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hi from a mature student

Hello to you all, I am going back to college at the lovely age of 50+ Going to be studying business studies. Does anyone know how i can get some help with finance to rent and living costs.

Reply 1

gillian1986

Original post by cornishmaid53

Hello to you all, I am going back to college at the lovely age of 50+ Going to be studying business studies. Does anyone know how i can get some help with finance to rent and living costs.

What level are you studying at? because this will depend on what help you can get. I am starting at my local college full time in September and will be doing a level 2 qualification so in my case I had to apply for something called the learner support fund which is for students aged 19+ there's no upper age limit so any student over 19 can apply it basically offers help with fees, any course materials you might need, food, transport to get there you just say what you need to apply for on the application and I think it may offer help with housing costs but I didn't need to apply for that so I don't know for sure, I am going to guess every college is different but if you are applying for that I would call the college asap because the deadline at my local college for this was 21st August. If your doing level 3 qualification then you would be eligible to apply for 24+ loan and you can apply for a bursary with this to I think it pretty much covers the same as learner support. If your attending for higher education/degree then you apply to student finance same as university.

Reply 2

jimmy_looks_2ice

Original post by cornishmaid53

Hello to you all, I am going back to college at the lovely age of 50+ Going to be studying business studies. Does anyone know how i can get some help with finance to rent and living costs.

Hi! Good luck with your return to studying.

For Level 3 and 4 qualifications (e.g. Access to HE, A-Levels, BTEC L3 & 4) you can apply for the Advanced 24+ Learning loan to cover your course fees. You meet the age requirements (24+, hence the name) and I assume from your username you live in the UK, so you should be eligible. My Access course was £3k and my loan covered the full amount. The loan is waived if you go on to successfully complete your HE course :smile:

There's also a Loan Bursary Fund for L3/L4 students, which can be used to help pay for the other expenses. The application, eligibility and payment processes are administered by each college, so they will vary. I wasn't eligible for anything from my college. It may be different for you if you have children or already claim other types of govt benefits.

For Level 5-7 qualifications (e.g. HNC, HND, BA - higher education, basically), you can apply for standard student finance, assuming it's your first HE qualification. You can apply for a tuition fee loan to cover up to £9k pa f/t course fees or up to £6.750 for p/t. You can also apply for a Maintenance Loan (ML, repayable) and Maintenance Grant (MG, non-repayable) to help cover your living costs. How much you get depends on your circumstances & income. If you're on benefits you can get a Special Support Grant (SSG) instead of the MG. I don't know too much about the SSG since I'm not eligible for it, but from what I understand, the difference is that what you get for the MG reduces what you get from the ML, but if you qualify for the SSG, it doesn't reduce the amount you get from the ML, so presumably you end up with a higher level of overall financial support in the latter case.

The other thing is check out if there's any bursaries or scholarships you might be eligible for from your college or wherever else.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

RuralRoo

Hi everyone. I'm starting uni in Sept as a mature student. My level of study is undergraduate. As I haven't studied at this level before, I was able to apply to Student Finance England for Student tuition fees, a maintenance loan & a maintenance grant.
The loan & grant is enough to cover my bills (mortgage etc) & (all) I have to do is get a P/T job to feed myself 😊

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Reply 4

cornishmaid53

Thanks for the reply. I doing level 3. i been on to 24+ and they said level 3 is no longer covered. I well be visitin my college today and will ask about the learning loan.

Reply 5

gillian1986

Original post by cornishmaid53

Thanks for the reply. I doing level 3. i been on to 24+ and they said level 3 is no longer covered. I well be visitin my college today and will ask about the learning loan.

That sucks I guess every college is different because at mine they said that's what you need to apply for if your doing level 3 and up but anything below that then its learner support fund. Good luck with it and hope you get the help you need, I am still waiting to hear about mine even though I applied ages ago ! when I called them yesterday they said its still not been properly assessed, got my enrolment tomorrow so was worried but they have told me I can still enrol just need to make sure the funding is sorted for when I start.

Reply 6

jimmy_looks_2ice

Original post by cornishmaid53

Thanks for the reply. I doing level 3. i been on to 24+ and they said level 3 is no longer covered. I well be visitin my college today and will ask about the learning loan.

Maybe that's for living costs (bursary) support for L3 students. What I said in my previous post is based on current guidance from gov.uk and I've heard nowt about any proposed changes, so the actual loan to cover the tuition fees should be available to you.

Reply 7

cornishmaid53

Original post by jimmy_looks_2ice

hi All, I got my 24+ loan to pay the fees. its buying food and rent money i need to sort.
i been on job seekers for last 2 yrs. i get help with transport to college.
the job centre says it eduction dept the eduction tells me its not them. feel like pulled this way and that way. Not going to give up. Just need to be pointed in the right direction.

Reply 8

callum_law

How many guided learning hours is your course? People on our course last year continued to get JSA.

Reply 9

cornishmaid53

Original post by callum_law

How many guided learning hours is your course? People on our course last year continued to get JSA.

i am not sure. All i know its full time. Thanks i ask the college.

Reply 10

callum_law

Original post by cornishmaid53

i am not sure. All i know its full time. Thanks i ask the college.

In our college's nomenclature, it was also a full-time course. But by DWP's standards, the number of hours meant it was part-time. So it'd be a good idea to investigate it a little bit.

Reply 11

gillian1986

Original post by cornishmaid53

i am not sure. All i know its full time. Thanks i ask the college.

Yeah best idea is to speak to the college to see how they can help you, I am sure they will be able to offer you something. When are you due to start this September?