Previoius study and applying to Open University

Although one of the SFE official reps should be along to confirm this and answer your questions in more detail, based on my very similar experiences:

a) Previous full-time study will not affect eligibility for part-time funding, unless you earned a qualfiication that is equal to or higher than the one you are subsequently studying (due to ELQ rules)

b) All study at the OU, regardless of intensity, is considered part-time for funding purposes. Therefore even if you are studying 120 credits a year, it is funded through the part-time model.

Between these two factors, it is unlikely to be an issue unless you earned a qualification from your prior study (which it sounds like you didn't). However you can also apply for compelling personal reasons (CPR) for an additional year of full-time funding, if you were doing a full-time course at a brick uni. There is no guarantee this would be accepted though.

You won't be able to have the loan written off - now. However 30 years after taking it out or once you reach state pension age, the loan is written off anyway. Plus for undergraduate study it's all added to the same total and so your make only one set of repayments based on that, and you will still on repay a proportion of your income, and only if you are earning over the threshold, so you will never repay more than you can afford. So, the "debt" is not something to really worry about (since it also doesn't affect your credit score or anything). Also if you're PAYE the repayments are just taken out of your paycheque with NI contributions and income tax so it may as well just be an extra tax for how you will end up experiencing it.

If you subsequently went on to do a masters degree and wanted to get postgrad masters funding from SFE I understand this is repaid separately and so you may be liable for making repayments for both sets of loans simultaneously, which may be more difficult if you are only just earning over the threshold. This is really neither here nor there now, but just for your information.

So in short - you almost certainly will be eligible for tuition fee loan funding for the full OU course, and you shouldn't worry about the student loan debt really, just be aware that it is there

Hi, back in 2017-2019 I studied at a normal university but due to health reasons I failed my first and second year there and had to quit in 2019 without any credits at all.

I have just registered for a 3 year course at The Open University. I was wondering do I need to put in a case to SFE about why I left back then to get those one or two years of study taken off so I am able to have a part time tuition fee loan?

I have all the evidence ready for why I left ready to start a case so just wondering if it's necessary to do that to be able to fund my OU course or not.

If it is not necessary, am I able to get some or all of the loan wiped anyway with all the evidence I have? Kind of scary having to think about paying off nearly two degrees in my lifetime.

Thanks in advance.