Foundation Year?

[Inforthelonghaul]

DD wants to study for a degree. She didn’t go to Sixth Form for A levels as wanted to work instead. She has now decided on a different path and has found a degree that she wants to do with a Foundation year first. The college she will attend is on the university campus.

I know that she will have to get a student loan to cover university tuition fees. The foundation year also carried tuition fees and I’m trying to find out whether this is payable by her or not as she will be 18 when the course starts and I thought further education was fully funded from 16-19?

Does anybody know how this works? She is prepared to borrow 4 years of tuition fees if she has to but would obviously rather not if she doesn’t.

My DS is going to do an Art Foundation. You can do this at sixth forms, techs and unis (exactly the same qualification).

Some charge full fees, some don't as he's under 19 when he starts.

No 6th form or tech are asking for fees, but some unis are, some not.

So it seems to be on an individual basis.

Yes I hadn't realised some universities charge for the foundation for 18 yr olds, but it looks as though they do.

I'm not sure if it qualifies for student loans on the usual terms as it is not a degree? Others may know more!

I did a foundation last year. I already knew the course I wanted to do and the people on the course were a mix from 18 years to 65. So my course was recorded at BSc in birdwatching including foundation. We all applied for finance as normal. So my guess is that in your daughters case its just treated as a four year course.
If you ring the uni they can clarify. Interestingly some people from the foundation did leave at the end of the year to go to different unis despite enrolling initially on a 4 year course. Getting the 120 credits opened up other options. No one did the foundation as a stand alone.

Fees vary a lot - 6th forms can charge post 18 now but it's usually lower than universities but not the same experience. It's a good solution if you don't have a levels

"6th forms can charge post 18 now but it's usually lower than universities but not the same experience."

anniehm would you say it's a different experience in terms of the art education, or are you more talking about socially? I realise the art education will vary by individual institution as well, but just wondering if there are pros and cons to doing foundation diploma at a university versus fe college?

The pros of doing one at a university is that they will possibly look on you favourably when applying for the degree. They may well assume that’s what you want to do. DD didn’t do foundation but a friend did and he went seamlessly into his degree at UAL. I would look into this. The con is - it might cost more!