Son leaving uni and reapplying for totally different uni,advice needed

Hi,I am looking for some advice. My son is still at uni in his first year. He has tried swapping courses and doesn't like it. He is almost at the end of applying to a totally different uni for September.
Does he have to declare this uni on his form and if so whereabouts?
He has been advised to finish this year current year which finishes in May. Is this correct?
Also,I know he would get funding for his actual course by means of the 'gift year' but would he get the same with the maintenance loan.
I am getting so stressed by it all and tried calling ucas but their advice was a bit on the thin side. Just having a panic about it all. Any advice would be gratefully received! Thank you

Reply 1

KylieemilyJ

13

i have no experience with this sorry but just keep on to ucas and the universities. they should be able to help :smile:

his current uni should want him to be happy so would surely help you make the transition to the new uni easier.

Reply 2

A Rolling Stone

20

Original post by boofinkle74

Hi,I am looking for some advice. My son is still at uni in his first year. He has tried swapping courses and doesn't like it. He is almost at the end of applying to a totally different uni for September.
Does he have to declare this uni on his form and if so whereabouts?
He has been advised to finish this year current year which finishes in May. Is this correct?
Also,I know he would get funding for his actual course by means of the 'gift year' but would he get the same with the maintenance loan.
I am getting so stressed by it all and tried calling ucas but their advice was a bit on the thin side. Just having a panic about it all. Any advice would be gratefully received! Thank you

Hiya, I am almost certain you have to declare previous unis but I didn't know you had to complete the year. I'd make sure he completes the year if he's going to get decent grades.

Please don't stress too much. I had a similar situation and I turned my life around and am now fairly successful! It will take time.

Reply 3

_Fergo

19

Original post by boofinkle74

Hi,I am looking for some advice. My son is still at uni in his first year. He has tried swapping courses and doesn't like it. He is almost at the end of applying to a totally different uni for September.
Does he have to declare this uni on his form and if so whereabouts?
He has been advised to finish this year current year which finishes in May. Is this correct?
Also,I know he would get funding for his actual course by means of the 'gift year' but would he get the same with the maintenance loan.
I am getting so stressed by it all and tried calling ucas but their advice was a bit on the thin side. Just having a panic about it all. Any advice would be gratefully received! Thank you

Hey,

I do not receive any financial help myself so I do not know from experience, but Gov's website gives this info:

"You’ve studied before

You’ll usually get student finance only if you’re doing your first higher education qualification - even if your previous course was self-funded.

However, you may still get limited funding if, for example:

you change course

you leave your course but decide to start again

you’re ‘topping up’ a higher education qualification, for example you’ve finished an HNC, HND or Foundation Degree and now want to do an Honours degree

you hold an Honours degree or higher level of qualification and start a part-time Honours degree in engineering, technology or computer science (or a joint Honours in 2 of these subjects)

you already have a degree and you’re starting a healthcare course (except for dental hygiene or dental therapy) on or after 1 August 2017"

So, it's likely he will receive funding but possibly not at the full amount of what he is currently entitled to. I would suggest calling student finance directly rather than UCAS for a definite answer.

Best of luck to you and your son :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 4

username3612318

9

Original post by boofinkle74

Hi,I am looking for some advice. My son is still at uni in his first year. He has tried swapping courses and doesn't like it. He is almost at the end of applying to a totally different uni for September.
Does he have to declare this uni on his form and if so whereabouts?
He has been advised to finish this year current year which finishes in May. Is this correct?
Also,I know he would get funding for his actual course by means of the 'gift year' but would he get the same with the maintenance loan.
I am getting so stressed by it all and tried calling ucas but their advice was a bit on the thin side. Just having a panic about it all. Any advice would be gratefully received! Thank you

If he is transferring to a new university, he has essentially taken a gap year. So it’d be wise to mention in his PS why he doesn’t like his current university (and if he’s also changing courses, why he doesn’t like his course). He also needs a reference, he can get someone at his university to write it up for him or someone from his secondary school.

I’d be happy to read through his personal statement and etc if he wishes as I have helped friends who have experienced a similar transition. Pm me :smile:

In terms of funding, assuming his current course is 3 years long student finance always provides funding for 4 years (which includes as a gift year as you have rightly mentioned). Student finance also provides maintenance loan in all years as well. Therefore, if he leaves this year to a new university he should be okay on the student finance front. If you need further advice on the student finance front, I would recommend you calling student finance and not ucas.

