Uni or apprenticeship?

[Idontlikecheesecake]

Hi, I’m posting on here for traffic and I need help to identify which could be the best route for me, so any help identifying pros and cons for each route that I may have missed would be very much appreciated!

I have recently been offered to study towards my masters in nursing at university, which will end up with me being a registered nurse. It will mean leaving my job (I have worked for the nhs for nearly 3 years), but an email has circulated advertising a masters apprenticeship with the same result and now im torn! So i have come up with a list of pros and cons for each, and any more that people can think of, or how people would feel/manage in these situations would be great!

I have one child, who is 4 and will be starting school in September
I am prepared for the hard work that will be required for either course
Both routes would mean i am qualified in 2 years
I have only just found out about this opportunity tonight and the closing date is next week so don’t have much time. So there’s a lot of assumptions, but if anyone has experienced anything like this, please do tell!

Uni route pros
I wouldn’t be contracted to work in my time off from lectures and placement
I can pick shifts with NHSP for extra money
My partner earns about £43k per annum, and he will be supporting my student finance application, but depending on the financial year they assess, I may get maximum funding as he was training a few years ago

Uni route cons
Not sure how much I will get through student finance, I think my decision will largely come down to this

Apprenticeship route pros
I will stay employed, meaning I will continue to work towards accruing additional annual leave (kicks in after 5 years), my pension etc
No more student debt (yay!)

Apprenticeship cons
I will probably be expected to work my contracted hours when i do not have lectures or placement (would mean working Christmas and/or new year) - this is something I’m assuming based on similar roles
Pay is shocking for the first year - £160 per week, and then the second year is £17k
Probably wouldn’t have time to pick up extra shifts

I’m not sure if i would qualify for that £5k nursing funding that bojo brought back if i did the apprenticeship. This is something I would need to look into

We could manage financially either route we take as my partner has said he would support me. But I don’t want to live off him.

I know where I want to be, and I was happy with uni, until i read this email

Is there a difference in course content? Will one allow you to get promoted more easily after the course is finished?

Personally, I would go the apprenticeship route.

Tough one. You are left without debt if you do the apprenticeship but work more hours?
How will it work with childcare?
It's great though either way

Apprenticeship.

Does the apprenticeship route give you additional practice hours (if they are needed) that mean you could progress faster on qualification?

I’m biased because my PhD thesis is on the topic of degree-level apprenticeships but I’d always take the apprenticeship over traditional degree study.

You will not.get full student loan if your DH earns that I don't think.

They would both be full time equivalent, but not always on placement. So I could have study days but technically I would be able to choose my study days (like if i was given Friday as a study day, and never work weekends, I could choose my study day to be the Saturday instead). I think so long as i out in the study hours it should be fine. Placement would be full time, and the uni have said they try not to give assignments while you’re on placement. Don’t know about the apprenticeship, but I imagine it’s the same because I would still go to uni, it’s just funded differently

@amusedbush

I’m biased because my PhD thesis is on the topic of degree-level apprenticeships but I’d always take the apprenticeship over traditional degree study.

Why is that? What does your thesis say.

Childcare could be an issue for the apprenticeship. Have it sorted from September as she will be at school and partners mum has volunteered to help before and after school. But the apprenticeship starts in august. Don’t know if it starts full time in august or if I just need to enroll them. Another thing to find out

And a few years ago, my partner was training through the nhs and qualified for this no tax scheme, even though he was band 6 (I think it was about £28k at the time?) so even though he was on a really good salary, he had no taxable income because there was a training element with the nhs. (They don’t do it anymore). So depending on the tax year they use to assess our income, and how they look at it, I could get the maximum amount of student finance, or hardly anything.

The paying no tax thing did cause me a minor problem briefly. The tax free childcare service questioned me about his income because they could see he didn’t pay tax and therefore nearly didn’t qualify for it. He had to send in his payslips to show that he was earning even though he wasn’t paying tax! Sounds dodgy but it was legal!

