Student Finance wont pay my tutition fees because I want to start a new course!

Right here is my situation:

I didnt do A levels at school.

2 years ago i started a course at Loughborough Uni: Foundation year followed by electrical engineering. (5 years in total)

I did my foundation year and didnt get the grades to progress onto electrical eng, but hertfordshire Uni said they would accept my foundation grades (i only failed on 1 maths module) to start Motorpsort Technology Bsc with them.

To do that course at herts i had to have either a-levels or do their foundation year but they acceped the lboro foundation.

So I have been doing my first year their this year but i really wanted to go back to lboro.

During the year, Lboro made me an offer to come back and do Automotive Eng there but start in my 1st year, they said I had to get certain grades this year etc and they would use this year as my entry qualifications.

So i went to my local civic centre and spoke to the student finance people. The guy listened to my situation and then went out the back to speak to "someone who would know" he then came back and said yes dont worry thats fine, because you are only resitting your first year this will count as a fail or a "+1". He then said everyone is entitled to 1 fail/resit and that I would still be eligible for funding.

So off I went with this is mind, worked very hard at herts to get the entry requiremenrts for lboro, and nailed my exams. Got in contact with lboro who duly offered me a place which i accepted and then put a deposit down on accomodation.

Now, i went back to civic centre the other day to ask them to sort it all out for me, and some women working there who i think was the manager came and spoke to me. She then said that i was not entitled to funding next year at lboro because i had already done 2 years study?! I explained to her that i had been in a month or so pervious and a guy had gone off to check my situation and told me that it was all fine and that i didnt have to worry, to which she replied "oh well he obviously didnt understand what you meant" Well he clearly did, he even drew a picture of what i had done and planned to do etc to explain it. I think she is tyring to say that my foundation is what is the problem here?! Because she sees that as not having any link with my current/new studies whaen actually it was essential throughout because i have no A-levels.

She said that i would have to pay next year myself and then after that in year 2 and 3 they would fund me again!

I told her i couldnt afford to pay 3k myself for tuition fees and she said, oh well we are still going to give you a maintenance allowance so you can pay your fees with that? Er no i need that to pay my accomodation! To which she replied "cant you live at home?" Loughborough------London, bit of a commute there! ****!

So now im basically screwed! I dont see where I will get 3k from to pay fees! Yes I could go to my parents but its something i really would prefer not to do!

Can anyone shed any light on the system of finance and tell me if she is right that im not entitled to funding? Im really baffled at the moment and cant see any way out of this! :mad:

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nobody?!

I'm afraid that seems correct, you will get a tuition fee loan for the length of your course + 1 year - previous years of higher education study.

As I understand it, you've done a year foundation at Loughborough, then a year at herts on a BSc, so you will have 2 years tuition fee funding - and they go from the back so you won't get a tuition fee loan first year.

The only way out of this is if the foundation year doesn't count as a year of study in this calculation, but tbh I think it does.

Reply 3

Taiko

Depends how Loughborough have set the course up. If they're welcoming you back onto the course that has the integrated foundation year and going into year one you would actually be ok for fee support. You would need to get confirmation from Loughborough of this though.

Reply 4

Patrick_g46

Taiko

ok well perhaps there might be hope for me. At lboro their foundation year covers a lot of degrees and Auotmotive Eng is 1 of them. So maybe if i speak to student loans and explain that and say that i am going onto year 1 without having to redo the foundation?! And therefore only having added 1 year on? Do you reckon this might work?

Reply 5

ma2k5

Patrick_g46

It won't.

The only choice you have is, outside funding, sorry :/

Reply 6

Patrick_g46

ma2k5

It won't.

The only choice you have is, outside funding, sorry :/

Im not saying your wrong and i appreciate any input but why do you say this?

Going by "length of your course + 1 year - previous years of higher education study"

The woman asked me the other day how many years the course was, to which i said 3, but actually if i say i am doing the foundation+degree it woudl be 4 years, but i am going inot year 1 instead of resitting degree.

So it would be 4+1-2=3?

Reply 7

Taiko

Working with an LEA, I would've considered this and probably awarded funding, provided that each university sent confirmation of the transfer.

