Going to college

[dcp]

I'm just curious if you give up work to go to college how do you survive financially? I take it you can do it part time and have a job in between but what about full time?

[BeachRiding]

Can you get a student loan or work part-time?

[dcp]

Not sure how Student loans work.

[booboo]

i no student loans here work when you go to university you dont start aying back until you earn 15k, but i go to college and just do a couple of nights a week after college.

[nutkin]

I was looking into this recently. It seems if you go to college part time and your over 25 like me then you have to fund the cost of it yourself whereas if you are there full time you can access lots of different financial help depending on your circumstances. In my case I work 2 nights a week which means I don't earn alot but due to the changes in the law to do with my job I have to fund my qualification myself in order to continue working. The cost of the course is more than a months salary for me and I can't get any costs towards it as I'm too old. I gather if you study full time you can access some form of support from the government financially if you can not work for some reason.

[CHELLE 1]

i went to oatridge college in edinburgh and what they do is they give you half of your college fees in a bursary which you don't pay back and the other half as a student loan!the hnc horse management course which i was on only cost me £2000 for a whole year and that included accomodation food and the course its self,and the good thing is you don't have to pay it back until you start earning £20.000 a year. and its only £2 off your wages that comes off every week.not bad.If you don't wanna stop working you can do a distance learning course which enables you to work as you only go when its an exam th the college but insted of the course being 1 year it streaches to 2 years hope thats helpfull to u guys it makes me feel usefull!:)

[dcp]

I was thinking what if I gave up work and went to college full time or part time. I never even thought of having to pay for my course! Just the financial comitments I have

[Pink's lady]

How or what you have to pay depends on what collage/uni you go to, and what course you're doing. And if you've already done a course. If you're a first time student, the SAAS (scottish awards agency for scotland) will pay for your fee's and also give you a bursary for living costs. And you can get a student loan. And many collages have thier own bursarys they award.

Best thing to do is phone up the collage you're interested in and ask -they're usually very helpful.

[Jenni]

In scotland most people dont have to pay fees for college. If tis something like a landbased course you will have to pay some and as said get a student loan for the rest.

Student loan repayments are deducted automatically from your wage by your employer when you earn above a certain amount.

But it depends what you want to do. My sister is a student nurse, she doenst pay for her course and she gets a NHS bursary every month. She gets a bit more as she has a child.