The Student Room Group

Refused because of higher qualification

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this. I'm a mature student and studied to Level 4. As part of my job, I was offered the opportunity to do a Post Grad Diploma at Exeter uni in a very narrow field of Evidence Based Practice (Children and Young People). It was a hell of a jump but I did it and passed with merit.
Great. Except not great at all! I decided that as I could study at that level, I would take the plunge and do my Bachelors degree so that I had the underpinning knowledge to go onto become possibly an Ed Psych, Clinical Psychologist or possibly teacher. SFE have refused all funding as they say I have an equivalent or higher qualification and therefore I'm ineligible. I'm stuck! I now at my Stage 3 appeal but so far they have stood firm. It just seems so unfair. I would never had done the course of I'd known it would stop me ever doing a degree and on its own, it's useless. Has anyone else had this or got any advice. I'm just gutted and losing faith fast. Thanks
Reply 1
Unfortunately you do fall foul of the ELQ ("Equivalent or Lower Qualificaton") rule, which states that you cannot get Student Finance funding for a qualification which is lower than, or equivalent to, a qualification which you already hold.

It's a well-established SF rule so I'm not sure what grounds you might have for appeal, unless SF gave you incorrect advice and you can prove that. Ignorance of the rule is unlikely to be accepted as grounds for appeal.

I do feel for you. I hope you manage to sort something out but I'm not optimistic based on what you've told us.

Could you explore the option of doing a PGCE in order to get into teaching? Might be a longshot without the degee, but you do at least have a postgraduate-level qualification and PGCE funding is separate to other funding so I don't think your PGDip will count against you on that score. Do check that direct with SF though.

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