Reply 8

ma2k5

Patrick_g46

To put it simply, as you have used 2 years up (2x foundation) - you only have 2 years left. So they will fund the last 2 years of your new course, regardless of year. As you are starting year 1, and you will have years to go, AFAIK, you won't get funding until your last 2 years.

Reply 9

Patrick_g46

Taiko

Working with an LEA, I would've considered this and probably awarded funding, provided that each university sent confirmation of the transfer.

LEA?

I just feel that seen as the foundation i studied is also part of the course then they could take this into account and perhaps they should allow me the 3 years funding!

Reply 10

Patrick_g46

ma2k5

yes but you are allowed the lenght of new degree +1 minus the years you have done.

So if i cna get it accpeted tha im doing foundation+3year degree but jumpign straight into year 1 because i have alreay done a foundation then im covered surely?!

4 years (foundation and degree) +1-2=3 and i want 3 years more funding!

Reply 11

Taiko

That's the way I'm looking at the course, but it's getting Loughborough to confirm it.

Reply 12

Patrick_g46

Taiko

That's the way I'm looking at the course, but it's getting Loughborough to confirm it.

So do you reckon if i can get the course admissions tutor who i have been dealing with to confirm this i will be ok? If they work on the above formula then i should be ok, right? Also its just a matter of getting a letter from them isnt it?

Thanks for the advice btw!

Reply 13

Taiko

If you get confirmation that there is the foundation year in the course, then yes there shouldn't be a problem.

Reply 14

ma2k5

Patrick_g46

The course length is four years - but you are only doing 3years at the new course, pretty sure that would be factored in.

To boot, I believe, the maximum years of funding you can really recieve is four (correct me if I am wrong).

Reply 15

Patrick_g46

ma2k5

No, you can get more because i was oringally down to get 5 years fudning when doing electrical eng.

Reply 16

Taiko

ma2k5, I work as an assessor for student finance with a Local Education Authority. When assessing entitlement, it's the standard duration of the course that is looked at. So with the 4 years of the new course including the foundation, it goes 4+1 - 2 (Previous study) giving 3 more years of entitlement.

These allocate from the final year of the new course backwards, which would make him eligible for fee support for years one two and three.

Reply 17

Patrick_g46

Taiko

Update: I went back to my LEA and spoke with a different person and argued my point about the foundation being integral to my new degree and she agrred with me and said they will be happy to give me 3 years funding, which is all i need! Sometimes it just shows that all you have to do is talk to a different person! :rolleyes:

I also told her to make sure she made a note on my file so as that i dont go back in 2 weeks and get a blank look and "sorry, computer says no!".

Thanks for all the help guys! :woo:

Reply 18

zeanieboppa

I'm in a similar situation....

This situation is a possibly a little more confusing, but I will try and be as clear as possible..

Basically, I studied at a university for two years, and applied for a tuition fee loan for the thrid yr, I decided this wasn't for me, so I immediately cancelled this third yr application.

I then decided I wanted to do a teaching course (4 yr course), and student finance england said they'd only pay for 3 of these (as they have a rule that they'll only pay for the length of your course plus an extra yr- so in my case 5 yrs in total) Still with me?...

Now I am in my fourth and final yr, Student Finance England, refuse to pay for my £3290 tuition fee as I have APPLIED more than 5 times.. despite one of this applications being cancelled before the money even entered my bank account!

Is there anything I can do? The advisor that I spoke to from the student loan company told me to appeal, which I have, but I'm still waiting on a response..... I'm pulling my hair out, as ive worked soo hard and I face the prospect of it being wasted, and being left with a pointless debt.... :woo:

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Reply 19

Chalice

i'm in exactly the same situation as zeanieboppa. i've just started my second year at university doing business management and have decided that i would rather study teaching at a different university next september, but i'm really confused about what funding i will get. when student finance say they wont fund the first year of the new course does that mean they wont give me the tuition fees and the maintenance loan, or just the tuition fees? I can probably manage to cover the £3000 tuition, but funding accommodation and everything else isn't really going to be possible. Help? :confused: