Company offered to sponsor son's degree

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My son has got the grades he needs to go to a very good university to study Computer Science, starting in a few weeks. This summer he has been doing a paid internship for a local hi-tech company. They have now said they'd like to set up a degree apprenticeship arrangement where they pay for his degree and he works for them in his time off.

Obviously this sounds AMAZING and we are thrilled. It won't be an official degree apprenticeship becuas presumably they can't just magic that up officially in a few weeks. We don't know all the details of the offer yet but assuming the arrangement works like other degree apprenticeships in Computer science (they pay his fees but for the uni he has already been accepted at, he works for them in the summers, still gets a bit of time off for a summer holiday) then it seems great.

But am I missing something? Is this too good to be true?

Your son should go for it.
My daughter just graduated with a first in Software Engineering from a Russell Group university.
She was on a four year degree, working part time with one of the big four, and part time study, she still had the uni experience, all fees paid and a great salary (no commitment) They work on the assumption that if the company make the experience so good, the young person will want to stay (she does)

I think doing this sort of a degree, with the practical application opportunity right there on tap, is bound to be academically advantageous. He should grab it.

Yes I know people that have done this, they are usually tied in for x amount of years after, if they leave before that they pay the company back on a pro rata basis or full amount. You may find the pay rises are not quite as favourable as if he went somewhere else - possibly, but for now it is great news and worth it.

This is something that my company offers too. It’s a great way to get a degree without the financial burden. I did my degree 3 days a week from 6-9pm as couldn’t afford to do it without having a full time job.
If he’s focused on getting the qualification and can forgo the uni experience - it wasn’t an option for me plus I wouldn’t of wanted to get into so much debt. With this option, he’ll be earning straight away, have a qualification and can then move on and get an even higher paid job elsewhere. He won’t be saddled with huge uni debt either.
If my boys had that option I’d be encouraging them to do it.

There will be absolutely no tie-in to work for the company after completing a degree apprenticeship nor will he have to pay any of the fees back if he leaves after completing.

There are strict rules around this with degree apprenticeships, as they are funded via the companies apprenticeship levy or via government funding, with (in some instances) a small top up by the company.

If the company paid for the degree, via a commercial arrangement e.g. an invoice and then actual money being paid, then they could ask for a sponsorship agreement to be signed. They could then ask him to repay the money to them for the degree.

The offer of a degree apprenticeship. “A paid job, with a fully funded degree” is absolutely brilliant. It’s really a no brainier. He will have no student loans or debt, a recognised degree and years of actual real work experience.

Most companies offering degree apprenticeships, advertise, get hundreds of applications, then put the candidates through a pretty tough recruitment and selection process. Your son must have really impressed the company for them to just offer him a job with the opportunity to do a degree that is fully funded.

His other option is to go to Uni full time for 3 years, get the same degree, have a load of student debt and then still have to find a job at the end of it (without a huge amount of work experience).

His other option is to go to Uni full time for 3 years, get the same degree

Depends doesn't it? If he's got a place at Imperial, and the apprenticeship will give him a degree from LondonMet, you can't possibly claim they're the same degree.

If it is a degree apprenticeship, it is against the funding rules to tie someone in for any amount of time or ask them to pay anything back. Degree’s via the apprenticeship route are funded via a levy or if the company doesn’t have a levy, then it’s funded via the government and the employer may pay a small top up.

You can only tie someone in and ask them to pay back on a pro rate basis if it is paid for by the company. E.g. the Uni sends the company an invoice and then they pay them actual money.

I am an Early Careers Manager and my job is to take on apprentices. I have 45 apprentices starting at my organisation on the 4th September. Some are doing degree apprenticeships. They will all be paid a good salary, given the time off to attend Uni (6 hours a week must be dedicated to studying away from their role under the funding rule) have pay rises each year. None of them will be tied into any kind of agreement, as their degree/qualifications will all be funded through our apprenticeship levy. If they choose to leave at the end, then that is their choice. If we are going to spend 4-5 years investing in developing them, then we want them to stay with our organisation. We make sure we train them well, pay them well and look after them, so they don’t leave.

Let’s just say for example that the degree is ‘Quantity surveying’. Doesn’t matter if it is a full time degree or an apprenticeship degree - it’s the same degree. Let’s stick with the example of quantity surveying. You could do this at UCLAN, Westminster, Salford, Nottingham, Sheffield or Liverpool. The full time degree modules are exactly the same as the modules for the apprenticeship degree, except it takes longer to do the degree via the apprenticeship route as it is part time.

I have had students complete year one of a full time degree, then apply for a degree apprenticeship with my organisation. They have gone into year 3 of the degree (part time), but are now being paid, gaining actual work experience and their degree is being funded by us, with no more student loans or debt. They come out with exactly the same degree and don’t have to try and find a job when they graduate, as they already have one. At the end of a quantity surveying degree apprenticeship, they are earning £32k.

Every graduate I have taken on since degree apprenticeships were introduced in about 2017, said if they were around when they finished A levels, they would have chosen the degree apprenticeship route. These are design engineers, projects managers, quantity surveyors and construction managers.

Degree apprenticeships are specific to a particular career path or job - not a general degree, such as economics or maths.

We all know that doing, for example, a maths degree at Durham would be seen as a better option than doing a maths degree at Plymouth. Neither guarantees a job at the end of it though.

Full time Uni is a good option for some people, but there is a real alternative with degree apprenticeships, providing we can move away from the mindset that the only good option is a Russell Group Uni. and broaden our horizons and educate ourselves to the alternatives.

Here is a really good example of the ability to choose a full time degree or apply for an apprenticeship degree.

