Re: College course fees and colleges in the South West

Mark Hedberg — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 09:40:03 GMT

I can't comment on university fees (and full disclosure, I work for CAW) but in the last 2 years the government has virtually stopped funding for 24+ students, replaced by Learner Loans. Places for 16-18 year old students are still free (obviously I know that doesn't help you here) but that's only because of government funding.

Ask your college if they take part in the learner loan program.

http://www.caw.ac.uk/study-with-us/fees-and-finance/24-plus-learner-loans/ is a page on Learner Loans - this is a government program, not a CAW program and may help with your finances. The page is a CAW page but the information on it is useful for students applying to other colleges as well.

The repayment terms are very low and worth looking into for people looking to retrain.

Ask about doing a VN Apprenticeship; that's a different funding area and if your college offers apprenticeships that may also help with the cost of fees.

Good luck!

I know it's not fun that the prices are going up, but with the loss of government funding, and the prices of petrol, utilities, and all sorts of taxes going up, the cost of teaching is unfortunately not cheap! Here at CAW we try our very best to make sure VN training is accessible and affordable, (hence why we take part in the Learner Loan and Apprenticeship schemes) but even our fees have gone up in the last few years. (We're a not-for-profit college, but staff still need to be paid!)

I apologize if that sounded like a commercial for CAW - we have no centres in the southwest so I hope that avoids any conflict of interest.

Basically, check with your college about learner loans, apprenticeships, bursaries, and you might even check with your local job centre if you've been laid off to see if they have a retraining budget. Best of luck!

Kind regards,
Mark

Re: College course fees and colleges in the South West

Nick Shackleton — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 20:50:00 GMT

I think it's disgusting the amount that colleges and universities are charging for places.

Re: College course fees and colleges in the South West

Selena Carnell — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 19:31:26 GMT

Course fees as Hartpury college in gloucester are over £11000!! and the course is over 3 years with very little funding for 24+ students.