Tuition Loan for Second Degree in STEM

I am a mature student who completed my BA in 2010. I am hoping to do a second degree in Biology/Zoology whilst working part-time.

I see that such BScs may fall under the ELQ exception rule for STEM subjects - meaning I may be eligible for a part-time tuition fee loan. However, I have contacted several universities I am interested in applying to and they have said their courses are only offered full time.

Is there any option for tuition fee funding for a second degree in STEM if I study full time?

Original post by strangeratsea

I am a mature student who completed my BA in 2010. I am hoping to do a second degree in Biology/Zoology whilst working part-time.

I see that such BScs may fall under the ELQ exception rule for STEM subjects - meaning I may be eligible for a part-time tuition fee loan. However, I have contacted several universities I am interested in applying to and they have said their courses are only offered full time.

Is there any option for tuition fee funding for a second degree in STEM if I study full time?

Hi there,

Exception courses for full time and part time study are different, so it's likely this course won't be classed as an exception when studied full time.

Full time exception courses are those that are either teacher training (PGCE), or Subject Allied to Medicine, for example nursing courses.

The list of Part Time exceptions is much longer, however if a course is a part time exception, it is not considered an exception when the course is designated as full time.

Do you have the name of your preferred university and full course name? I can check the specific eligibility of a course on the database we share with UK universities.

Thanks,
Tina

Reply 2

strangeratsea

OP

2

Hi, thank you for your reply.

My preferred courses are;
University of Nottingham - BSc Biology or BSc Environmental Biology.
Sheffield University - BSc Biology

There are some other courses I found that appear to have part-time study options, however, they are less suited to what I want to study.
Derby University - BSc Zoology
Nottingham Trent University - BSc Biological Sciences

Thank you for your help

Original post by strangeratsea

Hi, thank you for your reply.

My preferred courses are;
University of Nottingham - BSc Biology or BSc Environmental Biology.
Sheffield University - BSc Biology

There are some other courses I found that appear to have part-time study options, however, they are less suited to what I want to study.
Derby University - BSc Zoology
Nottingham Trent University - BSc Biological Sciences

Thank you for your help

Hi there,

The above courses are all linked to full time programmes on the database so unfortunately wouldn't qualify for funding as an undergraduate exception course.

Thanks,
Tina

Reply 4

strangeratsea

OP

2

Original post by Tina Oliver SLC

Hi there,

The above courses are all linked to full time programmes on the database so unfortunately wouldn't qualify for funding as an undergraduate exception course.

Thanks,
Tina

So, even for the two courses that list part-time study on their course information page, it's not possible? I looked through around 20 different BSc Biology courses and those were the only 2 I found with a part-time option listed.

Is there a way to access which courses are on the database? Are there any part-time BSc Biology courses that qualify?

Original post by strangeratsea

So, even for the two courses that list part-time study on their course information page, it's not possible? I looked through around 20 different BSc Biology courses and those were the only 2 I found with a part-time option listed.

Is there a way to access which courses are on the database? Are there any part-time BSc Biology courses that qualify?

Hi there,

The course needs to be designated as Part Time on the database to be eligible, the above courses were all listed as Full Time unfortunately.

If your course will start from September 2023 this may be due to the university not yet listing all of their courses, they usually do this in the spring before new applications open.

We can only check the course details using the name of the university and the full course name, this is due to the thousands of courses listed by all UK universities each year. Each course then has its own unique code that allows us to check the eligibility details and exception criteria.

Part time exception courses will need to fall into one of the below categories to be eligible, the unique course code will link to this on the database.
Medicine and Dentistry (CAH01)
Subjects to Allied Medicine (CAH02)
Biological and Sport Science (CAH03)
Psychology (CAH04)
Veterinary Sciences (CAH05)
Agriculture, Food and Related Sciences (CAH06)
Physical Sciences (CAH07)
Mathematical Sciences (CAH09)
Engineering and Technology (CAH10)
Computing (CAH11)
Geographical, Earth and Environmental Sciences (CAH26)

Thanks,
Tina

Reply 6

strangeratsea

OP

2

I have received email confirmation from the universities that the following two courses are available as part-time study (up to 6 years at 50% of full-time study).

- BSc Environmental Biology at Nottingham University
- BSc Zoology at Derby University

However, as you have said, they are not listed on the database, so I'm wondering what my options are. As far as I can see there are no universities that offer exclusively part-time biology degrees, all are full-time courses with the option to study part-time. How is it possible to find which, if any, of these are on the database?

For example, the following courses which list part-time study on their course information page (as the two mentioned above do);

- BSc Biology at Edge Hill University
- BSc Biological Sciences at University of Northampton
- BSc Biological Sciences at Napier University
- BSc Biology at University of Worcester

Thank you,
Kirsty

Original post by strangeratsea

I have received email confirmation from the universities that the following two courses are available as part-time study (up to 6 years at 50% of full-time study).

- BSc Environmental Biology at Nottingham University
- BSc Zoology at Derby University

However, as you have said, they are not listed on the database, so I'm wondering what my options are. As far as I can see there are no universities that offer exclusively part-time biology degrees, all are full-time courses with the option to study part-time. How is it possible to find which, if any, of these are on the database?

For example, the following courses which list part-time study on their course information page (as the two mentioned above do);

- BSc Biology at Edge Hill University
- BSc Biological Sciences at University of Northampton
- BSc Biological Sciences at Napier University
- BSc Biology at University of Worcester

Thank you,
Kirsty

Hi Kirsty,

Edge Hill currently offer Biology as a part time course which qualifies as an exception, this is currently only listed on the database for 22/23. This is normal as it is still a bit early for the universities to list their courses for 23/24. They will list these closer to the application launch dates in the Spring for full time courses, or the summer for part time courses.

Until these are listed, the universities admissions teams should be able to advise if your preferred course choices are eligible as exception courses.

Thanks,
Tina.

Reply 8

strangeratsea

OP

2

Hello,

I am just checking up on if the following courses might have been added to the database for designated part-time exception courses?

University of Nottingham - BSc Environmental Biology
Derby University - BSc Zoology
Nottingham Trent University - BSc Biological Sciences

Thank you

Tuition Loan for Second Degree in STEM

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you