Same degree course, modules etc, but one is fully funded by PWC, with a salary and work experience.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/computer-science/computer-science-pwc.aspx#CourseDetailsTab

Entry requirements are 3 A’s in A levels, including maths. The PWC degree apprenticeship will also include an online assessment, video interview and an assessment centre. This will be far more challenging to gain a place then applying for and sending in a personal statement for the full time degree.

A full time degree may be the only option for some young people and they may favour that option, but degree apprenticeships are a real, worthwhile choice. They used to be seen as an ‘alternative’ or ‘lesser’ option, but they are highly sought after and so much more competitive to be offered one. For a lot of young people, full time Uni is now seen as a fall back option if they cannot get a degree apprenticeship.

@Lucyccfc68 Statistically you are wrong. Only around 5000 18 year olds started degree apprenticeships in 2022. It’s minuscule when compared to university starts. Typically the degrees are not from elite universities. Plus you haven’t factored in that, for example, engineers in many unis do 4 year full time MEng courses. This enables them to get chartered engineer status. A slow part time bachelors degree needs a masters after it. Apprenticeships can be hem today but sometimes they have limitations.

Hem? Jam today.

You need to read the agreement carefully and get a lawyer to explain it, so you understand everything before you sign.

It sounds like a standard block / day release course. He'll need to pass the exams to keep his job.
But I don't see the risk.

The biggest risk is if the company goes down, will he be able to transfer to the full-time course and complete his degree.

But even back in the 90s when I was doing my part-time degree and got paid off half way through with a bit of effort, the good old yellow pages, and my course organiser, I managed to land another job and complete my degree.

Absolutely - there needs to be more degree apprenticeships on offer.

You do realise that you don’t have to attend an ‘elite’ university to have a long and successful career? The amount of 18 year olds that attend an ‘elite’ university such as Oxford and Cambridge is minuscule compared to the amount of 18 year olds that go to Uni.

You can do a Masters after a degree apprenticeship. Lots of companies offer this and sponsor young people.

Sounds like a fantastic opportunity but yes he will miss out on the student experience. Has he/you committed to accommodation yet? But he will start his career with a job guarantee and no debt which is pretty amazing.

I know exactly what they are @Lucyccfc68 - my uni offers them - including the one he's been offered. If OP's ds was actively interested in them, as a route to work, then great. As it's not something that was originally on his radar, it's worth stepping back and thinking through the whole package and the future impact.

For all we know he may have a place at Imperial and have a burning desire to do a PhD and spend his life researching AI applications - it's a Computer Science degree he has an offer for. The digital apprenticeship, whichever flavour it is, won't facilitate that.

@Lucyccfc68 Successful career is perfectly possible from any number of unis, of course! However I see in this case the uni is the same. So it seems a decent deal. As they are shelling out £28,000 on fees one assumes they do expect him to work there. Otherwise what’s the point? I’m assuming they don’t pay the apprenticeship levy so don’t use the formal route. So reading the contract for obligations on both sides is vital. It would not be fair to up and leave immediately after that level of investment. I had my employer pay for me (part time courses) and you are expected to justify the expense! We had to stay 2 years after the course. I think that’s fair.

My general concern would be, certainly for engineering students you mentioned, that apprenticeships typically offer BEng and not MEng. This makes it more difficult and much longer to get chartered engineer status. Therefore MEng grads can earn more, much more quickly. Plus even move into far more lucrative areas of work without strings. Apprenticeships are less flexible.

Why don’t Unis like LSE/ UCL/ Oxford/ Cambridge offer these degree apprenticeships? DS was offered one (well technically a Level 7 accountancy one) but wanted to take his Oxbridge place instead. If for example UCL or LSE offered the apprenticeship, he may have taken it instead.

My daughter did the PWC Software Engineering apprenticeship degree at a Russell group university.
PWC, work in conjunction with the university.
It was on the basis of a rotating 13 weeks uni, then 13 weeks working.
She graduated with a first, during her 4 years she had full private medical insurance, pension, a careers advisor, a good salary with regular increases, a subsidised canteen, discounts at local wine bars, social events and regular travel to London (we’re in NI).
When she was working she was being trained on high profile jobs.
During Covid, and since then, they were unbelievably accommodating, ensuring staff were safe and facilitating WFH.
It was so good, she wanted to stay.

My friend’s daughter is doing a degree apprenticeship in something computerish. Her set up is like this which seems the standard arrangement for a degree apprenticeship (though I think she might do 2 days a week studying term time). On the upside she is paid a reasonable wage, and will graduate with a good amount of valuable work experience with a big name employer under her belt. She isn’t tied in beyond the apprenticeship period. On the downside she isn’t getting the ‘university experience’, the university she is linked with is a small local/third tier one (though her work experience will count for more than a better uni name), recent proposed changes in the company over the next couple of years may impact her or force relocation, pressures of work can sometimes make it hard to get the studying done, and she doesn’t get the long university holidays she sees her friends taking. Most of her friends use those holidays for earning money in low paid jobs so the long university holidays are probably not as exciting as she thinks they look. On balance she is pleased with her choice though. But she specifically chose this course of action over a conventional university course; for what she wanted to study she thought university courses weren’t as good and a bit divorced from industry.

I should add, in her case the university she is attached to is pretty much just validating the degree, most of the teaching is from industry specialists so it is only the name on the degree that is not so gold plated, not the quality of teaching.

I suspect because they are much more fixed in their course content which may not meet the needs of some of the big employers offering the apprenticeships. Whereas old ‘technical colleges/polytechnics’ have always been more set up to working with/more responsive to local industry. So these universities are more prepared to set up degrees specifically to match the demands of a local employer/apprenticeship provider.

Not answering your question but where did he find the paid internship? I wasn’t aware of these after a-levels, only during degrees.

well done to him! He sounds fab.