The Student Room Group

Am I likely to get funding for topping up a foundation degree despite previous study?

Hi there.

I'm currently studying a foundation degree at The Academy of Music and Sound Exeter. This is a two year course; there is meant to be the option to do a 'BA Top Up Year' to get a full bachelor's degree. However AMS is unfortunately closing this year so it won't be possible to do their BA top up. Our tutor has advised us to look for other universities that offer a foundation degree top up, or that would allow a student that completed the foundation degree to come onto the final year of a 3 year BA degree.

I'm really uncertain how student finance would be handled in this situation as I've received funding for a previous course. About 8 years ago I tried a computing foundation degree; I was on that course for 2 years and received full-time maintenance and tuition fee loans. I had some personal issues at the time and unfortunately didn't pass the course, coming frustratingly close to passing (failing one module by 4%).

That course used up 2 years of my funding so normally I would have only had 1 year of my current course funded based on SFE's eligibility formula (length of new course = 2 years, add 1 year = 3 years, subtract 2 years had before = 1 year total). I was advised to apply for the 'compelling personal reasons' and I was awarded an extra year of funding which I'm very grateful for.

So after completing my current foundation degree that will have used 4 years of full-time funding in total so I don't know what if any I will still be entitled to.

I have seen that maintenance loans are still offered even when there is no eligibility for a tuition fee loan - for example before applying for the compelling personal reasons the letter I received from SFE said I would receive £0 tuition fee loan but the full maintenance loan.
So I'm not sure if this would apply again, and that if I am indeed not entitled to any further tuition fee loan, whether I would still be able to get the maintenance loan. This way I could pay the course tuition fee out of the maintenance loan as the maintenance loan amount I've gotten so far is ~£11,000 per year. However I don't know if the 4 year funding limit applies to maintenance loans.

The other thing I've seen stated is that 'limited funding' is available for students topping up an existing HE qualification such as a foundation degree to a bachelor's degree which would be my case. So perhaps I may still be eligible for some funding based on this?

The only uni that is practical for me attend is Plymouth. Exeter Uni doesn't offer any music courses, and moving to live in another city isn't practical for just 1 year of study.
However Plymouth doesn't have any specific 1 year BA top up courses like some unis, so if they accepted me it would be to go into the final year of their 3 year music bachelor's degree. So I would need to find out whether this would still be counted as topping up a foundation degree by SFE.

Thanks for the help!
Original post by Sparky8691
Hi there.
I'm currently studying a foundation degree at The Academy of Music and Sound Exeter. This is a two year course; there is meant to be the option to do a 'BA Top Up Year' to get a full bachelor's degree. However AMS is unfortunately closing this year so it won't be possible to do their BA top up. Our tutor has advised us to look for other universities that offer a foundation degree top up, or that would allow a student that completed the foundation degree to come onto the final year of a 3 year BA degree.
I'm really uncertain how student finance would be handled in this situation as I've received funding for a previous course. About 8 years ago I tried a computing foundation degree; I was on that course for 2 years and received full-time maintenance and tuition fee loans. I had some personal issues at the time and unfortunately didn't pass the course, coming frustratingly close to passing (failing one module by 4%).
That course used up 2 years of my funding so normally I would have only had 1 year of my current course funded based on SFE's eligibility formula (length of new course = 2 years, add 1 year = 3 years, subtract 2 years had before = 1 year total). I was advised to apply for the 'compelling personal reasons' and I was awarded an extra year of funding which I'm very grateful for.
So after completing my current foundation degree that will have used 4 years of full-time funding in total so I don't know what if any I will still be entitled to.
I have seen that maintenance loans are still offered even when there is no eligibility for a tuition fee loan - for example before applying for the compelling personal reasons the letter I received from SFE said I would receive £0 tuition fee loan but the full maintenance loan.
So I'm not sure if this would apply again, and that if I am indeed not entitled to any further tuition fee loan, whether I would still be able to get the maintenance loan. This way I could pay the course tuition fee out of the maintenance loan as the maintenance loan amount I've gotten so far is ~£11,000 per year. However I don't know if the 4 year funding limit applies to maintenance loans.
The other thing I've seen stated is that 'limited funding' is available for students topping up an existing HE qualification such as a foundation degree to a bachelor's degree which would be my case. So perhaps I may still be eligible for some funding based on this?
The only uni that is practical for me attend is Plymouth. Exeter Uni doesn't offer any music courses, and moving to live in another city isn't practical for just 1 year of study.
However Plymouth doesn't have any specific 1 year BA top up courses like some unis, so if they accepted me it would be to go into the final year of their 3 year music bachelor's degree. So I would need to find out whether this would still be counted as topping up a foundation degree by SFE.
Thanks for the help!
Hi there,

Yes, you should be fine to do the final year of the 3 year degree. Based on what you have advised we don't count years that Compelling Personal Reasons were accepted, but nothing would be definite till you apply for finance and we can review this.

Thanks,
Claire

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending