Open university funding

[RyanBergarasTeeth]

Not really an aibu but has anyone done an OU course? How do I go about funding for an adult in full time employment? Dp looking to do OU and preferably studying full time in the evening so course is 3 years not 6. The website says we would need to apply for part time funding even if he plans to do the course full time. How does this work? Does student loan cover the full cost of the course for each year or are they only going to pay half as its part time funding?

From what I understand, it's just that OU courses are only eligible for the loans/funding that's available for part time study, not full time. So even if your husband studies full-time with the OU, he won't be eligible to apply for loans for full-time courses.

My son is studying full time credits with ou, he gets student finance for course fees but there is no cost of living finance.

Fees only, apply as a part time student, even though he may study on a full time basis. Full tuition fee will be covered. Starting this month, April or October?

It’s classed as part time study according to SFE/SFW it doesn’t matter what intensity you study at.

I’ve done 30/60/120 credits per year at different stages all provided by SFW.

Final year yay.

Full-time on the OU would be, IIRC, 120 credits per year. 360 credits needed for BA (Hons) and 300 credits for a BA without Hons.

As it's modular to do it full time you'd have to do at least 2 modules in a year - and i think you just apply for the funding for each module.

However - does your DH really have time to do all that uni work in the evenings? You're looking at about 16 hours per module and he'd be doing 2 at a time. I did mine by only doing 60 credits per year, and i really put the hours in to get good grades, and with full-time work, commuting and primary aged children it took a LOT of support from my DH

I'm in Scotland and get a part time fee grant

It looks like the part time loan is up to £6,935 per year, which covers the OU fees (£6192) for 120 credits per year (that's the number of credits needed to finish a degree with them in 3 years. The OU indicate that the part time loan will cover the entirety of the fees -see photo

Thanks everyone thats fantastic to know. We will only need the course fees covered as he will be working full time to cover our living expenses. We would prefer him to do full time as he wants to become a teacher. I cant go into details but this is a very big deal to him and i need to push him as much as he can be. (he begs me to push him to reach his potential).

@RyanBergarasTeeth

Thanks everyone thats fantastic to know. We will only need the course fees covered as he will be working full time to cover our living expenses. We would prefer him to do full time as he wants to become a teacher. I cant go into details but this is a very big deal to him and i need to push him as much as he can be. (he begs me to push him to reach his potential).

He’ll reach it with the OU I can certainly reassure you of that.

They’re the most understanding institution I’ve come across.

@User3covid thank you! Thats so reassuring and lovely to hear.

As a part time student (work 40h study 16h) - I wouldn’t. You can’t fit a full time degree course into evenings and weekends without making serious cutbacks into the quality of your study or your health/family life. They are not kidding when they say you need 30+ hours to do the work (and that’s just the basics, not the wider reading). Several of my course mates are even finding this (part time) tough going.

Not to put anyone off getting the education they want, but would have a serious think about the time commitment here.

You can't work FT and study FT. It's just not possible. There aren't enough hours in the day.

I did my degree with the OU, working FT and studying part time for 60 credits a year and I would study a full day every weekend, plus 2-3 hours most weekday evenings. When exams are due or my dissertation that would go up. I sometimes even booked a day of annual leave to help with getting it all done.

Not true @AOwlAOwlAOwl. You can’t generalise.

Everybody takes a different amount of time to comprehend the information being given.

I DID do full time study and work full time, whilst getting distinctions in 3 out of 4 modules (grade 2 for the 4th).

Just because you weren’t able you can’t say that for everyone or the OPs husband.

Thanks for the feedback. I think it will be tough but possible. He does retain and understand info really easily. We will watch a documentary show on physics for an hour and he will remember all the facts from it 6 months later its really impressive. Plus he is a bit of a hermit he doesn't go out a lot.

I attempted this one year. It was pure hell and I scraped a pass. I redid it as it affected my overall degree snd I was not happy.

Let's just say I learnt a lot about limits...

