Can you get student loans if you retake the third year of a 4 year course ?

[ButterB3333nz]

And if you can’t what do you do?

Son has just been offered the chance to retake his 3 year of his 4 year degree.

Yes SFE will fund length of course (3 or 4 years) plus a gift year. If he had anything happen that might be considered exceptional circumstances like sudden poor health, bereavement etc then it's worth him applying for compelling personal reasons with SFE to retain his gift year just incase. If it's a simple academic fail then he just uses up his gift year and has to hope he doesn't need to repeat again. There will be someone in student support at the uni who will talk him through this.

The thing is he was originally on a BEng(3 year) then moved to the MEng (4 year)at the end of year 2/ beginning of year 3. I’ve got a horrible feeling that complicates things.

He has to inform them of his decision next week and it’s going to be hugely difficult to get a definite answer re funding before then.

He was ill last year ( MH) which is well documented .

Sorry meant to say there is academic fail involved too as the illness caused him to fail a couple of exams.

DS has just finished a year of academic suspension after failing exams in similar circumstances.

I would strongly advise your DS to make an appointment to see the welfare officer or similar attached to the student union. They were absolutely excellent laying out the options for DS and giving concrete advice. SO much better than uni staff.

Not sure if they’ll be able to give definite answers re funding and we’ve got such little time. He was hoping for uncapped resits and they’ve offered this instead .

He is entitled to one extra ‘gift’ year on top of what he originally applied for. As he originally applied for a 3 year degree, he will be able to re-take year 3 and get full student finance.

If he has since transferred to MEng, or intends to, he won’t be funded automatically unless he applies under ‘compelling personal circumstances’ - he will need evidence from both uni and GP/MH professional outlining why his circumstances qualified for a an additional year. The bar is reasonably low, so in short yes he should be ok.

If he doesn’t get funding for the MEng year he could do a Masters using Masters loan funding to get the accredited qualification.

Ah that’s great and really reassuring. Thankyou!

For reference the calculation is the length of the course + one gift year, minus any years of previous study, to work out student loan entitlement.

I agree with a PP that your son will be fine

To clarify - it’s the length of the course ORIGINALLY APPLIED FOR. Transferring from a 3 year to a 4 year course uses the gift year. Hence OP’s need for an extra year using compelling personal circumstances.

Please could I hop on here to ask a related question? My son is on a BEng with a foundation year. If he then switches to the MEng (which is an extra year) and / or does a sandwich year in industry, is that his gift year used up, and does that mean he wouldn’t get a loan for the sandwich year?