My son failed his retake at uni, I need help with suggestions

[JustMum3]

Hi ladies, I need your advice on this issue. My son failed his first year at uni and his resit. He’s now used his second year to retake modules he failed in his first year. It’s not because he doesn’t Study but that he just took a very hard subject and is doing his best to pass it. Now my worry as a mom is what happens if he fails his retake because he really wants to be in Uni.what would be the options for him, can he reapply st a different Uni using his A’ level results and take a different subject. Will student finance still help him or would he have to pay privately. Has anyone been through this with their child. Would really appreciate your suggestions Ladies.

Has he actually failed his first year or not? As it's not clear. Do you mean he's gone on to his 2nd year but redoing modules again that he failed from the 1st year, alongside his 2nd year modules? I do know someone that was offered this but chose to resit the entire year.

You / he will need to contact the student finance company to find out whether they will finance another re-sit.

However, the first year is almost invariably the easiest year. If he couldn't pass it despite having tried twice, either he's not suited to the course, or he's messing about far too much.

I'd go for "reapply st a different Uni using his A’ level results and take a different subject." and this is what I did too. No more Fourier analyses for me!

If he does want to move to a different course & uni, bear in mind that the student finance company may decide that they are not willing to fund all of the course. Generally, for a standard 3-year degree, they will fund 3 years plus 1 year of resit of there is a good reason for the resit (health issues, family issues such as bereavement etc). The person I know had to submit doctors notes confirming they had been unwell for a significant period, and confirm how this had impacted their ability to complete the work required, before they got confirmation that the resit would be funded. They were advised that a further resit would not be funded.

Why is he doing the course? Is it because he wants the qualification, or because he wants the career the qualification will get him into?

If it's the career, look for other ways of getting into the field. Plenty of people go sideways into their field, or take a slower more winding route.

Is he currently taking second year while resitting or on a break? Iirc SFA limits the extent of its funding and he won't really want to accrue further debt to no end. What is this "hard" subject, did he meet the entry requirements easily or was it through Clearing? Maybe he would be better looking at degree apprenticeships or alternative less rigorous courses.