What options are there for students with dire Alevels due to life events?( computer science )

[C0p3nhag3n]

Hi my son is struggling with severe trauma and intense anxiety. He also has ASC.He is having treatment,making progress but it’s slow and he’s still quite ill. Getting to the end of his Alevel courses and actually being able to sit through the exams is huge but he has managed to do very little revision and has struggled hugely in the exams themselves. We’re proud he managed to complete them without running out.

So results aren’t going to be good, expecting Ds instead of the As he’s capable off. He is going to take a year off but what can he do to get into Uni? Would he qualify for Access courses or is there anything else? He is bright just had the shiftiest past 3 years.

No, not automatically.

Even if they/their appointee applied for UC (the vast majority of disabled 19y/o students wouldn’t be able to receive money from ESA now, although may make a credits only New Style ESA claim in order to establish LCW/LCWRA) whilst in full time education you a) need to in receipt of PIP, b) need to be assessed as having a LCW/LCWRA, and c) have LCW/LCWRA established prior to starting the course. ( Or meet one of the other criteria allowing those in full time education to claim.) Someone in receipt of PIP may not also have a LCW/LCWRA, or they may do but not have it established prior to the start of the course.

You can't apply for income based ESA now. It's Universal Credit only. You can't claim universal credit as a full time student unless you have been assessed as having limited capacity for work and work related activity before your course started.

X-posted with @ThomasWasTortured .

What’s a LCW/LCWRA?

LCWRA = limited capability for work and work-related activities.
LCW = limited capability for work

@C0p3nhag3n
your ds can do an access course once he is 19. I work with this age group. And see many in this situation.

There will be options available for him. Are you in a city? Any local FE colleges? I’d start there.

Whereabouts are you? My son did a foundation course though not for computer science and it was absolutely the making of him.

Why would uni be ruled out when he has Ds? He could still go to uni just not such a prestigious one

@C0p3nhag3n some unis will be lower eg Nottingham Trent CS foundation is 72 points which is DDD. If you look at the individual uni websites you can get an idea of what is required. Or put those grades into the course selector on the UCAS website

The distinction is important. Limited capacity for work doesn't have any financial benefit, it just gives different requirements for the claimant commitment.

The limited capacity for work and work related activity adds £390.06 per month to the universal credit amount.

Some unis are great for support Eg UCLAN

Tell him to look at Liverpool John Moores computer science degree with a foundation year. They are brilliant at investing in students like that.

I've been here. Asd Ds just didn't get along in sixth form, wrong setting, wrong environment, no support, failed a critical A level and lost his Uni place.
He took a year out and got a job that allowed him to mature and just generally grow up a bit.
His options were to retake the failed A levels, do a foundation year, or do a 12 month Access course. He chose the latter at a different college and is in his final year of Uni now and absolutely thriving.
My advice would be to look round different colleges and see what they offer. I wish we'd have paid closer attention to that to begin with instead of drifting into sixth form, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. There are definitely other avenues in though so try not to worry.

As someone who works in HE please don’t encourage him to start a course until he is in a good place for it. My uni is absolutely rife with mental health issues that are beyond our help and it is devastating to the staff to see students in such difficulties. Obviously some things occur whilst they are with us, but it’s a really bad idea to start with existing issues until they are truly under control. We do try our best but we aren’t able to hep everyone and it never ends well. My safeguarding caseload is horrendous.

That said, my uni will take practically anyone on to the Year 0 programme and in clearing we take pretty low offers on a lot of computer science and allied programmes so if you PM me I can say where.

@C0p3nhag3n Another thing to consider, in time, are the coding bootcamps. Some, particularly in cyber security, seem to have government funding. They do require that the person is actively seeking work after the course, though.

Watching is Ds may not pass either. Good luck to you & your DS, OP xxx

Open university, maybe? They don't have any grade requirements

There are loads of foundation years, especially for this subject. Something like 'applied computer science' or computing will be easier.
Have you tried asking around the unis/going to open days?
I know someone with ASD... got all D's at A-Level , got in anyway because he'd impressed them with his programming abilities on the open day. This was less than a decade ago.
Got a first, earning 100K+ now.
Not meaning to be classic MN but he is an excellent programmer, started at 9 etc. He was just terrible at written exams.
Worth seeing if these things still exist?

At the end of the day unis want money, some are very project oriented with minimal exams so it is worth, to them taking on students regardless of their A-level grades. The big graduate schemes are degree blind, and as a -programmer there are so many ways to show your worth before graduating by contributing to open source etc nobody cares about grades.

Also OP if you DM me I will tell you the university name!

Well tbf I was going to say the same.

I'd forget uni next year. Get a part time job and look into short courses at college or online and then apply for next year. Would be my advice.

OP

This isn't going to sound good but keep reading.

If he gets any grade at A Level then he has a 'full level 3 qualification' so no more funding available.

But he has options.

He could resit as a private candidate, so he would be studying on his own, if her does this I would suggest only doing 2 sunjects.

He could start a course with the OU and then possibly transfer to a brick uni.

Or he could study with the OU and take his degree with them, if there are medical needs, which there seem to be then he could get full funding.

I'll be honest I'm studying with the OU so I am biased.

He could start an apprenticeship.

He could work for a few years, if he is only just accessing the help he needs it might be the best option.

If you can afford to support him he could do some volunteering.

Foundation years are another good idea, make sure it is a 'foundation year' not a 'foundation course'.

If he takes a year or two out then have a look at universities that have more open entrance requirement or if they have colleges have colleges for older students, Harris Manchester college at Oxford has an open day in a couple of weeks.

https://www.hmc.ox.ac.uk/event/open-day

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/mature-students

This is not the end, this is a new start. Some people go through school, college, uni in a straight line, others, me included, take the longer prettier route.

We get to the same place but slower, with more memories and more experience.

I dropped out one time at college and got good grades eventually. He could wait and apply to uni when he got some good predicted grades.

Also he could do some work/volunteering in his year out if he felt well enough at some point, to get something on his CV. Unis will like that too.

DP did a HND in a related ish subject which allowed him to move onto the second year of CS degree.

We were at a poly which became a university

Might also be an option?

If he gets any grade at A Level then he has a 'full level 3 qualification' so no more funding available.

He can take out an advanced learner loan for a level 3 course. Similar to uni student loan. However if he uses it fir an Access course then this is wiped on completion of degree.