@FTEngineerM

Not true *@AOwlAOwlAOwl*. You can’t generalise.

Everybody takes a different amount of time to comprehend the information being given.

I DID do full time study and work full time, whilst getting distinctions in 3 out of 4 modules (grade 2 for the 4th).

Just because you weren’t able you can’t say that for everyone or the OPs husband.

I get that but you have to be realistic here - this is someone who's obviously never done level 4 study before if they are getting their partner to research fees and ask questions about how the OU works. From your previous posts you did previous years on a part time basis, so you've got the experience already before you went FT.

@AOwlAOwlAOwl to be fair he hasnt asked me to research it for him, im doing this myself so i can help if necessary. Dp has alevels and an access to higher learning under his belt and is very knowledgeable in the trade he is in. Because of a severely traumatic childhood and early adulthood i need to support him a lot to achieve what he should of ten years ago. Not because he isnt smart or capable, but because he was so badly neglected everyone told him to give up and not bother bettering his life. He has very high intelligence. I went to a normal bricks and mortar uni but he doesn't want to as he struggles being around people, plus we need his income extremely so.

If you want to go full time the first year is the best time to do it as it's the least intense and the marks don't count towards the degree. Level 2 and level 3 are a lot more intense and need more time put into them.

I am a lecturer with the OU and I would have to say he needs to think very carefully about doing 120 credits in 1 year whilst working. That’s not to say that it isn’t possible but there will be some intense pinch points. Some courses have assignments due in at around the same time, so he could well be trying to prepare 2 or even 3 assignments at the same time, depending on the courses he is doing.

From my 10 years of experience, I generally have anywhere between 3-7 students who try to do 90+ credits each year. I can count on 1 hand how many have not dropped out and only 1 of them was working (the others were studying full time only) and I teach a numerical subject where there are no long essays.

First year is the best time to TRY 120 credits if he is determined to do this, as you only need to pass the year and your marks don’t count towards your final degree, whereas 2nd & 3rd year do.

Thanks thats very helpful. I think if he passes his first year he will have renewed confidence to undertake his final two years even if he takes on day off work a week. The thought of 6 years fills him with dread and he doesnt have the motivation to do that sadly. He wants to become a teacher at the end as well.

I'm currently studying with the OU and working full time. It's definitely not advisable. I seemed to think I'd be able to manage it, but it's very stressful and I have no life outside of work/study.
You apply for part time student finance and then they automatically adjust the fees afterwards.

Please don’t underestimate the time and effort involved. Having taken many courses and ended up with a 2:1, I’d say that unless you have no, or very few demands on your time, 60 points a year (half a ‘brick’ university year, is plenty.

I was only working very p/t when I did my final (level 3) courses, plus I had no young children needing attention or distracting me, and 60 points each time was still quite enough.

@RyanBergarasTeeth

Thanks thats very helpful. I think if he passes his first year he will have renewed confidence to undertake his final two years even if he takes on day off work a week. The thought of 6 years fills him with dread and he doesnt have the motivation to do that sadly. He wants to become a teacher at the end as well.

I think it's brilliant that he's doing this but I also think he's taking on too much doing it in three years. Hear me out here - To become a teacher, he'll have to do a diploma course - the bit that teaches you how to teach rather than the subject degree.

Competition for diploma courses is fierce. I've had two friends get on courses recently and the reason they made it is that they both had worked with young people - one for many years as a TA, the other had done a lot of work with young people as part of her career.

He needs to be thinking about this now - so if he can drop a day at work next year, I think it would be really good for him to be thinking about how to use that time to boost his chances of getting on the diploma. That means finding ways to work with young people.

Unless of course his current job is child-focused, in which case carry on.

Thats well worth knowing in regards to a teacher diploma thank you.

It is tough but achievable if he's willing to put the work in. I did an OU physics degree in 4yrs at the same time as working full time and got a first, it was bloomin hard work though. I started with 60 points in my first year just to see how I got on with it. It was before I had kids, there's no way I'd consider attempting to complete it in that time frame if I had children.