Why can't we get funding for a BTEC level 5 and is it possible to get funding for A levels after a BTEC level 5?

[gherkin21]

Sorry, this is an odd question. My DS is taking GCSEs next year and is predicted to get high grades. However, he says he doesn't want to stay at school and take A levels. Instead, he is keen to take a performing arts qualification at a specialist college, which is a one year course at BTEC level 5.

However, apparently we have to pay for the course, even though DS will be 16 when starting the course, whereas the less advanced course is free. Why is this and is there any way round it?

Also, apparently the BTEC 5 is the equivalent of 240 UCAS points, so he may need to top up with a couple of A levels to gain a place at university, if he eventually decides that he wants to go. Could he then go back to school/college and would this be funded (bearing in mind that youngsters are meant to be in full time education until they are 18).

Any experience of this or advice would be very welcome.

I'd be concerned at a 16 year old taking a fast track 1 year intensive course.

The website does say that student loan funding is available but perhaps they haven't had that particular course accredited with student finance.

I is as Katymac says, foundation degree level. That's usually a 2 year course.

Courses like this are usually meant for students with considerable industry experience to vevabkecgo fast track using their prior knowledge

I'd be concerned at a 16 year old taking a fast track 1 year intensive course.

If an allegedly Level 6 qualification that is allegedly equivalent to a foundation degree which is allegedly convertible to an Honours degree with an additional year is, in fact, accessible to a sixteen year old with GCSEs and can be completed in a year, then the obvious conclusion is that it's a joke qualification. It's a general rule of thumb that "equivalent" qualifications aren't, but this does seem to take the biscuit.

To clarify (and I obviously mean "5" not "6"):

The OP is talking about a qualification which can be taken with GCSEs in what would be Year 12. If it's a foundation degree then if you can find a partnering institution, you can convert it to an honours degree in a year. So the OP's son could have an honours degree, at eighteen, without taking A Levels or any equivalent qualification. Either it's an amazing educational establishment, or the OP's son is a genius, or the qualification is the sort of bollocks that visa-scam colleges offer. Which, well that's an exercise for the reader.

The qualification the OP is talking about is Level 5.

The Level 6 qualifications I & Katymac are talking about are 3 year courses only available at a select number of institutions with rigorous audition procedures for an industry where it's often important to start your career young.

The college the OP is talking of is a well respected one, I'm just not totally convinced the OPs son has selected the right course for his age
/previous experience/typical level of maturity of a 16 year old

I do indeed know 19 year olds with degrees plus one 19 year old who has just started postgrad with Royal College of Music.

Is your son even sure he has the entry requirements for a level 5 qualification? It is an absolutely enormous gap between level 2 (GCSE) and level 5 (we're talking 2nd year of an undergraduate degree). There are good reasons why people need to take the intermediate qualifications.

You can go to university at 16. I did and so did loads of people I know. however, we were doing a Scottish level 7 qualification (somewhere between levels 3 and 4 in England - the level boundaries don't quite match up on the equivalency tables), having just completed level 6 qualifications. (In normal language, highers and then first year university).

Calamitous - if an offer is made it will be subject to obtaining 5 GCSEs grades A-C including English.

I think it is a good point about age/maturity and I will make enquiries about the ages of other applicants. I had assumed a few would be the same age, a lot one year older (if they did the diploma course at 16) and a few older than that. I don't think being a year younger matters, but I would be concerned if they were all in their 20s etc.

I would like to think that the traditional university route would still be open, so am trying to get a feel for what the worth of the BTEC 5 would be. There is a BA in Contemporary Music at Newcastle University, which sounds perfect, which is for performers. The entry requirements are ABB or equivalent......

Are you sure it's not a level 3 BTEC because level 5 qualifications wouldn't usually express entry requirements in GCSEs. Level 5 qualifications will usually ask for previous level 4 study because, honestly, the gulf between GCSE and level 5 is enormous. Students starting university often find the shift between a-level (level 3) and level 4 study to be a big jump. Jumping 3 levels and completing 240 credits in one year would be a big ask.

A level 5 qualification with 240 credits would be the first two years of a degree. Someone with that qualification would often be seeking a one year 'top up' or direct entry to third year to get a degree.

Why not ring Newcastle & ask them? They will be honest

It's definatly Level 5 as I looked up the exact course & college.

It wouldn't necessarily concern me in the performing arts except that in this case it's a one year course.

The school where dd goes to it is very common fir the dance/drama musical theatre students to begin Level 5 & 6 courses aged 16. However at the very same school (it's a specialist in its area rather like the college the OP is looking at) the drama & music students follow Level 3 Btec courses at 16.

Yes, good idea, I was thinking I would make some enquiries, but it seems a way off at the moment. I wouldn't like her to go to university early because of the maturity issue.

Bear in mind if university is an option, by taking a fee loan for this course you'll only have three years of loan left to take, and if she has to start at year 1, 4 year degrees would be ruled out unless you fund it.

Good point Titchy, but I don't see any way round it other than fund the extra year ourselves, unfortunately.

DD3 did a BTEC Extended Diploma in IT which was a level 3 and equivalent to 3 A levels. She got into university with this. A level 5 qualification is degree level.

My dd, at 16 completed an intensive 1 year level 5 diploma in a specific music discipline at a specialist music college straight after completing her GCSE's - would have been pointless her doing a funded level 3 diploma as she was already at a standard above what she would have learnt on that and would have just been a bit of a waste of her time. That level 5 diploma was sufficient to enable her to be selected at 17 for a degree course which she started this September at the same specialist music college and she didn't need any additional a levels to be accepted so it is possible. We have had to self fund though. PM me the name of the music college - will be interesting to see if your ds is looking at the same one,

Many thanks wellIdeclare for your incredibly helpful PM. It is very reassuring to have found someone whose DC has done the same course at the same age and that it is all working out so well. It is amazing who you can meet on MN!

Isn't MN wonderful

I'm sorry Pictures & I were so negative - it just goes to show even within a small sector like Performing Arts there are so many differences with each genre

Good luck to you all