I just paid for my first OU course with Tescos vouchers

[KatyMac]

I think that is really cheesy

I am so grateful they do this

i have heard somewhere or other that the OU is at risk of closure. i will google and see if its true DO NOT CASH IN YOUR TESCOS VOUCHERS

No criticism, just looked into it myself & realised that a degree costs about £18000 of shopping, which is about 8 years for our family!

ok can find nothing on google - maybe it was the US one? That's what I get for half listening to the Today programme

sorry, sorry sorry to spread doom and gloom and terrify everybody

I get loads

Between points for bags, electricity, petrol, never mind food (I shop for upto 9 extra children each day

Thing is Lou, most people do about 60pts a year, which costs £600, requiring £150 worth of Tesco vouchers or £1,500 worth of shopping per year. We get double points on all our shopping because we pay with DH's Tesco credit card, he also puts everything else he can on the card and gets points for that too, so it works out really well.
Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to do my Masters at the OU and the other universities want real money

Stella, £150 of vouchers would cost £15000 in shopping, because 1 point is given per pound spent in tesco. So to get £150 of vouchers you need 15000 points.

Sorry, my post above was wrong. to do a full degree, costs about £4500. That is £1125 in Tesco vouchers, which you would get for £112500 pounds worth of shopping!

no that's wrong - because £10 of tesco vouchers is worth £40 of Open University costs.....

£1 in vouchers cost £100 -

So £4500 worth of vouchers would mean spedning £1125 in Tesco (I think)(

Sorry, FAQ, but you've missed some zeros. £4500 means spending £1125 of VOUCHERS, which at a rate of £1 to £100 of shopping means that

£1125 x 100 = £112500 of shopping.

To clarify, for every £1 of shopping you spend, you get 1penny of vouchers, or 4p of open university costs.

so £4500/£0.04 = £112500

BUT. If you get a 1000 extra points on your online shopping each time, and you are paying on a tesco credit card, you get loads more without spending any extra.

not to mention 4 points for every £1 spent on Tesco mobile phone top-up, then points for using their insurance etc etc, points if you use Avis, National Tyres and Auto Care and Eon. Filling up with petrol - and numerous "get xxx points" products.

That's true, I was simply looking at face value shopping.

recycle a working mobile phone and you get 300 points, reuse carrier bags, 1 point, not to forget filling up with petrol at a Tesco filling station.......... (my ex used to have to fill up for work out of his own pocket, then he'd get the expenses paid back - so it was always Tesco for his top-ups)

And they were doing double points on organic stuff too, I don't know if that still applies.