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
Reply 2
Hi Claire,

Just wanted to come back to my query to see what your thoughts are on my finance application.

First of all I got an email on 15th July saying I wouldn't be entitled to a tuition fee loan, only a maintenance loan:

' Your student finance in academic year 2024/25. Thanks for your application for student finance. We’ve worked out your funding and you won’t be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan in academic year 2024/25. This is because you've studied before, and you usually only get funding for your first degree course '.

And the formula in the email said 3 years length of new course + 1 year - 4 years studied before = 0

So there appears to be no disregard for the 1 year of funding due to the 'compelling personal reasons' in that calculation.

A few days later I got a letter dated the same day as the email saying I would have 'Zero entitlement to core finance due to ELQ (not an exception course)'. When I applied for funding this year I didn't have any HE qualifications, as mentioned in my original post, I didn't get a qualification from my previous attempt at a foundation degree. I have found out today that I passed my current music foundation degree but that still shouldn't be the same level as the 3rd year of a BA course? As I understand it foundation degree is up to level 5 whereas I would be going onto level 6.

I'm wondering if SFE are considering the BA course I'm transferring to as if I'm starting from the first year. Although that still doesn't entirely make sense.

I did try calling SFE and they couldn't really give me any information, just advised to write a letter to explain that I am transferring into the 3rd year of a BA course which I uploaded on my account and they confirmed receipt of last week. Hopefully it will work out but just thought I'd reply back here in case you do have any advice on my situation.

I've had to enrol on the Plymouth BA course now, I'm sure they will allow a reasonable amount of time to get a decision from SFE before kicking me off!

Thanks again.
Hi there. When looking at your application online, does it state that you are going into year 3 of the BA course? Thanks, Leah.
Reply 4
Original post by Leah SLC
Hi there. When looking at your application online, does it state that you are going into year 3 of the BA course? Thanks, Leah.

It doesn't actually say anything about the point of entry on the application.

From what I can see on all my previous applications, it only has this information when I actually got an letter saying what the loan amounts would be.

Because I haven't got such a letter this time, just the letter saying there would be no entitlement to finance due to it being an ELQ, it doesn't say anything except academic year 24/25.

I definitely indicated year 3 when I applied though. Perhaps that wasn't recorded correctly.
It sounds like the ELQ letter has been sent in error. As this only applies if you have a pervious degree at the same level you are looking to study.

I think the best option would be to call again so we can look into this further regarding the year of CPR that has been counted in the previous study calculation, as CPR years are not taken into account. Thanks, Leah.
Reply 6
Hi again. I tried calling SFE again today and spoke to an advisor who was able to give me a bit more information than on previous calls.

He agreed it appears as if the ELQ letter was sent in error and has referred my application to be looked at again, advising I should get a response by next week now which is good.

However this advisor wasn't so sure about the CPR year not being counted in the previous study calculation. He said the CPR year would only be discounted if I was staying at the same course provider; as my college closed down and I've had to transfer to Plymouth Uni he said that would cause the previous study to be recalculated and the CPR year would no longer be disregarded.

So he seems to think I will indeed get the maintenance loan but not the tuition fee loan. Although he did say I could apply for another CPR to try and get another year of tuition fee loan that way, putting the reason that my previous course provider closed.

Does that sound like the correct advice or do you still believe the CPR year should definitely be disregarded even though I've had to transfer to a new uni? And is there any reference for this I could mention to prove it?

I suppose if my application has now been referred to another team they should know the correct procedure for this. Has just been a bit worrying not knowing which way things are going to go.

Thanks for your time!
Original post by Sparky8691
Hi again. I tried calling SFE again today and spoke to an advisor who was able to give me a bit more information than on previous calls.
He agreed it appears as if the ELQ letter was sent in error and has referred my application to be looked at again, advising I should get a response by next week now which is good.
However this advisor wasn't so sure about the CPR year not being counted in the previous study calculation. He said the CPR year would only be discounted if I was staying at the same course provider; as my college closed down and I've had to transfer to Plymouth Uni he said that would cause the previous study to be recalculated and the CPR year would no longer be disregarded.
So he seems to think I will indeed get the maintenance loan but not the tuition fee loan. Although he did say I could apply for another CPR to try and get another year of tuition fee loan that way, putting the reason that my previous course provider closed.
Does that sound like the correct advice or do you still believe the CPR year should definitely be disregarded even though I've had to transfer to a new uni? And is there any reference for this I could mention to prove it?
I suppose if my application has now been referred to another team they should know the correct procedure for this. Has just been a bit worrying not knowing which way things are going to go.
Thanks for your time!

Hi there,

Once the referral has been worked this should be rectified. Keep an eye on your online account and emails over the next week for the update coming through.

Thanks,
Ross

Quick Reply