Will my son be entitled to ANY funding?

My 19 year old son has a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care, has just finished Level 4 and is about to start Level 5 [HND]. He has been doing a placement as a Classroom Assistant in a local Primary School and really enjoyed it.When his HND has finished he is thinking of doing the CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Children's Care, Learning and Development, which is the qualification you have to have[here in Northern Ireland anyway] to work as a Classroom Assistant should he wish to do so in the future. But he has been told he will get no funding whatsoever for the 1 year course, which costs £512 and an additional £124 for the exam. I am in receipt of benefits at the moment and am a single parent. I understand about only being eligible for funding if the course is progressing in level ,but surely ,with me ,as his mother being on such a low income, he will be entitled to something, won't he?

I'm afraid in most cases you only get one level 3 course funded regardless of background, can he look at doing it part time and working the rest? He could get benefits for himself but he'd be expected to be available for work if any came up i'd suspect.

Thanks Claire. This is what I suspected. 18 months or so ago this course was only £375 as well. It's now £512 not including the additional exam fee of £124. It is either one day a week ,3.15PM until 10PM or two evenings a week ,so it is definately geared towards people already in employment. I guess if he really wants to do it he'll just have to get a part time job !!

It's likely as a part time course that they might let him spread the cost somehow so that will help

I just think it would be a handy qualification for him to have and he agrees, should he ever in the future want to apply for a job as a classroom assistant. He really liked his placement there last term and the Headmaster seemed very pleased with him, telling him he would be more than welcome back to do a work placement there whenever he wanted. So, he is going to ask the Head if he can go back this term. He's convinced he wants to work in retail [??], but i'm sure working in a school setting would be far more rewarding for him. I just think if he gets the qualification then he has it for if a job arises he wants to apply for. Was just a bit taken back by how much the fees have increased.

Fees for every course are going up these days but still it could be worse, is he not interested in training to become a teacher at all ? But yes having the qualification incase something comes up sounds like a good plan

Sadly, he has no interest in training to become a teacher. Although he is interested in the idea of teaching Health and Social Care in a college one day. He really likes all the H+SC subjects. And he also really likes the whole college environment. But he knows he will need a good Honours degree in H+SC [our college often advertise for Lecturers and they specify what is required]. Unfortunately, he is very shy and doesn't want to go to Uni, and nor does he want to top up his HND via the OU. Have found out ,and I told him the other day, that from the time his HND finishes to the time he has to complete his degree he has ten years. That's what the woman at Ulster Uni said anyway. Other unis might be different. I told him his late father, who died when he was 10, who had a Cert HE and a Dip HE ,and topped up to do a Humanities degree, and left after one term, always talked about going back to Jordanstown and finishing his degree. But then one day when he applied he had left it too many years and was not able to. I told my son not to make the same mistake.