The Student Room Group

Changing onto accelerated course in England after 2 years in Scottish uni

I am a mature EU student with Pre-Settled status. I've been living in the UK since September 2020 and I'm ordinarily resident in England (Lived in London before and only moved to Scotland for the purpose of starting my degree studies at uni.)

I started my 4 year BA (Hons) degree in a Scottish uni in September 2022. I got free tuition the same as Scottish students due to having the Pre-Settled status. I didn't receive any other funding from SAAS or SFE and receive my student mainentance loan from my home country.

I got really ill with mono just a few months after the course started, and continued getting sick over and over again to the point where I wasn't progressing in my studies and was so ill continuously that I had to suspend my studies in March 2023 as I just couldn't complete my modules.
After suspending, I moved back to London and started slowly recovering. Thankfully, I fully recovered and was able to return from suspension this January to finish my 1st year of uni. I received the +1 year of funding from SAAS to cover my tuition fees to be able to repeat the spring term and just finished my 1st year of uni.

However, in the course of this Spring I have come to realise that this course just isn't for me. I had this similar feeling last year, but at the time I just thought it was due to my continuous illnesses. But now I've realised that I'm just not getting enough out of my current course, and I feel that I would have a much better experience in another school that would offer better facilities, resources, opportunities and learning experiences. Because of this, I have thought about coming back to London this summer and changing courses onto a 2 year accelerated BA (Hons) Degree to graduate in 2026.

The thing is, that I'm really puzzled about the funding. I've now used 2 years of funding in Scotland, as I used SAAS +1 year to cover the repeat of my 1st year spring term. However, because there are no tuition fees in Scotland for me for a first degree, I have not taken out any tuition fee loans to pay for my study yet. If I'd come back to England to study, I'd obviously switch to SFE and would need to get a tuition fee loan for the new course. I still can't figure out if I would be eligible for tuition fee funding for the whole duration of a 2 year accelerated course... Help!

Reply 1

Original post by Ilona73
I am a mature EU student with Pre-Settled status. I've been living in the UK since September 2020 and I'm ordinarily resident in England (Lived in London before and only moved to Scotland for the purpose of starting my degree studies at uni.)
I started my 4 year BA (Hons) degree in a Scottish uni in September 2022. I got free tuition the same as Scottish students due to having the Pre-Settled status. I didn't receive any other funding from SAAS or SFE and receive my student mainentance loan from my home country.
I got really ill with mono just a few months after the course started, and continued getting sick over and over again to the point where I wasn't progressing in my studies and was so ill continuously that I had to suspend my studies in March 2023 as I just couldn't complete my modules.
After suspending, I moved back to London and started slowly recovering. Thankfully, I fully recovered and was able to return from suspension this January to finish my 1st year of uni. I received the +1 year of funding from SAAS to cover my tuition fees to be able to repeat the spring term and just finished my 1st year of uni.
However, in the course of this Spring I have come to realise that this course just isn't for me. I had this similar feeling last year, but at the time I just thought it was due to my continuous illnesses. But now I've realised that I'm just not getting enough out of my current course, and I feel that I would have a much better experience in another school that would offer better facilities, resources, opportunities and learning experiences. Because of this, I have thought about coming back to London this summer and changing courses onto a 2 year accelerated BA (Hons) Degree to graduate in 2026.
The thing is, that I'm really puzzled about the funding. I've now used 2 years of funding in Scotland, as I used SAAS +1 year to cover the repeat of my 1st year spring term. However, because there are no tuition fees in Scotland for me for a first degree, I have not taken out any tuition fee loans to pay for my study yet. If I'd come back to England to study, I'd obviously switch to SFE and would need to get a tuition fee loan for the new course. I still can't figure out if I would be eligible for tuition fee funding for the whole duration of a 2 year accelerated course... Help!

Hi there,

Would you be permanently living in England or only moving for the purpose of study? If you're living in Scotland just now when would you be moving back to England? Would there be a gap between the Scottish course and the Accelerated course?

Thanks, Ross

Reply 2

Hi Ross,

Thanks for the reply. When I moved to the UK in 2020 I moved to England to work and was an ordinarily resident there. I only moved up to Scotland in 2022 for the purpose of study. When I had to suspend my studies, I moved back to England and then moved back up to my university town again when I was able to continue university. So in that case, I am ordinarily resident in England as I am only in Scotland for the purpose of studying on my course. Otherwise I would still be living in London.

I would be moving back to England sometime in the summer, most probably in July/August. My current university term officially finishes on the 11th of May. The Accelerated course would begin sometime the first week of September this year depending which course I go for.

Thanks again!

Reply 3

Hi Ilona73,

What is the name of the university and course that you are looking to study in future? To confirm - do you have 2 years of previous study on your previous course?

Thanks,
Calum

Reply 4

Original post by Calum SLC
Hi Ilona73,
What is the name of the university and course that you are looking to study in future? To confirm - do you have 2 years of previous study on your previous course?
Thanks,
Calum

Hi Calum,

My two course options at the moment are:

BA (Hons) Acting at Court Theatre Training Company - Start date early September 2024
or
BA Hons Musical Theatre (Professional Performance) at Accelerated Studios - Start date early October 2024

Both of these courses are based in London and are 2 year accelerated degrees.
The Acting degree is in partnership with Buckinghamshire New University, and the musical theatre course with University of Chichester so they qualify for full funding by SFE.

What comes to my current course, I have only just completed 1st year. I suspended my studies in March 2023 due to illness, and came back this January to repeat my second semester to complete my 1st year of studies.

Thanks again for the help.

Reply 5

Hi Ilona73,

In that case you would have 2 years of previous study. Using the previous study calculation this would mean that we would only fund the 2nd year of the course as things stand unless you have evidence of Compelling Personal Reasons for a previous year of study.

Thanks,
Calum

Reply 6

Hi Calum,

Thanks so much again for the fast reply. Because I suspended my studies due to illness and have evidence of this, do you know if this would be enough to qualify for CPR? Would I be able to apply for the CPR already before sending my full funding application? As in my case, if I don't receive funding for the whole two years of study I can't switch courses because I don't have the means to self-fund a year of study.

Thanks again!

Reply 7

Original post by Ilona73
Hi Calum,
Thanks so much again for the fast reply. Because I suspended my studies due to illness and have evidence of this, do you know if this would be enough to qualify for CPR? Would I be able to apply for the CPR already before sending my full funding application? As in my case, if I don't receive funding for the whole two years of study I can't switch courses because I don't have the means to self-fund a year of study.
Thanks again!

Hi there,

You can do the application then submit your CPR evidence. If it was due to illness this is acceptable. We would need evidence and a cover letter from yourself giving a statement of events, the impact it had on your studies and the dates during the Academic Year.

Thanks, Ross

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