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College Tuition Fees


Yh_Buddy_

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I've just been told recently that tuition fees will incur when i start my college course (HND Electrical Engineering) in August/September. The college failed to say anything about this (perhaps they thought people would know) when i went for my interview and only include a small part about this on their website, which is confusing already, and say that i have to go onto the SAAS website which is even more confusing. It does say that fees will apply but i have to fill out a 30 page application form asking all sorts of questions. The site is awkward to navigate and mentions something about grants, loans, bursaries etc which i'm not 100% sure about, so, can anyone shed some light on what i should be filling in and if anyone has done this, please let me know how you went about doing this process.

Sorry for the long post :(

Adam

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If it's for an "advanced course" (HNC, HND, Degree) you need to go through SAAS. You didn't mention how old you are, but if you're under 25, you need to provide proof of your parents' income. Also, if this is your first time applying for a FE course, they'll pay your fees for it, providing you don't need to repeat a year. Bursary/loan will depend upon your/your parents' income, but you will be guaranteed your fees. Hope that wasn't too long winded!

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I'm 17 (18 when i start college)

When you say "first time applying for a FE course", does that mean my 2 years of Higher education i.e 5th and 6th year, falls into what you said and I will not have to pay fees, they will pay them for me.

I understand it a bit better but still not crystal clear.

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Further education is anything beyond school - so uni or college, basically. If you will be 18 when you start then you'll need to send away proof of your parents' income (payslips etc) and they "assess" how much you get. They give you different figures every year, depending on household income, which is a total pain in the ass. So yes, SAAS WILL pay your fees for your HND - BUT, if you go on to uni, they will only pay for your third and fourth year (I learned this the hard way...) as the two years of the HND are seen as equivilent to first and second year uni. Hope that's helped a bit!

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Anyone who never had to fill out an old UCCA form doesn't know they are born.

OP, don't worry about the applications, they are a form (wince) of training for a life of the bureaucratic subserviance that is existence today, master filling out the crap in the way they want it filled out, and move on to your next challenge.

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As far as I know (it used to be like this, anyway - I did it) - you can go from an HNC -> first year of uni, or HND -> second year of uni and still get the fees paid. I think they accept that not every course has a partner course at uni - though with an HND, you really should be getting into 2nd year as a minimum.

Are they still allowing one "false start", I wonder?

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The SAAS website is terrible, I got better answers on here than I did with it.

I think a "false start" is when you start a course (regardless of level) which is being paid for by SAAS and you decide it isn't for you and want to change the course from say Mechanical Engineering HND to Sound Production HND, they regard that as a "false start" and pay for whatever course you go onto do.#

This can only happen once whilst at college or university.

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I'm doing an intro couse in music not HNC/HND someone said i need a bursary to pay for my course, however I thought bursaries were the spending money you got to buy books and stuff.. where do i need to go to find out about funding my intro. where do i go to find out a bursary ?

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I'm getting my 4 years at uni paid for by SAAS and I had my first year at College (HNC) paid for. They were only going to pay for the first half of my first year at uni, because I had been ill from the beginning of the HND and dropped out. My bastard tutor asked me to come in for a leaving interview, and marked me down as present to all the classes that day (which was incidentally the last day of the term before you could drop out and not have to pay anything towards the course) so there was a right hassle in getting the full first year paid.

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I'm doing an intro couse in music not HNC/HND someone said i need a bursary to pay for my course, however I thought bursaries were the spending money you got to buy books and stuff.. where do i need to go to find out about funding my intro. where do i go to find out a bursary ?

I'm not sure if an intro course is covered by the SAAS but if you go onto their website, they should have information on bursaries, grants etc

SAAS home

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SAAS will cover you for:

1 year of an HNC/2 years of an HND, if you only do one year, then move onto University then they will pay for your full 4 years (or however long the course is; they will pay all 7 years if it is Architecture if you don't have a paid 6th year placement and 6 years if you do, same with Medicine/Veterinary as well I'm pretty sure).

If you do the HND and only go into first year, then you will have to pay a year of fees to the university, as it's been said, however, if you go straight into 2nd year from the HND (which is what usually happens), then you will be covered for all costs.

Bursaries are available if your parents earn less than X amount and loans are available to everyone (the non-means tested loan form is a very quick one to fill out as you don't need your parents/your own bank details).

If you are going abroad, to an institution in Europe through Erasmus as part of your studies as well, SAAS give you a grant for that (pretty sure non-means tested) however, if you go anywhere out of Europe, they won't.

If you're doing a course in college that isn't an HNC/HND then it should be covered by local government and you should be able to get a non-means tested bursary and other bursaries means-tested, for travel, etc.

You should get a form from college to fill out with your acceptance letter/whatever that you fill out. :)

I'm pretty sure this only counts if this will be your first course out of Secondary/Primary school though and you will have to pay tuition fees if you're doing your second/third/whatever.

Probably information already given, but hope that makes it clear?

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