The Student Room Group

Chances of getting Maintenance Loan with Open University

Hi, I wanted to see if anyone had an opinion on this matter. I currently go to a brick university but I seriously cannot handle it here. I had a lot of hurdles and even had to repeat my first year of university due to the horrific admin here. I genuinely am struggling so much to get this degree. Academically, I’m doing fine, however because of the situations that I’ve experienced here, I developed anxiety. I now physically cannot attend lectures without getting severe panic attacks. I do all my lectures from home, I am averaging above 70%+ in all my modules, however it’s tricky to keep up when it comes to my lab module since attending triggers my anxiety.

I was thinking of switching to the Open University. I would much rather prefer to attend it as I truly love the content of my degree but I seriously do not get along with the “university lifestyle”. I have no support system here, no friends or family here, I’d much rather study via distance learning so I can truly engage with the content I love without the anxiety.

Is there a way I can still keep my maintenance loan? I heard that you cannot get a maintenance loan with OU but i’m unsure of all the details!
I believe Student Finance Scotland and Student Finance Wales do student maintenance loans for OU students, but Student Finance England doesn't unless you're disabled.

Have you tried looking at other unis? My husband did BA Hons 3D Game Art via distance learning with Buckinghamshire New University and he did get a maintenance loan.
It depends what course you're wanting to do, obviously, but a lot of unis do offer distance learning these days.
(edited 2 months ago)
Reply 2
Original post by PinkMobilePhone
I believe Student Finance Scotland and Student Finance Wales do student maintenance loans for OU students, but Student Finance England doesn't unless you're disabled.
Have you tried looking at other unis? My husband did BA Hons 3D Game Art via distance learning with Buckinghamshire New University and he did get a maintenance loan.
It depends what course you're wanting to do, obviously, but a lot of unis do offer distance learning these days.

I’m studying engineering so unfortunately there’s not many distance learning options. Thank you for your help!

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