In terms of when he should leave, I would recommend him leaving as soon as he gets his (unconditional) offer. So that he doesn’t have to pay anymore student finance for this current year…. His university telling him to stay the whole year assures them of getting their full £9250. Although on the other hand, he may want to make use of the year and do his exams which would be fair too.

try not to stress/fret, the process isn't too difficult nor complicated.

Reply 5

boofinkle74

OP

2

Thank you all very much for responding to my panic filled questions! I appreciate it very much. Having a bit of trouble getting a reference at the moment but all else is ok. 😊

Original post by boofinkle74

Thank you all very much for responding to my panic filled questions! I appreciate it very much. Having a bit of trouble getting a reference at the moment but all else is ok. 😊

He needs to make sure the uni he wants to go to will give him an unconditional offer, before leaving his current uni. The second uni may require a certain first year grade in order to make the transfer.

Reply 7

boofinkle74

OP

2

Original post by threeportdrift

He needs to make sure the uni he wants to go to will give him an unconditional offer, before leaving his current uni. The second uni may require a certain first year grade in order to make the transfer.

Does this even apply when he would be starting from year one again? Thank you.

Original post by boofinkle74

Does this even apply when he would be starting from year one again? Thank you.

It's entirely up to the Uni he goes to. If his A levels don't fulfill their standard requirements, then might see first year undergrad learning as advantageous.

Reply 9

boofinkle74

OP

2

Original post by threeportdrift

It's entirely up to the Uni he goes to. If his A levels don't fulfill their standard requirements, then might see first year undergrad learning as advantageous.

Ok,thank you. Will probably ring uni and see what they say about it.

Reply 10

Doones

21

Original post by boofinkle74

Ok,thank you. Will probably ring uni and see what they say about it.

Also don't send his PS to "random" people on the internet. It's a potential breach of UCAS anti-plagiarism rules.

TSR has a (free) review service that I can link you to if you want.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 11

jonathanemptage

21

Original post by jamesman13jf72

Hiya, I am almost certain you have to declare previous unis but I didn't know you had to complete the year.

Yeah I didn't when i decided to go to a different (much nicer) place.

Reply 12

marple

15

Original post by boofinkle74

Hi,I am looking for some advice. My son is still at uni in his first year. He has tried swapping courses and doesn't like it. He is almost at the end of applying to a totally different uni for September.
Does he have to declare this uni on his form and if so whereabouts?
He has been advised to finish this year current year which finishes in May. Is this correct?
Also,I know he would get funding for his actual course by means of the 'gift year' but would he get the same with the maintenance loan.
I am getting so stressed by it all and tried calling ucas but their advice was a bit on the thin side. Just having a panic about it all. Any advice would be gratefully received! Thank you

I know this isn't what you asked, but is your son absolutely sure about his new course? If not, he would do well to take time out to work or travel while he decides - it's not something to be rushed into. He has already used up his "gift" year and he needs to be certain about his next course because if he wants to change again funding will be an issue.

My daughter changed after her first year (stayed at the same uni just switched to a different subject). It was the best decision she could have made, but she did a lot of research first. She got funding, including the maintenance loan for the full 4 years.

Best of luck

Reply 13

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

I did exactly this - I had to declare the year at the other uni, although I don't think I listed specific marks achieved (I just indicated that I withdrew from the course). If they do request the overall mark or individual module marks then you would need to provide those however. Otherwise it's exactly as applying normally, except you won't have the "buzzword" login from your school. It would probably be useful to discuss with their personal tutor who may be able to provide a reference - otherwise you might need to go back to contact their school to get a reference from them (I had to do this as my personal tutor went on sabbatical just before I applied...).

For funding, they should have funding for the full course if they've only done 1 year of HE so far (but they would not have funding if they had to retake a year or similar). However I'd suggest checking with SFE to confirm as if you change course more than once you may lose a year (this happened to me).

NB they should still be able to claim a maintenance loan for all years of the course, any "lost"/self funded years refers to the tuition loan only.

(edited 6 years ago)

Son leaving uni and reapplying for totally different uni,advice needed

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