normal brick uni, and was hoping there wouldn't be the same difficulties as I have never had a grant/loan. I am aware that my OU course must have been subsidised, even though I paid my own fees.

I just wondered if anyone has experience of trying to get a second degree funded, or knows what the situation here is likely to be.

Thanks.

Student Finance won't fund the second degree unless it's under their list of applicable degree courses (nursing etc i think). The list is very small.
The fact it was an OU degree won't matter. I researched this myself, though the other way around, was looking for a science degree to do on OU after my current degree.

Does stink, especially if you decide that your degree is not the field you want to be in (so many people at 18 - 25 simply can't decide what to do with their life - me included)

Would be best however to phone student finance directly, worth a try to find out more

[hmm_what?]

(Original post by ash1011)

Does stink, especially if you decide that your degree is not the field you want to be in (so many people at 18 - 25 simply can't decide what to do with their life - me included)

It's only going to get worse as the number of graduates increases

[Joinedup]

I think you'd be looking at even higher fees than a first time student (elq) and no fees loan.
If the uol external programme include something you were interested in, that might be affordable.

[Persipan]

You won't get a student loan if you've already got a degree - they base it off whether you've got the qualification already, not whether they gave you a loan for that qualification. Like Ash said, there are exceptions for NHS funded courses, and there could be one or two other odds and ends like that, but broadly speaking if you have a degree and want another one, you're on your own.

If you've already got a degree, is it worth seeing whether you could do a Masters? Even if whatever you want to study now is something very different to your first degree, you may be able to do a conversion Masters; it would cost you a lot less than doing another undegraduate degree; it wouldn't take as long; and as a higher qualification it could look better than having two undergraduate degrees...