Will my student finance be affected if I pay for a level 5 OBS course privately

I'm currently on my first year of a law degree through Open Uni, it's about 7k a year. I'm considering paying privately to also study a level 4&5 business foundation degree through Online Business School, this only costs a little over 2K so I can afford to buy this upfront. They give you 5 whole years to finish the business management course and there's no assignment deadlines so I'm not worried about balancing both. My concern is that if I pay for a course which equates to 2 years of university study that student finance England may stop paying out for my law degree. 3 different advisers at OBS have told me that because I'm paying myself it couldn't affect my student finance but the student finance eligibility page says "You’ll usually only get student finance if you’re doing your first higher education qualification - even if your previous course was self-funded."
So I'm not sure if Online Business School are genuinely certain that it won't affect my student finance or they're just saying what they need to say to get the sale or they're making assumptions without looking into it. I'm really hoping some of you on here will say you have done an additional uni level course alongside their main degree without having any issues with student finance.

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Quite possibly, as you'll have earned a qualification equivalent to at least part of what you are studying. They have a set of clauses referring to "equivalent or lower qualification" study (ELQ) where if you are studying a qualification that is equivalent or lower level than one you already hold you don't get funding.

Also this "Online Business School" sounds rather...questionable. It doesn't have a ".ac.uk" URL either. I would steer clear and stick with the OU course, personally. Can't really see this random for-profit online course adding any value for you.