Changing courses and retaking first year.

My partner has been researching in to changing her degree as the course she is on is impacting her mental health. She is currently studying Psychology with forensic investigation which she had taken a foundation year for. As far as she was aware she thought the course would have a lot more forensic based units. On the course but it has been anything but that. Admittedly she should have looked more into the course before she started it but even then it was a little misleading and some of the content has been triggering for her mental health. She has found a course centered around anthropology, archeology and forensic sciences which suits what she wants to do career wise a lot better. As much as there had been an agreement made between the departments she has now been told that she won't get funding for her first year again. We are both mature students and dont have the finances to pay for first year again ourselves. I also dont expect her to continue on with her degree if it is going to impact her mental health. So she feels now that she may have to drop out of university entirely as we wont be able to afford for her to retake her first year again. Im trying to help her look for some guidance on this as i can see she is determined and excited to complete this new degree. Any help will be appreciated many thanks

Hi Ben,
Can you please tell us how many years of previous study your partner has? Is it just the Foundation Year, or has she started the next year?
Thanks, Graeme

Hi, she is in her second semester of her first year.

Hi Ben,
How long is the new course? Would this be full time or part time course? How many years previous study in total has your partner done?
Thanks,
Claire

Hi, it is 3 years long and she has only completed 1 full year as that was her foundation year for her current course.

Is the new course full time?
If she has done Foundation year and on first year currently, (whether completed or not) this would count as 2 years previous study.
Thanks,
Claire

Thanks for confirming. Student Finance uses this calculation to work out how much funding you have left:

New course length + Additional Year – Previous study years (non completed years also included)
For example, new course is 3 years long, the calculation would be:

3 + 1 – 2 = 2 years entitlement

We do not take any part time previous study into account for full time course, and vice versa.
This means the first year of Tuition would be blocked. Maintenance Loan isn't affected. Thanks, Leah.

So does this mean she would have to take out a personal loan to pay for her first year or is there anything else she can do?