Am I entitled to tuition loan if I change course in 2nd year?

I've just finished my 2nd year of my undergraduate course, which is a dual honours course, however I'm looking into 'dropping' part of my course and moving to a single honours. Essentially changing from "BA X with Y" to just "BA X"
My university have told me this requires me to resit second year part time to obtain the remaining credits for course X. This new course is 3 years long (X with Y was 4 years), but for me I've just got the part-time resit of second year and then third year to complete. I am not restarting from level one.

Is it likely I'd be entitled to any tuition funding for my resit year and my 3rd year?

I have already used my 'gift year', as I previously took a leave of absence part way through second year on course X with Y, so used the 'gift year' funding on the remainder of second year after I came back from my leave of absence.
So I've already used two years of funding + 1 gift year I believe.

I've spoken to a Student Finance advisor on the phone and was informed that this should not affect my loan entitlement at all and I should receive funding as usual for the resit year and third year. However, this is contradictory to what advisors from my university fees team have told me (they don't think I would receive funding for both years, or at least not the resit year), so I'm quite unsure on what the correct information is. I'm anxious about coming to apply for student finance in third year for example and finding that I can't apply for a loan.

If it is the case that I can't receive funding for both years - can I sort of 'pick and choose' which year I want funding for? As funding a part-time year is more financially viable than funding a full-time year if it comes to me needing to self fund.

Thank you!

Hi there,

If you are changing to the 3 year version of the course rather than the original 4 year version, normally this would be fine to receive funding however, you mentioned you already used an additional year which would mean you wouldn't be eligible for any repeat years. You would only be eligible for an additional repeat year if you had Compelling Personal Reasons as to why you failed to complete year 2. You would need to provide a letter from a professional 3rd party that confirms what happened, when this happened and how this directly impacted your studies.

Thanks, Clare

Hi

Thanks for your response. If I were to just choose to fund the repeat year myself, would I still be entitled to funding in third year? Otherwise I will look into compelling personal reasons.

Hi there,

Yes, you can certainly do that as you will still be eligible for funding for the remainder of the course.

Thanks, Clare

Thank you very much for clearing this up for me. I believe that's the route I am going to take once my university confirms with me what the resit fees are.
I currently have a student finance application in place for next year ( for third year of my previous course before I decided I want to change course) that has already been approved - should I just withdraw this? And is there anything further I need to do e.g., informing student finance formally?

Thank you

Hi there,

Yes, if you are not wanting/eligible for the maintenance loan and any further funding you can cancel the application via your online account. Thanks, Jason

Would I still be eligible for maintenance funding for the resit year? If so and if I were wanting to choose it, would I need to start a new application? My current application was filled out on the assumption that I was going to study abroad in my third year of my previous course.

Hi there,

Your maintenance loan is not affected by your previous study as long as you haven't gained a qualification. Thanks, Jason

Hi

Thank you for your help. Could I seek some further advice if possible - my change of course has been approved by my university and the university told me that Student Finance have been notified. However, I didn't realise my first maintenance loan payment for my previous course came out in August, so I have received this first maintenance loan payment that was intended for my year abroad I was originally supposed to go on before changing course. I.e. I've received a maintenance loan payment I don't think I should have received now that I've changed course.

How should I proceed with this - my student finance application online still appears as though I am on my previous course and so going on a year abroad (which I no longer am), so my maintenance loan entitlement is higher than it should be on my new course I believe.

Do I need to update my application myself or is this something student finance will do as they've been notified by my university?

I hope this makes sense, and I hope you can advise me on this as I'd like to ring up as a last resort as I've had lots of bad experiences in the past with phoning student finance. Obviously I understand there's only so much you can do when you're not seeing my actual application and details.

Thank you!