Levitate Student: Bottom fell out of Part-time Study.....but it help with Previous Study rules

When did that happen?......when the government removed the part-time fee grant, small living cost grant, additional fee support scheme and replaced it all with the tuition fee loan, that's when.

The decline was pretty instant but has remained a problem as recent HESA stats show

BBC NEWS - Part-time student numbers at a new low

We advisers saw it coming.....in our experience the clients most benefiting from part-time study were not likely to be interested in the fee loan funding option. We doubt there will be much improvement with the introduction of loans for living costs for part-time higher education either given the likely impact on entitlement to means-tested welfare benefits.

One saving grace when the regulations changed was for those students who wanted to study full-time but had previous study at Higher Education level that meant they might have to self fund part of their course fee.

This was not as big an issue when the tuition fees were around the £1K mark or even £3K but at £9K self-funding even one year is prohibitive for most people. 

The general rule of thumb is an eligible student can receive funding for fees for 

length of course plus one year minus years of previous HE study

The previous study rules are complex and have caveats regarding course type and reasons for not completing  - so it's always a good plan to seek advice if you have previous study issues. 

Consider a student who started in the past, lets say, two years on a previous higher education course, now wants to start a new 3 years HE course 

3+1-2 = 2 this is the Standard entitlement to fee support

The rules require that this 2 years standard entitlement is allocated to the back end of the course first like this, till it is used up.

Year 1 - Self Fund

Year 2 - Standard Entitlement 2

Year 3 - Standard Entitlement 1

Finding the £9K needed for year 1 could be enough to stop any hopeful prospective students in their tracks.

Here though is where part-time study may be an option. The previous study rules are less rigorous for part-time study. One of the main requirements for fee support entitlement is that the student has not already achieved a qualification higher or equivalent in level to the new course. The requirement is that the new course is not an ELQ - an equivalent or lower qualification

A student facing self-funding could check if the same or similar course to the desired full-time option is offered on a part-time basis. If so, then the student could be eligible to have all their tuition fees paid as a part-timer. Part-timers can study at course intensities from 25% to 75% of a full-time equivalent depending on the programme on offer.

Of course there is currently no living cost provision, but the student is free to work. 

When the government introduces the part-time study living cost loans (proposed for 2018/19) we wonder if they will tweak these previous study rules......

Check out our Previous Study Rules Big Picture