Funding for 2nd Undergrad degree?

[Buxhoeveden]

DD1 is mid 20s and would like to change direction via a 2nd undergrad degree. It is vocational but not medical. She would qualify for DSA, but not huge DSA,

Online information is rather confusing, but not hopeful. Can anyone offer any pointers please?

Depends on the second undergraduate degree. I'm afraid that there is pretty much no funding for a second undergrad degree in any non-NHS funded course. You can find a list of the NHS funded courses at www.gov.uk/nhs-bursaries/eligibility

If you want to have a closer look at the rules, they're known as the Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) rules.

ELQ. Many thanks.

And, as I'm sure you know, DSA is support, not money.

It's so hard financially to do a 2nd degree.

There was some notion, at some point in the research that DSA eligibility would have a passporting effect on fee status for a 2nd degree, but I'm hazy on exactly what or how.

I echo a sense that except for a very small number of "socially useful" degrees, there is no state funding/loan arrangement for a 2nd undergrad degree.

Could she retrain via a masters programme? OR a qualification above the BA/BSc but below a Masters, such as an HE PG Diploma?

There is the option of a careers loan, but that's for a quite short time -- a year or so, I think.

So part-time &evening might be the way to go. Or look at the Open University and Birkbeck College as two very good places for part-time & evening study. Still fee-paying, but a degree could be doable while she's still working in her current job?

A student in receipt of DSA is not counted as ELQ.

I think postgrad might be the answer, subject to finding a suitable course. I think she was also nervous about depth, it being a completely new discipline.

OU wouldn't really be suitable and Birkbeck is too far.

Ah thanks titchy. That's a blanket rule?

Sorry meant to add -the SLC doesn't give loans though but she'd be charged the normal not ELQ fee.

A few courses are eligible for further loans though.

This isn't my institution but explains quite well:

ELQ

I have a friend doing a degree at a Swedish uni. His lectures are on a similar thing to skype.

It's his second degree but because he is an EU national he pays no fees.

I get DSA and I'm doing a second undergrad degree part-time, which allows me to cover the fees as they're charged at a lower rate. I don't get student finance funding but I get disability allowance (DLA) which enables me to cover the cost of fees and sickness benefits cover my living costs. I also get a hardship payment from university of £1000 a year. DSA just pays for support, but in practice it helps cover a lot of my general study costs e.g. books/printing/computer equipment. The fees would be much higher if I wasn't on DSA (I would be charged international student fees which are about 3x full-time Home student rates).