The Student Room Group

Funding for a second degree after failed first? (Through ELQ rule exceptions)

In 2016 I started a BSc Psychology degree, which after fours year I ultimately ended up failing due to severe mental health issues. Specifically, I passed first and second year (although this was only through having a good chunk of my assignments each year deferred to the following academic year), but in my third year I couldn't submit my assignments and decided to repeat the year instead of just deferring them as I had missed a substantial amount of teaching through non attendance and my university agreed it would be a good idea to fully repeat. However, at the end of this repeated third year, I still could not submit my assignments and failed my degree.

All four years were fully funded by Student Finance - I received the full tuition loan and maintenance loan each year, and until recently I thought that if I ever wanted to try doing an undergraduate degree again (since I am in much better health), I would have to fund it myself. However, I just found out about ELQ exception courses and wanted to ask a few questions...

1. Is it true that I would be able to have a second degree fully funded (receive full tuition and maintenance loans) through Student Finance if I choose to study an eligible course? And is this the same for full-time and part-time ELQ exception courses, i.e., would I receive the full tuition and maintenance loans, for the full duration of the course, in either case?

2. Does the fact that I failed my first degree come into play at all? Am I still eligible for the above despite failing my first degree?

3. Since my first degree was a Psychology degree, would my second degree have to be something completely different (not related to to psychology/not fall under the CAH04 grouping) for it to be funded? Although I didn't actually achieve the degree, so it's not like I hold a qualification in that area?

4. Say a particular course had multiple HECos codes that fell into different CAH groups that differed in their eligibility for full-time versus part-time ELQ exception funding, would this course only be eligible for part-time funding as (if I'm understanding correctly) all HECoS codes need to be eligible for full-time funding in order to get it? For example, say one course had two HECoS codes, one that fell under subjects allied to medicine (CAH02) which is eligible for full-time funding and one that fell under psychology (CAH04) which is eligible only for part-time funding (an example might be BSc Psychology and Counselling - CAH04 for psychology, CAH02 for the counselling component), would this course only be eligible for part-time funding through ELQ exception?

5. If I can get another undergraduate degree funded, when paying this loan back, will another 9% over the income threshold be taken out separate to that of the loan for my previous degree. For example, if I'm earning £30k a year, will both 9% of my income over £27,295 (for the plan 2 loan for my first degree) and another separate 9% of my income over £25k (for the plan 5 loan for the 2nd degree) be taken out, OR will I only have to pay one lot of 9% of my income over the threshold - probably that over the lowest threshold of the two I'm guessing (£25k in this case).

Sorry for all the questions!!
Thank you in advance,
Danny :smile:
Original post by DANNY097
In 2016 I started a BSc Psychology degree, which after fours year I ultimately ended up failing due to severe mental health issues. Specifically, I passed first and second year (although this was only through having a good chunk of my assignments each year deferred to the following academic year), but in my third year I couldn't submit my assignments and decided to repeat the year instead of just deferring them as I had missed a substantial amount of teaching through non attendance and my university agreed it would be a good idea to fully repeat. However, at the end of this repeated third year, I still could not submit my assignments and failed my degree.

All four years were fully funded by Student Finance - I received the full tuition loan and maintenance loan each year, and until recently I thought that if I ever wanted to try doing an undergraduate degree again (since I am in much better health), I would have to fund it myself. However, I just found out about ELQ exception courses and wanted to ask a few questions...

1. Is it true that I would be able to have a second degree fully funded (receive full tuition and maintenance loans) through Student Finance if I choose to study an eligible course? And is this the same for full-time and part-time ELQ exception courses, i.e., would I receive the full tuition and maintenance loans, for the full duration of the course, in either case?

2. Does the fact that I failed my first degree come into play at all? Am I still eligible for the above despite failing my first degree?

3. Since my first degree was a Psychology degree, would my second degree have to be something completely different (not related to to psychology/not fall under the CAH04 grouping) for it to be funded? Although I didn't actually achieve the degree, so it's not like I hold a qualification in that area?

4. Say a particular course had multiple HECos codes that fell into different CAH groups that differed in their eligibility for full-time versus part-time ELQ exception funding, would this course only be eligible for part-time funding as (if I'm understanding correctly) all HECoS codes need to be eligible for full-time funding in order to get it? For example, say one course had two HECoS codes, one that fell under subjects allied to medicine (CAH02) which is eligible for full-time funding and one that fell under psychology (CAH04) which is eligible only for part-time funding (an example might be BSc Psychology and Counselling - CAH04 for psychology, CAH02 for the counselling component), would this course only be eligible for part-time funding through ELQ exception?

5. If I can get another undergraduate degree funded, when paying this loan back, will another 9% over the income threshold be taken out separate to that of the loan for my previous degree. For example, if I'm earning £30k a year, will both 9% of my income over £27,295 (for the plan 2 loan for my first degree) and another separate 9% of my income over £25k (for the plan 5 loan for the 2nd degree) be taken out, OR will I only have to pay one lot of 9% of my income over the threshold - probably that over the lowest threshold of the two I'm guessing (£25k in this case).

Sorry for all the questions!!
Thank you in advance,
Danny :smile:


Hi Danny,

The repayment question will need to be directed to the repayments team which I have provided below however, yes you are correct regarding the exceptions courses. Some courses will be part time only and some full time ones will also be available. I have also provided a list of these below. In regards to you not gaining the qualification, your previous study years would still be used in the calculation for future funding which would mean you need to pay the Tuition Fees yourself for the affected years unless you attend an exception course. The calculation is course length + additional year - previous study years.

Part time exception courses

Subjects Allied to Medicine (B)
Biological Sciences (C)
Veterinary Sciences, Agricultural & Related Subjects (D)
Physical Sciences (F)
Mathematical Sciences (G)
More information on these can be found on Article SFE Part Time Exception Courses.

Full time exception courses include NHS courses, PGCE ITT courses, Architecture and Social Work.

Repayments are available on Twitter https://twitter.com/messages/compose?recipient_id=806835849916719104 or Facebook http://m.me/SLCRepayment - alternatively they are also available on the phone, their number is 0300 100 0611.

Thanks, Clare

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