S6 or College - HELP please???

[54isanopendoor]

Ds moved from England & did S5 last year.
It didn't go well. His GCSE's were not good prep for Highers.
He has ASD & Dyslexia & School weren't great with support.
Awaiting results but prob 3 grade C's.
He has an S6 place.
to do 3 Highers (1 repeat of last year, 2 crashes, + 1 N5 Cyber Sec)

He ALSO has an unconditional place to do an HNC at College this year instead.
He can do an HNC in Software (he did a N5 in this) OR Cyber Sec (no background but they've told him he'd have an unconditional place as gifted in most areas of computing it seems - College think so anyway.)

BUT...

He wants to go to either X Uni or Y Uni to do 'something Computer related'
He is not yet clear which area of Computing he wants to go into.
His ASD / Anxiety make it hard to know / choose at this stage.

X Uni offer 5 courses & req HNC either Soft Dev or Cyber Sec, either of which he can take local Coll but also extra courses local college not even heard of.

YUni offer 4 courses, only want the HNC qualification but each HNC option only leads to 2 of the courses, so he'd have to choose his specialty much earlier.

He can do an HNC at the College this year, then do the ohter one the year after so he has a much better idea & the most choice from X or Y uni then.

BUT the 2nd HNC would be self funded. I am a Carer & money is very tight indeed. If he doesn't go back to S6 this year, but takes an HNC, our family benefits change quite a bit (as he's moving into higher education). This means its less likely I can support hiim through a 2nd self funded HNC. I don't want money to be any part of HIS decision but I am aware of it a bit.

He wants advice as to the best route. School / Careers have suggested he starts S6, & if he hates it he takes up his College course. I hope he does do S6 & then I'd feel more confident about the 2 x HNC which would give best choices at Uni decision time in 2 / 3 yrs time?

Hope this makes sense.
any thoughts from anyone please?

Is he planning going into 1st year at uni with the HNC?

My DD1 has just finished 1st year Uni in a tech subject. the first year is quite generic with a lot of overlap amongst the different courses. At her Uni it's possible to change course after 1st year without having to repeat a year if you decide you'd rather specialise in something else. One of her friends is swapping course.

Could he discuss this with the uni and see if that's an option?

He'll still get funding all the way if he does HNC then 4 years degree

@HarvestFly
Yes, he'd have that option.

But as a person with Autism (& a Tutor at an Open Day didn't help by saying they all needed to know exactly where they wanted to be in 10 years time, sigh...)

He thinks he needs to know NOW which course he should be on.
The only Uni that is realistic offers two different degrees but entry into each is dependent on which HNC he does. So, he thinks he needs to do both at this stage / can't decide which is the best one to do. The cost of the HNC is about £1500 so I can just about manage that. But the drop off from him staying in 6th form to doing an HNC next year is about £500 pcm. It's a HUGE difference according to HMC. I'll really need it for bills but if I can save even some of it it would help fund that 2nd HNC year living costs without him having to get a loan.

The best bet for you as a family is probably for him to return to school for S6 then @54isanopendoor

HNCs are quite specific and if he doesn't know what he wants to do he's better to stick with highers. Can he retake the 3 Highers again plus another one? The modern universities such as Napier in Edinburgh aren't really bothered if you take highers over 2 sittings or resit. As long as you can get the grades by time you leave school.
If GCSEs were not good prep maybe doing the whole higher course again will make much more sense this time round?

If he still doesn't get the grades after S6 then he will need to look at HNC route, but he'll be a whole year older and wiser and and you'll have been able to pay your bills for another year!

FWIW my DD1 had no idea what she wanted to do at end of S5. But she took a crash higher in a tech subject in S6 she discovered she loved and by Christmas was applying to study it at university!

Good luck to your DS

thanks @HarvestFly
I think I just feel so guilty that £ is even a consideration for me, but it is.

Realistically, he WILL get on much better with an HNC than with Highers.

But this way, even if he fails Highers this year, he'd still have a place for the HNC next year & I could save up for him to do t'other one the year after too.
Then he'd have loads of experience / qualifications & could take his pick.
(he might also do better at highers than he thinks / enjoy one of the courses even if he doesn't do well in the exam - he's picked Politics for one - he is really interested & would love the course so I told him not to worry about end result just to enjoy it but he's really anxious..). Ho hum.
I've told him to think over the weekend & that no decison is Wrong...

Could he do a more general HNC like Computing rather than a specific one like Cyber Security? This might help him decide which areas interest him or if he still can't decide he could enrol on a computing degree where you don't have to specialise for a year or so.

He would be able to get a loan for living costs for the HNC plus a bursary of up to £2k. With the free bus pass for travel then it might not be so tough money wise.

Some experience of this: two sons both starting HNCs this year one after doing S6, the other after dropping out of S5 years ago (both have ADHD, both also a bit rigid in thinking!)
DS1 is doing an integrated HND/Degree in Software Development with Cyber Security at Forth Valley College and Stirling Uni. He had to do a NC first as he had no Highers. He can at last apply to SAAS! Shame your DS can't find a more general course, DS1s NC had a bit of everything which was useful. From what he says Cybet Security is seen as the easier option compared to Software Dev,
He tried College instead of S6 (after dropping out in S5) years ago, but did not last, wrong subject, older classmates, travelling.
One thing to point out is that full time college courses are usually timetabled for three days not five, great if your young person gets a job on some of the other days, not so great if they stay in their bedroom on their own.
I think if they have any kind of potential social life at school or need a bit more time to mature, go with the S6 option. It can get a bit dull by the end, DS2 had a light timetable this year and got a bit bored and lazy but also enjoyed hanging out in a way he missed out on 'cos Covid and will be going to college, more confident and less stressed than if he'd gone last year and Very keen to branch out.

Forgot to say that DS2 found an unexpected talent for his filler Higher this year RMPS! Got a good A in his prelims which improves his average quite a bit which is great.

Depending on when his birthday is and whether he is one of the older ones would be the deciding factor for me.

both my children stayed on for S6 , both had the grades at the end of 5th year for their uni courses however they are both younger birthdays for their year and decided to stay on at school rather than go to uni earlier and miss out on the social side of things cause they weren’t 18.