Hi, I teach on apprenticeship nursing at my university and am the apprenticeship lead for the department. If you are successful to get on the apprenticeship, you must remember that you will not be likely to get any student benefits e.g. help with council tax. Our nursing apprentices work their normal 37.5 hours per week on their NHS contract, plus normal annual leave entitlement. Also, the employer will also be tracking your academic performance and attendance at university. You will be sighting a commitment statement to agree to share this data with them.

Sparkle - very good point!

Apprenticeship all the way.

You mentioned your annual leave entitlement - its not based on consecutive years of service. So if you did take a break to go go uni your 3 years previous still count when you get your next nhs job.

You can only do your Masters after you have already qualified @Idontlikecheesecake

@amusedbush
I'd be interested to hear more about your findings - my son is interested in a degree apprenticeship. My only concern is the reduced degree level learning as fewer modules are covered. Do you see this as a problem? He is interested in engineering.

OP council tax/student benefitsis a red herring. The cost is so much lower than than your uni costs would be.
If you need childcare in August, contact nurseries / summer play camps now. Again savings will far outweigh those costs.

Sakura
What do you mean? It’s a pre registration course, so it is a qualifying route, leading to registration. I already have a degree in something else so can a masters

Apprenticeship. Even if they assess your DH on a year he was training, they won’t the following year - that’ll be on his 43k - and you’ll get next to nothing. It’ll make the 17k apprenticeship look like a small fortune. Plus you keep the current job.

From what you describe I would choose the apprenticeship route. Continuous service in a job is a valuable thing if possible, and may benefit pension amounts significantly (check I suggest).

I work at a Uni on both the traditional degree and apprenticeship pathways (though not for nursing). Theoretically in apprenticeships you get 20% ‘off the job’ time for training (though many of my apprentices claim that it doesn’t really happen). Apprenticeships have fewer modules because the rest of the time you are expected to be learning at an equivalent level ‘on the job’ and you are also expected to do a lot more independently. This is very much brought out in your End Point Assessment and will be part of your EPA portfolio. In your case I’d definitely apply for the apprenticeship provided that the qualification will offer you the same opportunities as your masters. The fact that you got onto the masters suggests you’d also have a good chance of getting through the apprenticeship.

If you start this autumn the assessment will be on the tax year 2019-2020 and for your following year of study, 2020-2021.

I'd choose the apprenticeship for job security and continuous service. What would the pay and prospects be like on completion of both? It may be that the apprenticeship would result in more pay and options on completion than doing the uni course then joining the NHS again as a new start.
Is there any room for negotiation with the apprenticeship? I mean could you do it over a longer period of time in order to be able to work and earn more? Or is it set in stone?

[quote MovingtoEssex]@amusedbush
I'd be interested to hear more about your findings - my son is interested in a degree apprenticeship. My only concern is the reduced degree level learning as fewer modules are covered. Do you see this as a problem? He is interested in engineering.

OP council tax/student benefitsis a red herring. The cost is so much lower than than your uni costs would be.
If you need childcare in August, contact nurseries / summer play camps now. Again savings will far outweigh those costs.[/quote]
My second thesis supervisor is an apprenticeship programme leader in the engineering faculty so I've heard a lot of anecdotal evidence that apprentices get a curriculum tailored to the needs of the local industry sector and by the end of the programme, a large number are promoted due to the qualification and extra years of demonstrable experience. The apprenticeship programme should be work-based and should involve progressively more responsibility.

Currently I'm 9 months into my research so I'm up to my eyes in literature but data collection will start shortly. I plan to interview apprentices to find out the "lived experience" (cringe - sorry!) because nothing has been published from their point of view, only the POV of universities and employers. It's such a new initiative, hard data comparing apprenticeship vs traditional degree is scarce but anecdotally, it's a no-brainer.

Just to add, that in my school, the content in an MSc Nursing is the same regardless of route as it is a PRSB course, and we teach our direct route and apprentices together. It is also highly likely that you will also be required to work for your NHS Trust for a certain length of time post registration, and if you do not complete the apprenticeship, you are unlikely to be able to take up another opportunity.